India said it was ready on Tuesday to examine evidence presented by Canada, which accuses it of involvement in the killing of a Sikh leader near Vancouver, while repeating its criticism of Ottawa.

India played its cards in good faith. New Delhi said it was ready on Tuesday to examine evidence presented by Canada, which accuses it of involvement in the killing of a leader of the Sikh religious community near Vancouver.

Relations between India and Canada have deteriorated since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said New Delhi was responsible for the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjard, who was born in India but held Canadian citizenship.

India dismissed the allegations as “absurd”.

When asked whether India would study the evidence provided by Canada, the Indian diplomacy chief, who visited New York on the occasion of the UN General Assembly, assured that New Delhi would examine the evidence provided by any country.

“If there is a problematic incident and someone gives me specific information as the government, of course I will investigate it,” said Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Ottawa’s accusations, described as “absurd” by India, led to a major diplomatic crisis between the two countries, marked by the mutual expulsion of diplomats, and the temporary suspension of the processing of visa applications in Canada by the Indian government.

“We actually harassed the Canadian authorities, we gave them a lot of information about organized crime leaders operating from Canada,” the Indian diplomacy chief defended.

“Our concerns relate only to the fact that Canada is very permissive for political reasons,” he later alleged. “We are in a situation where our diplomats are being threatened, our consulates are being attacked,” he condemned.

Independents targeted by New Delhi?

All eyes are on India because Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead in June by two masked men in the parking lot of the temple he led near Vancouver, was one of the leaders of the Sikh independence movement advocating the creation of a state, “Khalistan”. , in northern India.

Canada is home to the world’s largest Sikh community outside India, with 770,000 Canadians professing their faith in 2021, or 2% of the country’s population. Hundreds of them demonstrated on Monday in front of India’s diplomatic mission in Canada.