New Delhi: Even as Ottawa updated the travel advisory for its citizens in India asking them to “remain vigilant and exercise caution”, all eyes are on External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar’s address to the 78th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Tuesday evening, when he is expected to give a point-by-point rebuttal to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “credible allegations” over India’s involvement in the killing Hardeep Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia.
India had designated Nijjar as a Pakistan-trained Khalistani terrorist in 2020.
Reports said since Trudeau chose Canadian Parliament to make those unsubstantiated allegations, Jaishankar may respond in his style in his speech to UNGA, before boarding a train to Washington DC for bilateral meetings with Biden administration, where he is likely to discuss validity and credibility of the evidence provided by Five Eyes Alliance to Canada on Nijjar’s killing.
Hours before his address, the EAM discussed India’s G20 Presidency, regional issues and global challenges, sustainable development goals and Security Council reforms with UN leadership. He also met various world leaders, including the President of UNGA and his counterparts from Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mexico, and Cambodia, and also participated in an event discussing partnerships and highlighted the double standards prevalent in the world.
On the other hand, Ottawa reportedly informed the South Block before updating its travel advisory to India over “calls for protests and some negative sentiment towards Canada on social media” and added that nothing much should be read into it.
The Canadian government’s move comes after New Delhi issued a similar advisory on September 20, urging Indian students and NRIs in Canada to exercise caution due to increasing anti-India activities and what it described as “politically-condoned hate crimes”, and halted visa services.
In a strongly-worded advisory, the MEA Ministry had referred to “threats” targeting Indian diplomats and sections of the Indian community that oppose the “anti-India agenda”, and asked Indian nationals to avoid travelling to regions and potential venues in Canada which have seen such incidents.
(with inputs from TOI, HT and Newsonair)
