MONTREAL: Canada mentioned on Thursday (Oct 19) it had withdrawn 41 diplomats from India – fallout from a bitter row over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.
New Delhi deliberate to revoke diplomatic immunity for all however 21 of Canada’s diplomats and their households by Friday, forcing Ottawa to tug out the others, International Affairs Minister Melanie Joly mentioned.
“We’ve got facilitated their secure departure from India,” Joly added. “Which means that our diplomats and their households have now left.”
Relations between India and Canada have plunged since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau final month publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which New Delhi has denied.
Nijjar, who advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was needed by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit homicide.
“Revoking the diplomatic immunity of 41 diplomats isn’t solely unprecedented, but in addition opposite to worldwide legislation,” Joly mentioned Wednesday, however mentioned Canada didn’t plan to retaliate in sort, in order to not “irritate the state of affairs”.
“Canada will proceed to defend worldwide legislation, which applies to all nations and can proceed to have interaction with India,” she mentioned.
“Now greater than ever we’d like diplomats on the bottom and we have to discuss to 1 one other,” Joly added.
COUNTERMEASURES
Canada has called for India to cooperate within the investigation however New Delhi has rejected the allegations and brought countermeasures, akin to shutting down visa services for Canadians.
Ottawa additionally expelled an Indian diplomat over the affair.
Indian Exterior Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar mentioned final month in New York that his nation can be willing to examine any evidence presented by Canada.
“We’ve got truly been badgering the Canadians. We have given them a great deal of details about organized crime management which operates out of Canada,” Jaishankar mentioned, referring to Sikh separatists.
“We’ve got a state of affairs the place truly our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked and sometimes feedback are made (which are) interference in our politics,” he mentioned.
