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Relations between countries continue to fracture over alleged assassination of Sikh separatist in British Columbia
Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi and Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Tue 3 Oct 2023 08.46 EDT
India has told Canada it must remove 41 diplomats from its embassy in Delhi amid a continuing diplomatic spat over Canadian accusations that India may have been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.
According to officials who spoke to the Financial Times, the Indian foreign ministry has given Canada a week to repatriate two-thirds of its diplomats stationed in India, reducing the number to 21. India’s ministry of external affairs declined to comment. An official familiar with the matter confirmed the report to the Associated Press.
Relations have deteriorated since the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said last month that there were “credible allegations” that Indian government agents were involved in the assassination of the Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June.
On Tuesday, Trudeau declined to comment on reports of the diplomatic expulsions, but said his government was not expecting to escalate the dispute. “We’re taking this extremely seriously, but we’re going to continue to engage responsibly and constructively with the government of India,” he told reporters. Later in the morning he described the situation between the two counties as “extremely challenging”.
Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said the country needed a “strong diplomatic footprint” in India. “In moments of tension – because indeed there are tensions between both our governments – more than ever it’s important that diplomats be on the ground,” Joly said.
Nijjar had been designated a terrorist by the Indian authorities, who accused him of involvement in militant groups and extremist activity, charges he had denied.
‘Very messy’: India-Canada row over Sikh killing causes diplomatic shock waves
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Trudeau had called on India to cooperate with the investigation into the killing but India dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and politically motivated. It swiftly escalated into a diplomatic row, as the two countries engaged in a tit-for-tat expulsion of top diplomats and India suspended all visa applications for Canadians.
