US confirms intelligence sharing by Five Eyes made Canada allege India role

Wading into the ongoing diplomatic showdown between India and Canada David Cohen the US Ambassador to Canada said it was shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners that led the Trudeau administration to make the claim of a potential link between agents of the Indian government and the killing of separatist Sikh leader Hardeep Singh NijjarThe Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia Canada New Zealand the US and the UKCanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau set the cat among the pigeons on Monday claiming that Ottawa had credible intelligence linking Indian agents to the killing of Nijjar in VancouverIndia however dismissed the allegations calling them absurd and motivatedI will say this was a matter of shared intelligence information There was a lot of communication between Canada and the United States about this and I think thats as far as Im comfortable going Cohen told CTV News in an interviewCTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network of CanadaHowever Cohen refrained detailing the type of intelligence shared by the Five Eyes partners with the Canadian governmentEarlier this week Trudeau had told reporters that officials had been working closely with intelligence agencies since the summer to make sure that we had solid grounding in understanding what was going onOn the floor of the Canadian Parliament Trudeau said any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil represents an unacceptable violation of the countrys sovereignty He also labelled the alleged killing as contrary to the fundamental rules by which free open and democratic societies conduct themselvesIf the allegations prove to be true it is a potentially very serious breach of the rulesbased international order in which we like to function Cohen added in the interviewEarlier on Friday local time US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was deeply concerned over Trudeaus allegations of an India hand in the killing of the proKhalistan leader NijjarSaying that the US wants to see accountability in the matter the envoy said it was important that the investigation runs its course and leads to the resultAddressing a press conference in New York City earlier Blinken said the US has engaged directly with the Indian government adding that Washington was also consulting very closely with Canada and coordinating on the issue He called it important that India works with the Canadians on the investigation into the killingMeanwhile addressing a news conference in New York City on Thursday Trudeau failed to present any evidence to back his claims The Canadian Prime Minister was repeatedly quizzed on the nature of the allegations but stuck to reiterating that there were credible reasons to believe that India was linked to the death of NijjarA designated terrorist in India Nijjar was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey British Columbia on June 18Both countries expelled each otheracirciquestiquests senior diplomats amid escalating tensions and the growing diplomatic standoffIndia also halted visa services to Canadian citizensThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever