Diplomatic relations in tatters between India and Canada | EUROtoday

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From our correspondent

NEW DELHI – Diplomatic relations between India and Canada plunged to their lowest level ever Monday night when Ottawa introduced the expulsion of six diplomats from New Delhi – together with the excessive commissioner, the equal of an envoy between the nations of the Commonwealth – on the idea of “clear and convincing evidence” of their previous and current involvement “in activities which pose a significant threat to public safety”. The accusation, which refers back to the assassination of a dissident of Indian origin, was made instantly by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau throughout a press convention throughout which he outlined New Delhi’s habits as “unacceptable”.

Before him, in a unique briefing with journalists, a senior police official had accused India of waging an unlimited marketing campaign towards its political targets in Canada, resorting to extortion and homicide. In a press release, the Canadian Foreign Ministry defined that the choice to expel the six diplomats was taken after cautious consideration and solely after the Canadian police had gathered proof of the six’s involvement in a homicide.

New Delhi responded by taking the lead, saying it had recalled its representatives as a result of the Canadian authorities would now not have the ability to assure their security. He then expelled an equal variety of Canadian diplomats, together with the performing excessive commissioner and his deputy.

A crescendo that started final yr

Tensions between India and Canada started to rise final yr when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Modi authorities of getting performed a task within the killing in Canada of a Canadian citizen of Indian origin whom New Delhi thought of a terrorist his ties to a separatist motion. India has all the time denied any involvement within the homicide of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a frontrunner of the Sikh motion that’s combating for the creation of an unbiased state referred to as Khalistan in a portion of Indian territory that’s a part of Punjab. To complicate the Indian place in the identical months because the outbreak of the Nijjar case, an identical accusation got here from the United States, whose safety forces had foiled an identical operation, once more traced again to the New Delhi authorities, towards a Sikh dissident resident within the USA.