Toronto: Days after India and Canada expelled their top envoys and several diplomats, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly on Friday said that the remaining Indian diplomats in the country are “clearly on notice.” This came after Canada named the Indian High Commissioner in Ottawa as a person of interest in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Joly emphasised that the government would not tolerate any diplomats who violate the Vienna Convention or endanger the lives of Canadians.
India had expelled six Canadian diplomats earlier in the week and announced the withdrawal of its High Commissioner from Canada after rejecting Ottawa’s allegations linking the envoy to the investigation into the killing of Nijjar. Canada, in response, said it had expelled six Indian diplomats.
Joly compared India’s actions to those of Russia, stating that Canada’s national police force had connected Indian diplomats to homicides, death threats, and intimidation in Canada. “We’ve never seen that in our history. That level of transnational repression cannot happen on Canadian soil. We’ve seen it elsewhere in Europe. Russia has done that in Germany and the UK and we needed to stand firm on this issue,” she said in Montreal.
When asked if additional Indian diplomats would be expelled, Joly replied, “They are clearly on notice. Six of them have been expelled, including the high commissioner in Ottawa. Others were mainly from Toronto and Vancouver, and clearly, we won’t tolerate any diplomats that are in contravention of the Vienna Convention.”
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) publicly accused Indian diplomats of targeting Sikh separatists in Canada by sharing intelligence with the Indian government. According to the RCMP, top Indian officials were passing this information to organized crime groups, including the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which allegedly targeted Canadian citizens through violent means such as drive-by shootings, extortion, and murder. Testifying before a public inquiry, Trudeau claimed that Indian diplomats were gathering intelligence on Canadians who are in disagreement with the Narendra Modi government and passing it to the high-ranking Indian officials and criminal organisations like the Bishnoi gang.
Tensions between India and Canada escalated following Prime Minister Trudeau’s claims in September last year, accusing Indian agents of “potential” involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead in Surrey, British Columbia.
India has dismissed these accusations as absurd and politically motivated and has criticised Trudeau’s government for its perceived leniency toward supporters of the Khalistan movement residing in Canada.
Nijjar, 45, who was declared a terrorist by India, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18 last year. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland. Four Indian nationals living in Canada were charged with Nijjar’s murder and are awaiting trial.
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