The U.S. Should Stand with Canada

If the Indian government really did carry out a targeted assassination of a Canadian citizen, the U.S. won’t be able to whitewash that with boilerplate rhetoric about shared interests and values.

Bloomberg reports on the fallout from Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s announcement that his government believes that the Indian government was behind the June murder of Sikh activist and community leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s shocking allegations that India orchestrated the murder of a separatist leader leaves President Joe Biden caught between one of the US’s closest allies and an increasingly important partner in countering China.

The Indian government denies the allegations, but it is doubtful that the Canadian government would have made the accusation publicly if it didn’t have sufficient evidence to back up its claim. The cautious response so far from the Biden administration isn’t surprising, since the president has made a point of cultivating closer ties with Narendra Modi. The U.S. has been looking the other way for years while Modi has presided over democratic backsliding and increasing repression, but this time the administration may not be able to get away with ignoring the problem. If the Indian government really did carry out a targeted assassination of a Canadian citizen, the U.S. won’t be able to whitewash that with boilerplate rhetoric about shared interests and values. The U.S. ought to stand with Canada and condemn the attack.