“Deeply concerned”: US State Department reacts to Trudeau’s allegations against India

The US Department of State has expressed concern over the allegations levelled by Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau against India over the killing of Khalistani leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

"We are deeply concerned about the allegations referenced by PM Trudeau yesterday. We remain in regular contact with our Canadian partners. It is critical that Canada's investigation proceed and the perpetrators be brought to justice," a US State Department spokesperson told ANI.

A day after Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau levelled 'allegations' on India being linked to the killing of Khalistan Tiger Force Chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Trudeau said on Tuesday that Ottawa wants New Delhi to address the issue properly, CBC News reported.

Trudeau said that Canada is not trying to provoke India by any means.

"We are not looking to provoke or escalate. We are simply laying out the facts as we understand them," the Canadian Prime Minister told reporters, according to CBC news.

"The government of India needs to take this matter with the utmost seriousness. We are doing that," he said.

"As for Canada, I said yesterday...we are going to remain calm, we are going to remain grounded in our democratic principles and values.... and we are going to follow the evidence and make sure the work is done...," he added.CBC News is a Canada-based media company, a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Najjar, who was wanted in India, was gunned down outside a Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada's Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.

Hailing from Bharsinghpur village in Punjab's Jalandhar, Nijjar was based in Surrey and had been declared "absconder" by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Canadian PM Trudeau on Monday alleged the Indian government of being behind the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Trudeau on Monday (US local time) claimed that his country's national security officials had reasons to believe that "agents of the Indian government" carried out the killing of the Canadian citizen, who also served as the president of Surrey's Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.

"Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar," Trudeau said.

India has, however, rejected the allegations by Canadian PM Trudeau regarding the government’s involvement in the fatal shooting of Nijjar. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) termed the allegations ‘absurd ‘and ‘motivated’.

“We have seen and reject the statement of the Canadian Prime Minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their Foreign Minister,” said the MEA in an official statement.