India-Canada spat puts Western countries in a quandary

The ongoing spat between India and Canada following Canadaian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations that Indian agents were behind the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar’ at Surrey in British Columbia region of Canada in June this year has put the western countries in a difficult situation.

Both India and Canada have expelled one diplomat of each other and paused the Trade Mission talks signalling deterioration of the ties between the two countries.

The issuance of advisories by both India and Canada cautioning their citizens to avoid non-essential travel to each other’s countries have only added fuel to the already strained relations between the two nations.

Trudeau called the leaders of US, Australia, New Zealand and UK and sought their help in pressuring India to probe the allegations and also condemn Nijjar’s killing but they did not publicly condemn the killing and confined themselves to urging India to cooperate in the investigation.

While Canada is a member of the Five Eyes (Australia, US, UK, New Zealand, Canada) and shares its intelligence and investigation with them, all these countries also have very good relations with India. US, in particular, is looking to strengthen its relations with India to counter China’s growing influence in the world in general and in the Indo-Pacific in particular.

India is being courted by the United States and others as a counterweight to China, and this means Canada, with a population of just 40 million people, is severely outgunned diplomatically.

Interestingly Canada had already been discussing the matter with key allies such as the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance, which also includes the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

The results so far have been muted. Britain refused to publicly criticize India and said bilateral trade talks will continue as planned. Indeed, a statement from Foreign Secretary James Cleverly about the affair did not mention India by name.

The White House is "deeply concerned" about allegations that Indian agents were potentially involved in the murder of a Khalistani terrorist in British Columbia earlier this year and encourages India officials to cooperate in any investigation, White House national security spokesman John Kirby.