The United States Embassy is said to have brushed aside a Politico report that claimed Ambassador Eric Garcetti had taken the position that relations between India and the United States “could get worse for a time” due to New Delhi’s spat with Ottawa and that Washington may have to “reduce” contacts with Indian officials for “an undefined period of time”.
“Ambassador Garcetti is working hard every day to deepen the partnership between the people and governments of the United States and India. As his personal engagement and public schedule demonstrates, Ambassador Garcetti and the US Mission to India are working every day to advance the important, strategic, and consequential partnership we have with India”,a spokesperson for the Embassy said in a statement reported by news agency PTI .
Politico has maintained that the State Department would not officially comment on what has been attributed to Ambassador Garcetti but has quoted an unnamed official saying that the top American official in New Delhi “… is a champion of our strong partnership with the Indian people and the Indian government. Our relationship with India is an important, strategic, and consequential partnership".
Relations between India and Canada have taken a turn for the worse after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the government of India of having had a hand in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a named terrorist by India, in Vancouver this June.
The Canadian Prime Minister based his charge against India on so-called credible allegations only; and tried to rope in members of the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance, most of whom have stayed out of the diplomatic tiff. India has labelled Canadian charges as “absurd” and “motivated”.
What set the downtrend in process was with Ottawa packing a top Indian diplomat which was responded by New Delhi. Subsequently there have been reports that India has asked Canada to take back home some 41 of its diplomats seen to be in excess.
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