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Weighing in on Canada charging New Delhi with the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the US recently claiming an Indian link to an alleged foiled assassination plot against pro-Khalistan radical Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Australia's High Commissioner Philip Green, said his country views the issue less as a Five-Eyes partner and more as a friend of India.
He said these issues are discussed "sensitively", and carefully behind closed doors. Speaking at an interactive session, hosted by the Asia Society Policy Institute, the Australian High Commissioner to India said, "Australia's engagement with India on this issue is less as a Five-Eyes partner and more as a friend of India and a country that is respectful of India with which we have a mature relationship. We discuss these issues, sensitively, and carefully behind closed doors." Green's remarks came in response to a question on the US linking New Delhi to an alleged thwarted plot to assassinate a "US-based leader of the Sikh Separatist Movement and a citizen in New York" and Canada's claim of an India hand in the killing of a Sikh extremist Nijjar. "And I don't propose to go any further today than the statements that my foreign minister and our department have made about our anxieties over these measures," the Australian High Commissioner said in response to this question, adding, "I will say that, you know, We are on a strong trajectory in India, and our bilateral partnership continues to grow and flourish." Significantly, the US Justice Department had claimed that an Indian government employee, who was not identified in the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan, recruited a fellow native, identified as Nikhil Gupta, to hire a hitman to allegedly assassinate Pannun, who is a dual-citizen of the US and Canada. It added that the alleged plot was foiled by the US authorities. The Justice Department claimed that Gupta, an associate of CC-1 (an unidentified person who directed the alleged plot), described his involvement in international narcotics and weapons trafficking in his communications with CC-1. The indictment claims CC -1 directed the assassination plot from India. An inquiry team has already been put together in India to look into these claims. Earlier, in September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that his administration had reasons to believe that India was behind the assassination of Khalistani terrorist Nijjar on Canadian territory. However, the allegations were outrightly rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs, which labelled them as absurd and motivated. (ANI)
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