US supports probe into killing of Sikh separatist leader, urges India to 'fully cooperate’

The United States has expressed its support for Canada's efforts to investigate the assassination of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. US National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday said that the White House is "deeply concerned" about allegations that Indian agents were potentially involved in the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada and encourages India to cooperate in any investigation, Reuters reported.

This comes just two days after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations of a "potential" involvement of Indian government agents in the case kicked up a major diplomatic row between New Delhi and Ottawa.

In his statement in the House of Commons on Monday, Trudeau said that "any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty."

"We are deeply concerned" Kirby said of the allegations, as quoted by the news agency. He added, "We encourage India to fully cooperate."

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Canadian Khalistani separatist leader, was shot dead by two gunmen in Surrey on June 18.

On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that weeks before Trudeau’s allegations against India, Canada had asked its closest allies, including the US, to publicly condemn the Sikh separatist leader’s killing, but the requests were turned down.

The killing of Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, was raised privately by several senior officials of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing nations in the weeks before this month’s Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, the Washington Post had reported. The Five Eyes alliance of intelligence sharing includes Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the US and Canada.

The Canadian foreign ministry also said that claims that “Canada asked allies to publicly condemn the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and were subsequently rebuffed, are false.”

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