Reuters:
OTTAWA, Sept 20 – Canada this week divulged it had intelligence possibly linking Indian government agents to the murder of a separatist Sikh leader, the kind of news that usually sparks uproar among democratic allies. Not this time.
India is being courted by the United States and others as a counterweight to China, and Trudeau’s rare attack just days after New Delhi hosted a G20 Summit is putting Western nations in an awkward position.
“India is important in Western calculations for balancing China, and Canada is not,” said Stephanie Carvin, a professor of international relations at Ottawa’s Carleton University.
“This really does put Canada offside among all other Western countries,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that Canada was “actively pursuing credible allegations” that Indian agents had potentially been involved in the murder of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.
At that point Ottawa had already been discussing the matter with key allies such as the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance, which also includes the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
The results so far have been muted. Britain refused to publicly criticize India and said bilateral trade talks will continue as planned. Indeed, a statement from Foreign Secretary James Cleverly about the affair did not mention India by name.
