The US embassy here on Thursday rejected reports that its ambassador Eric Garcetti alerted his team about possible impact of New Delhi’s diplomatic spat with Ottawa on India-US relations.
The denial came after American media outlet The Politico reported that “Garcetti also has said the US may need to reduce its contacts with Indian officials for an undefined period of time”. The report was titled “Why Biden’s mum on India-Canada spat”.
“The US embassy dismisses these reports. Ambassador Garcetti is working hard every day to deepen the partnership between the people and governments of the United States and India,” a US embassy spokesperson said, when asked about the report.
“As his personal engagement and public schedule demonstrates, Ambassador Garcetti and the US Mission to India are working every day to advance the important, strategic, and consequential partnership we have with India,” the spokesperson said.
The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.
India rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.
On September 21, India asked Canada to downsize its diplomatic presence in the country as relations between the two countries plunged to an all-time low following Ottawa’s allegations against New Delhi. India also announced temporarily suspending the issuance of visas to Canadian citizens.
The Politico, quoting an unnamed official, said, “Garcetti has told his in-country team that, because of the diplomatic spat with Canada, relations between India and the US could get worse for a time.”
The White House said on Tuesday that Canada’s allegations regarding India’s involvement in the killing of the separatist are “serious” and need to be investigated fully.
The Joe Biden administration has so far maintained that the Canadian government’s allegations need to be probed. The matter had come up during a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the former’s trip to the US.
The issue was also discussed when Jaishankar and National Security Advisor(NSA) Jake Sullivan met, John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, had said.
“We will certainly leave it to those two countries to talk about their bilateral relationship. We’ve been clear, these allegations are serious, they need to be fully investigated and of course, as we’ve said before, we urge India to participate actively in that investigation,” Kirby had said.
Earlier, The Washington Post had reported that Canadian officials had sought public condemnation of Nijjar’s murder from its allies, including the US, ahead of the G20 Summit, but found them reluctant.
