India on Monday asked Canadian diplomats in New Delhi to leave the country by Saturday after Ottawa said it was investigating its Indian ambassador and other diplomats as “persons of interest”, after the killing last year of a Sikh separatist leader.
In a tit-for-tat move, Canada too has asked six Indian diplomats to leave the country after police collected evidence they were part of an Indian government “campaign of violence”.
“The Government of India has decided to expel the following 6 Canadian Diplomats: Mr. Stewart Ross Wheeler, Acting High Commissioner; Mr. Patrick Hebert, Deputy High Commissioner; Ms. Marie Catherine Joly, First Secretary; Mr. lan Ross David Trites, First Secretary; Mr. Adam James Chuipka, First Secretary; Ms. Paula Orjuela, First Secretary. They have been asked to leave India by or before 11:59 PM on Saturday, October 19, 2024,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press statement.
Earlier today, India had summoned Canada’s Charge d’Affaires Stewart Wheeler and conveyed that the baseless targeting of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.
Withdrawing its own diplomats, New Delhi stated it has “no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security” after strongly dismissing Ottawa’s allegations linking the envoy to an investigation into the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a major downturn in already frosty ties between the two nations.
New Delhi said their envoy, Sanjay Kumar Verma, a former ambassador to Japan and Sudan, was a respected career diplomat and that accusations against him were “ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt”.
It said it was underlined to the Canada’s Charge d’Affaires that in an atmosphere of extremism and violence, the Trudeau Government’s actions endangered their safety and the government had decided to withdraw its High Commissioner to Canada and other targeted diplomats and officials.
The government conveyed that India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the “Trudeau Government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India”.
“Prime Minister Trudeau’s hostility to India has long been in evidence. In 2018, his visit to India, which was aimed at currying favour with a vote bank, rebounded to his discomfort. His Cabinet has included individuals who have openly associated with an extremist and separatist agenda regarding India. His naked interference in Indian internal politics in December 2020 showed how far he was willing to go in this regard,” the Ministry said.
Nijjar — who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015 — had advocated for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, carved out of India. He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
The relations between India and Canada came under severe strain following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar.
Nijjar was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia, in June last year. New Delhi had rejected Trudeau’s charges as “absurd”.
