India-Canada row: S Jaishankar, Canadian FM held secret meeting in US to address crisis, says report

Amid the diplomatic standoff between India and Canada, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly reportedly held a secret meeting with India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Washington a few days back. However, no statements have been made in this regard so far by Canada's and India's foreign ministries.  

British newspaper Financial Times, citing people familiar with the situation, reported that the Canadian government was trying to sort out the strained diplomatic situation with New Delhi, following reports that Canadian diplomats had been given a deadline to leave India or risk losing their diplomatic immunity.

The Canadian Foreign Minister had earlier stated that the country seeks private talks with New Delhi to resolve the diplomatic crisis.

"We are in contact with the government of India. We take Canadian diplomats' safety very seriously and we will continue to engage privately because we think diplomatic conversations are best when they remain private," the Canadian minister said.  

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had also said that his country is not looking to escalate the situation with India. Canada will continue to "engage responsibly and constructively with New Delhi", Trudeau said.

Canada has evacuated a majority of its diplomats working in India outside of New Delhi to either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore after it gave Ottawa an October 10 deadline to reduce its diplomatic staff to achieve parity in strength following a row over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, according to a media report on Friday.

India-Canada row

India and Canada are embroiled in a diplomatic standoff following allegations by Justin Trudeau in the Canadian Parliament last month that "Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing" of Khalistan extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil on June 18 in British Columbia.

India rejected the allegations as "absurd" and "motivated" and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa's expulsion of an Indian official over the case.

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