'Appreciate Cooperation': US After Meeting Indian Panel As Trudeau Admits 'No Hard Proof'

Washington: The meeting between the US and India on a probe over the alleged foiled assassination plot of Khalistani terrorist Guprpatwant Singh Pannun was ‘productive,’ said Mathew Miller, US State Department Spokesperson on Wednesday, October 16.  He added that the United States is ‘satisfied’ with India's cooperation while they continue the process.

Miller said at a press conference, "...It was a productive meeting. They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government. We are satisfied with the cooperation. It continues to be an ongoing process. We continue to work with them on that, but we do appreciate the cooperation and we appreciate them updating us on their investigation as we update them on ours."

Furthermore, answering a question on the visit of India Enquiry Committee's officials, which is investigating the American allegations of involvement of an Indian official in the assassination plot of a Sikh separatist, who is also an American citizen, the US spokesperson said, "The meeting that occurred yesterday – we updated – we being the US government broadly – updated members of the Committee of Inquiry about the investigation that the United States has been conducting. We’ve received an update from them on the investigation that they have been conducting. It was a productive meeting and I will leave it at that,” Miller said.

"They did inform us that the individual, who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government," he added.

Trudeau Admits No Hard Proof Against India Over Baseless Charges

This comes as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted that his accusations against the Indian government in connection to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a wanted terrorist in India, were based solely on intelligence and lacked "hard evidentiary proof." While testifying before the foreign interference inquiry, Trudeau said we (Canada) only had intelligence inputs that they shared with India.

However, Trudeau had earlier this week claimed that India's envoy to Canada was a “person of interest” triggering a diplomatic crisis that eventually led to India recalling its ambassador from Ottawa and expelling six top Canadian envoys from New Delhi.

India-Canada Relations:

Relations between India and Canada are at a low point as the countries expelled each other's top diplomats over an ongoing dispute about the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada.

Canada said it had identified India’s top diplomat in the country as a person of interest in an assassination plot and expelled him and five other diplomats Monday. India has rejected the accusations as absurd, and its foreign ministry said it was expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response.

It’s the latest in an escalating dispute over the June 2023 killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.