Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar has arrived in US Capital Washington DC to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken today, September 28. The two diplomats are supposed to engage in bilateral talks and the ongoing India-Canada row over the killing of a Khalistani terrorist in Canada is also expected to come up prominently during the talks.
The agenda for this meeting has not been declared yet by either side however, the US seems to have made a clear stand on the India-Canada row ahead of this high-level meeting.
US: EAM Jaishankar arrives in Washington DC; set to meet Blinken, Tai
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) September 28, 2023
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/hVkBK2E7M1 #Jaishankar #US #WashingtonDC pic.twitter.com/nbX1XcVJTf
In addition to his meeting with Mr Blinken, the external affairs minister is expected to have a series of meetings with senior officials of the Biden administration, review the progress made between the two countries after the historic State Visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June and talk about other regional and global issues.
Apart from this, the minister is also expected to engage with the diaspora, think-tank community and interact with leaders from the corporate sector.
Jaishankar and Blinken are scheduled to meet at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department on Thursday afternoon which is about midnight in Indian local time. According to media reports, both diplomats will only pose for pictures together and not engage with the media.
In a press conference, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters “I don’t want to preview the conversations he (Blinken) will have in that meeting (with Jaishankar), but as we’ve made clear, we’ve raised this; we have engaged with our Indian counterparts on this and encouraged them to cooperate with the Canadian investigation, and we continue to encourage them to cooperate.”
While the meeting between the two top diplomats was scheduled way before the Canadian crisis broke out, the US has been urging India to cooperate in the Canadian investigation into the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia early this year in June.
Miller had also mentioned that the issue of the deteriorating relationship between India-Canada did not come up in the discussion between Jaishankar and Blinken on the sidelines of UNGA. The Quad meeting also saw the presence of Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa.
Miller said “It was a meeting of a number of countries and it did not come up in that meeting. But we have engaged with our Indian counterparts on this issue and urged them to fully cooperate with the Canadian investigation.”
#WATCH | On being asked if the issue of Canadian allegations were raised during talks between EAM Dr S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says, "…That was not a bilateral meeting. It was a meeting of a number of… pic.twitter.com/hE8sLicUex
— ANI (@ANI) September 27, 2023
India and Canada are now engaged in a diplomatic standoff as a result of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of India’s involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani extremist, outside a Gurdwara in Surrey in British Columbia in June this year.
Replying to this allegation the Ministry of External Affairs in India released a statement rejecting Trudeau’s claims and called these allegations “absurd” and “motivated”. In a tit-for-tat situation, New Delhi also expelled a senior Canadian diplomat from India after Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official. India has also asked Canada to crack down on terrorists and anti-India elements operating from its soil and suspended visa services for Canadians.
(With Agency Inputs)
Copyright © 2025 Top Indian News
