Ottawa’s allies ‘not keen’ to take sides in India-Canada row

Many chose to view the allegation as pending investigation, despite Trudeau government's confidence in its evidence for a parliamentary accusation and diplomat expulsion.

Ottawa: Canada‘s allies showed “little inclination” to wade into an escalating row between Ottawa and New Delhi over allegations that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey on June 18, a media report said.

Most opted to treat the allegation as a matter still to be investigated — in spite of the fact that the Trudeau government feels it has enough information to make an accusation in Parliament and expel a diplomat, CBC News reported.

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US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Tuesday said: “They are certainly serious allegations and we believe in order to determine how credible they are, there needs to be a thorough investigation.”

“Prime Minister Trudeau has called for that, and so we’ll see how Canada moves forward on this. It’s certainly well within their capacity to do this, and we urge India as well to participate and cooperate in that investigation,” Kirby said, adding it is important to find out exactly what happened.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to comment on the matter. “I don’t talk about Five Eyes intelligence at a press conference, funnily enough,” he said in response to a question about India’s alleged role.

“That’s why it’s called intelligence. It’s because we don’t speculate on what the intelligence is. So I don’t intend to talk about Five Eyes intelligence here or anywhere else,” Albanese asserted.

The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly put out a tweet that made no mention of India at all.

“All countries should respect sovereignty and the rule of law. We are in regular contact with our Canadian partners about serious allegations raised in the Canadian Parliament. Important that Canada’s investigation runs its course and the perpetrators brought to justice.”

For Canada’s allies, the accusation presents the risk of alienating the world’s most populous country just when they least want to do so, the Canadian media outlet reported.