Biden, others raised concern over Canadian Sikh activist’s murder with Modi during G20

The Financial Times on Thursday reported that during the G20 conference this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was alerted by US President Joe Biden and other world leaders about allegations made by Canada.

The allegations claimed that India played a significant role in the assassination of a Canadian Sikh activist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, back in June.

The newspaper, citing three people with knowledge of the summit’s discussions, reported that several members of the Five Eyes, an intelligence-sharing network that includes the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, brought up the killing of Nijjar in British Columbia to Modi’s attention.

The summit was conducted in India days before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made his accusations public in a speech to the Canadian parliament, earlier this week.

According to the newspaper, the leaders intervened at the G20 summit after Canada urged its allies to raise the case directly with Modi.

Following Ottawa’s allegations over the killing of the Sikh activist leader, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan stated earlier on Thursday that Washington is in contact with New Delhi at top levels and is not granting India any “special exemption” in this regard, Reuters reported.

While India has denied and referred to Canada’s accusations as “absurd,” the crisis has further harmed relations between Canada and India.

On Thursday, India halted the issuance of new visas to Canadians and requested the country to scale back its diplomatic representation there.

Some Western countries are in a difficult situation because Canada has been a longtime ally and partner, and those governments are also attempting to forge close connections with India in order to counter China’s dominance in Asia.