India asks Canada for info on Sikh leader's murder

NEW YORK, Sept 27 (BBC): India is open to looking into any "specific" information Canada provides on the killing of a Sikh separatist leader, the country's foreign minister said. S Jaishankar was referring to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in June.

Tensions flared up after Canada recently said it was investigating "credible allegations" linking the Indian state with the murder. India dismissed the claim as "absurd".

Mr Jaishankar said that the Indian government had told Canada that it was open to investigating any "relevant" allegations about the murder while insisting that Delhi had no role in it. He was speaking at an event in New York ahead of his address at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

"One, we told the Canadians that this [extrajudicial killings] is not the government of India's policy," he said. "Two, we told the Canadians saying that look, if you have something specific, if you have something relevant, you know, let us know - we are open to looking at it."