Politics
EAM S Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday (7 December) asserted that there was no question of "equitable treatment" of the United States and Canada regarding the claims of involvement of Indian officials in the targeting of Khalistan separatists in these nations.
He justified this by stating that one country had shared information with India, while the other had not.
In response to an supplementary question posed by CPI(M) MP John Brittas during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Jaishankar stated that a committee has been established to investigate the US allegation.
Last week, a US Department of Justice indictment implicated an unidentified Indian official in a scheme to assassinate Khalistan terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US.
Meanwhile, in September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had claimed that the Indian government was involved in the June assassination of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
Jaishankar made it clear that treating the two issues equally was out of the question.
“Insofar as the US is concerned, certain inputs were given to us as part of our security cooperation with the United States. Those inputs were of concern to us because they related to the nexus of organised crime, trafficking and other matters. Because it has a bearing on our own national security, it was decided to institute an inquiry into the matter and an inquiry committee has been constituted. Insofar as Canada is concerned, no specific evidence or inputs were provided to us. So the question of equitable treatment to two countries, one of whom who has provided inputs and one of whom who has not, does not arise,” he said, Indian Express reported.
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