When the dust finally settles the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, must wonder why he started it all. Apart from a handful of his Khalistani supporters few seem to have fallen for the bait—that agents of India or the government itself could have had a hand in the killing of separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver this June. The only silver lining for the Premier is that the Biden administration is slowly lining up beside its “closest” ally. But a word of caution any time Washington rises up to the occasion.

Secretary of State, Tony Blinken told reporters in New York “It would be important that India worked with the Canadians on this investigation”. The senior official could have stopped with this but went on to add “ We want to see accountability and it’s important that the investigation run its course and lead that to that result”. And Blinken had something general for the international community: do not engage in “transnational repression” as the United States took it “very, very seriously”. The bottom line: “… that any country that might consider engaging in such acts not to not do so”.

Prime Minister Trudeau who was also in New York once again talked of India’s “alleged” role in the killing of a Canadian in Canada as this was “ of the utmost and foundational importance in a country of rule of law, in a world where international rules-based order matters”. In one stroke, Washington and Ottawa were talking about two critical principles of democracies—accountability and adherence to rules based international order. 

The problem with Trudeau is that even Canadians are baffled that their Prime Minister could be ranting against India based on “allegations”—of course in his view deemed to be ‘credible’—without providing a shred of evidence. And to back up on the “allegations” are carefully planted leaks in the media that Official Canada, with the help of a Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance member, had specific information thanks to eavesdropping and electronic intercepts. Anything made public? Nada

What Prime Minister Trudeau does not realise is that he has himself tainted Canadian agencies’ investigations by letting them know what he wants to hear; and hence a major question mark on how objective the exercise is going to be. Further in calling upon New Delhi to cooperate on the matter, Ottawa conveniently forgets that this is a two way street—for close to 40 years Indian intelligence has ran into a wall with Canadian counterparts.

It has not just to do with Sikhs with an anti-India agenda; it had to do with known terrorists having definite plans to harm India and its interests. The bombing of Air India Kanishka in 1985 was proof enough of Canadian intelligence sitting on information that could have prevented a tragedy of colossal proportions. Worse, the investigation into the disaster only added insult to injury, according to many knowledgeable and well meaning persons.

“The government needs to take responsibility to avoid further failure and to prevent a return to a culture of complacency,” said Justice John Major, the head of the Kanishka bombing inquiry commission upon finalising the report some 25 years after the worst ever civil aviation disaster. “This is a Canadian atrocity… This was the largest mass-murder in Canadian history,” said Major. But  many believe that the last word on either the bombing or the finer aspects of the investigations has not been said.

What lends an ironic touch to the ongoing India-Canada diplomatic spat is the United States jumping into fray, but not before Prime Minister Trudeau reaching out to President Joe Biden. Laughable in this context is Secretary Blinken talking of accountability and rules based order. These did not seem to matter when in the name of the war on terror, Washington literally went on a killing spree even picking off its own citizens on foreign soil. 

Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama are better candidates to talk about accountability and rules based order. Or President Donald Trump can throw some light on the killing of Iranian General Soleimani in Iraq in 2020.

It is not a question of the Biden administration having to pick India over Canada. It is one of how comfortable Washington would be in the thought of a dubious network in its neighbourhood not of individuals just involved in narco, human or weapons trafficking; but of hardened thugs with deep connections to global terror networks and perhaps well trained in a known epi-center of terrorism in South Asia. 

• Currently Editor in Chief of New India Abroad, the author was Special Correspondent for the Hindu covering North America and United Nations in Washington DC..