Amid the escalating dipomatic row between India and Canada, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a secret meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly in Washington, as per a report by British newspaper Financial Times. The diplomatic stand-off stemmed from Canada's explosive allegation of India's involvement in orchestrating the assassination of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
As of now, no official confirmation has been received from either of the two countries' governments .
What does the report say?
According to the report, the Canadian government was making efforts to resolve the diplomatic tension with New Delhi.The Canadian foreign minister had said earlier this month that they are trying to resolve the issue privately.
"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, following New Delhi's direction to reduce the diplomatic staff in India.
India-Canada Diplomatic Feud
The strain in diplomatic relations between India and Canada worsened following Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's remarks insinuating a "potential" involvement of Indian agents" in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.
Dismissing the allegations, India responded strongly and called the charges "absurd' and "motivated."
Retaliating to Canada's expulsion of an Indian official, New Delhi had also expelled a senior Canadian diplomat.
