India asks Canada to give evidence

India has asked Canada for providing specific information on the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.

Foreign Minister S 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.

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".

"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."

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a temple in British Columbia in June. He had been designated a terrorist by India in 2020 - an allegation his supporters vehemently deny.

The Indian government has often reacted sharply to demands by Sikh separatists in Western countries for Khalistan, or a separate Sikh homeland.

The Khalistan movement peaked in India in the 1980s with a violent insurgency centred in Sikh-majority Punjab state.