A report claims that strained ties between India-Canada may impact the US and India relationship
Our Bureau
Washington, DC
The United States Embassy has dismissed a report by American media outlet The Politico that claimed Ambassador Eric Garcetti had cautioned that relations between India and the United States “could get worse for a time” due to New Delhi’s spat with Ottawa and that Washington may have to “reduce” contacts with Indian officials for “an undefined period of time.”
“The US embassy dismisses these reports. Ambassador Garcetti is working hard every day to deepen the partnership between the people and governments of the United States and India,” a US embassy spokesperson said when asked about the report.
The souring relations between India and Canada have worsened after Canadian PM Justin Trudeau accused the government of India of having had a hand in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a wanted terrorist by India, in Vancouver this June. He had claimed that the allegation of Indian involvement in Nijjar’s murder was supported by intelligence from the “Five Eyes” grouping of Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and the US.
India has labeled Canadian charges as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case. Meanwhile, Canada has shifted a large number of its diplomats posted outside New Delhi and moved them to Malaysia or Singapore amid ongoing diplomatic tension between the two nations.
The White House maintains that Canada’s allegations regarding India’s involvement in the killing of the separatist are “serious” and need to be investigated fully.
