US calls for India, Canada to cooperate; NIA cracks down

Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, said on Friday that the US has been consulting, even coordinating, with Canada on its allegation linking the government of India with a killing on its soil, and wants the Canadian investigation to proceed, India to cooperate with the investigation, and the investigation to lead to accountability

- Prashant Jha

The US, he added, was "extremely vigilant" about any instances of "alleged transnational repression", and took it "very, very seriously" as a broader issue. While he said it in the context of Canada's allegation, the broader issue in the international system he alluded to appears to be a reference to US criticism of China for its pattern of transnational repression in the West.

Blinken made his first set of comments on the issue at a press conference in New York on Friday on Canada's allegation linking "agents" of the government of India to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist and a Canadian citizen, on Canadian soil.

Blinken's comments came hours before India intensified its crackdown against the secessionist Khalistani network which is at the heart of the row. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) used legal provisions for the first time to confiscate the properties of Canadabased "designated individual terrorist" Gurpatwant Singh Pannu.

Pannu is the self-styled general counsel of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a pro-Khalistan organisation banned by India in 2019.