Here's what Canada's envoy said after Jaishankar demanded evidence of India's role in Nijjar's murder

Jaishankar's comments came as the diplomatic ties between India and Canada took a dramatic turn after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged "potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing” of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June 2023.

Following Canada's allegations of India's supposed involvement in the killing of a Khalistani separatist on Canadian soil, Jaishankar said that India communicated to Ottawa that such actions were not reflective of the Indian government's policy. Jaishankar also expressed India's willingness to examine any "specific" and "relevant" information regarding the Nijjar case.

Addressing the matter at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Jaishankar stressed that India urged Canada to provide concrete and pertinent evidence to substantiate their claims. He emphasised the importance of considering the context of any situation, asserting that the complete picture could not be comprehended without understanding the broader context.

Canada has yet to present public evidence supporting the alleged killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Jaishankar highlighted that Canada has experienced considerable organized crime associated with secessionist forces, violence, and extremism in recent years. India has provided significant information about organized crime leadership operating out of Canada, including numerous extradition requests and identifications of terrorist leaders.

Jaishankar underscored the necessity of factoring in this information to understand the situation, expressing concern about Canada's permissiveness, potentially due to political reasons.

He further informed that currently India has a situation where actually "our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked and often comments are made about ‘there's interference in our politics’," the Union minister said.

When asked by Juster whether the government of India will cooperate with Canada if there are specific pieces of evidence provided to it, Jaishankar said, “If somebody gives me something specific, it doesn't have to be restricted to Canada, but if there is any incident which is an issue and somebody gives me something specific, as a government I would look at it. Of course, I would look into it.”

Jaishankar was further asked about reports which claimed that intelligence about the killing was shared amongst the Five Eyes and that the FBI is telling Sikh leaders in the US that there are credible threats to them. “I'm not part of the Five Eyes. I'm certainly not part of the FBI. You are asking the wrong person,” Jaishankar said while responding to this.

Five Eyes is the intelligence-sharing alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.