Would look into any 'specific' info on Nijjar killing: EAM S Jaishankar on Canada’s allegations

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday promised the Canadian side that action would be taken if they provided specific information regarding the murder of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Nijjar, saying that “we are open to looking at it.” “We told the Canadians that this is not the government of India’s policy. Secondly, we said if you have something specific and if you have something relevant, let us know. We are open to looking at it…The picture is not complete without the context in a way,” said Jaishankar while speaking at the ‘Discussion at Council on Foreign Relations’ in New York.

Notably, Canada has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. In the last few years, he said Canada actually has seen a lot of organised crime, relating to the secessionist forces, organised crime, violence and extremism and the Indian government has given a lot of information to Canada regarding this. “…In the last few years, Canada actually has seen a lot of organised crime, relating to the secessionist forces, organised crime, violence and extremism. They’re all very, very deeply mixed up. So in fact, we have been talking about specifics and information. We have given them a lot of information about organised crime and leadership, which operates out of Canada. There are a large number of extradition requests. There are terrorist leaders, who have been identified,” he said. The EAM raised concern over these incidents of threats to Indian diplomats and attacks on Indian consulates, stating that these are “very permissive” because of political reasons. “Our concern is that it’s really been very permissive, because of political reasons. So we have a situation where our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked…A lot of this is often justified, as saying that’s how democracies work. If somebody gives me something specific, it doesn’t have to be restricted to Canada. But if there’s any incident which is an issue and somebody gives me something specific, as a government, I would look at it,” Jaishankar further said. Early last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an explosive statement accusing the Indian government of being involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – a claim that India has outrightly rejected, calling it ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’. India has suspended its visa services in Canada, following Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s allegations of Indian involvement in the killing. Amid strained ties, India issued an advisory for its citizens and those who are travelling to Canada to exercise “utmost caution in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence" in the country. With inputs from agencies