“In an interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corp. I think there is a beginning of an understanding that they can’t bluster their way through this and there is an openness to collaborating in a way that perhaps they were less open before,” Trudeau stated.
“There’s an understanding that maybe, maybe just churning out attacks against Canada isn’t going to make this problem go away,” he stated.
Upending diplomatic relations between the two countries, Trudeau declared on September 18 that Canadian security agencies were investigating plausible claims that Indian government operatives were involved in the June murder of 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader, in British Columbia.
The US Justice Department prosecuted a man in November on suspicion of masterminding a botched attempt to kill a Sikh separatist, a New York City resident who is a US citizen of Indian descent. The department said an Indian government official was in charge of the operation. US officials withheld the target’s identity.
India PM Modi’s Sikh Separatist Fight Driven by Security, Politics
The push for a Sikh homeland in northern India gained additional momentum when Canadian officials pressured India to assist in their probe into the June murder following the US findings.
Canada’s allegation was sharply rejected by New Delhi, leading to a diplomatic spat in which both countries expelled their diplomats and perhaps jeopardized trade negotiations. India, on the other hand, declared that it was looking into and taking the US charges seriously.
To counteract Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific area, the US and Canada are working to strengthen their relations with India.
“We don’t want to find ourselves in a conflict with India at this time over this. It is the trade deal that we wish to be working on. Trudeau told the CBC, “We want to advance the Indo-Pacific strategy.”
However, upholding people’s rights, their safety and the rule of law is fundamental to Canada.