EAM Jaishankar meets US Secretary Blinken amid India-Canada diplomatic row

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken here, amid the diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of a Khalistani separatist.

"Good to be back here," Jaishankar said while appearing before the media along with Blinken before ahead of meeting.

Although officials from both sides are tightlipped about the agenda of the meeting, the latest diplomatic crisis between two of America's friends is expected to come up prominently during the talks.

"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, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told earlier reporters while responding to questions on Wednesday.

While the meeting between the two top diplomats was scheduled much 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.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has alleged that the Indian government was behind the killing of Nijjar on June 18. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020. India has rejected the allegations as "absurd" and "motivated".

Jaishankar, who arrived here from New York on Wednesday after addressing the 78th General Assembly session of the United Nations on Tuesday, earlier in the day met US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and discussed the progress in bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to take it forward. He also met US Trade Representative Katherine Tie.

During his stay in Washington, 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.