External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that the Canadian allegations with regard to the death of a Khalistani terrorist was discussed during his meeting with the Secretary of State Antony Blinken a day earlier. He also noted that the two delegations came out “better informed” after the meeting.

“Yes, I did,” Jaishankar said in response to a question during his appearance at the Hudson Institute think-tank when asked if the issue of Canadian allegations came up during his meeting with Blinken.

The US side shared its assessments on this whole situation and he explained to the Americans a summary of India’s concerns. “I think hopefully we both came out better informed,” the EAM added.

Jaishankar said in the last few years, the issue of Khalistan has come back very much into play, because of what “we consider to be a very permissive Canadian attitude towards terrorists, extremists, people who openly advocate violence and they have been given operating space in Canada because of the compulsions of Canadian politics.”

“I don’t think most Americans, perhaps Canada, looks very different, it sort of depends, from where the interests where the shoe pinches. For us, it has certainly been a country where organised crime from India, mixed with trafficking in people mixed with cessationism, violence, terrorism. It’s a very toxic combination of issues and people who have found operating space there,” he said.

A lot of “our tensions with Canada which well preceded what Mr. Trudeau said, I actually come out of that. And today, I’m actually in a situation where my diplomats are unsafe going to the embassy or to the consulates in Canada,” he added.

Noting that Indian diplomats in Canada were publicly intimidated, the EAM said, “That has actually compelled me to temporarily suspend even visa operations in Canada. So, as I said, you know, often countries look very different depending on how you see them and what your interests are, but I have this problem in Canada.”