India: India has ordered a senior Canadian diplomat to leave India hours after Ottawa expelled an Indian diplomat over the killing of a Sikh separatist earlier this year.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that “the High Commissioner of Canada to India was summoned today and informed about the decision of the Government of India to expel a senior Canadian diplomat based in India. The concerned diplomat has been asked to leave India within the next five days. The decision reflects the Government of India’s growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities.”
The expulsions come as relations between Canada and India are tense. Trade talks have been derailed, and Canada just cancelled a trade mission to India that was planned later this year.
India expels a senior Canadian Diplomat: https://t.co/TS8LHCUuuY pic.twitter.com/Y0pXq3v1DG
— Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) September 19, 2023
Protests by pro-Sikh independence groups in Canada have angered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Recently, Canada said it was “actively pursuing credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a cultural centre in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18. Mr. Nijjar was reportedly organising an unofficial referendum in India for an independent Sikh nation at the time of his death.
India dismissed the Canadian accusation as “absurd and motivated” and urged it instead to take legal action against anti-Indian elements operating from its soil. In 2022, the Indian authorities announced a cash reward for information leading to Mr. Nijjar’s arrest, accusing him of involvement in an alleged attack on a Hindu priest in India.
The Canadian Prime Minister Mr. Justin Trudeau recently told the parliament that he brought up Mr. Nijjar’s killing with Modi at the Group of 20 (G20) Summit last week. The PM noted that he told Mr. Modi that any Indian government involvement would be unacceptable and that he asked for cooperation in the investigation.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. In the strongest possible terms, I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,” the PM commented.
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