[Source: Reuters]

Canada this week divulged it had intelligence possibly linking Indian government agents to the murder of a separatist Sikh leader, the kind of news that usually sparks uproar among democratic allies. Not this time.

India is being courted by the United States and others as a counterweight to China, and Trudeau’s rare attack just days after New Delhi hosted a G20 Summit is putting Western nations in an awkward position.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that Canada was “actively pursuing credible allegations” that Indian agents had potentially been involved in the murder of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.

At that point Ottawa had already been discussing the matter with key allies such as the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance, which also includes the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

The results so far have been muted. Britain refused to publicly criticize India and said bilateral trade talks will continue as planned. Indeed, a statement from Foreign Secretary James Cleverly about the affair did not mention India by name.

Britain is in a difficult position, caught between supporting Canada and antagonizing India, a country it wants as a trading partner and ally to help confront China, said Chietigj Bajpaee, India expert at the Chatham House think tank in London.

White House national security adviser John Kirby said the United States was “deeply concerned” and encouraged Indian officials to cooperate in any investigation. India rejects the idea it was involved in the murder.

The Washington Post reported Trudeau had pushed for a joint statement condemning India at last week’s Group of 20 summit in New Delhi and was turned down by the United States and others.

Kirby said “any reports that we rebuffed Canada in any way whatsoever are false, and we will continue to coordinate and consult with them on this.”

The muted response to Trudeau’s allegations is stark when compared to the uproar after Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by nerve agent in England in 2018. Britain, the United States, Canada and others threw out more than 100 Russian diplomats to punish Moscow for an attack it has always denied carrying out.

With allies unwilling to contemplate any kind of joint condemnation of India, the Canadian options now look limited, at least until it can provide incontrovertible evidence.

Canadian government sources indicated they would have preferred to wait longer before making a statement but felt they had to act, given some domestic media outlets were about to break the story.

Trudeau would have never spoken “out loud if we didn’t have the information lining up into a fact base”, said one source, adding that they hoped more information would come soon.

Canada has not made public the intelligence it has because there is an active murder investigation, the senior source said.