Canada is pressuring India to cooperate in the investigation of Nijjar’s murder (File)
Ottawa, Canada:
India is cooperating with Canada and bilateral relations are improving after tensions escalated over the killing of a Khalistani militant in British Columbia, a top Canadian official told CTV in an interview published Friday.
Diplomatic relations soured when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year said Canada was “actively pursuing credible allegations” that Indian agents were potentially linked to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023. India has denied any formal government role in Nijjar’s killing.
“I wouldn’t call them (the Indians) uncooperative. I think we’ve made progress in that relationship,” Trudeau’s national security adviser Jody Thomas told CTV.
CTV published an excerpt of the interview on its website Friday. The full interview will be aired on Sunday.
Canada is pressuring India to cooperate in the investigation of Nijjar’s murder. Last November, US officials said they had foiled a plot to kill a Khalistani terrorist in the United States.
“The information they (the Americans) disclosed supports our position with India and our claims, and India is working with us … more closely to resolve this,” Thomas told CTV. From.” Trudeau said in December he sensed a change in New Delhi’s tone with Ottawa following the US case.
The acrimony has delayed talks on a free trade agreement and threatens Canada’s plans to expand its influence in the Indo-Pacific region, where New Delhi’s efforts to contain an increasingly assertive China are critical. is important.
Thomas said, “Our ability to operate in the Indo-Pacific depends on a healthy relationship with India. And I think we are working in that direction again.” Approximately 2 million Canadians, or 5% of the population, are of Indian heritage.
Canada withdrew 41 diplomats from India in September after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence following Trudeau’s comments.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
