NEW DELHI: According to a Financial Times article, Canada has been asked to return more than 40 of its diplomats from India by India. According to individuals acquainted with the situation, New Delhi has set a deadline of October 10 for the return.
According to the publication, India had previously requested that Canada’s 62 diplomats there be cut by 41.
When ties between the two nations reached an all-time low as a result of Ottawa’s accusations against New Delhi over the killing of a Khalistani separatist on Canadian soil, India had already requested that Canada scale back its diplomatic presence there.
Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for the ministry of external affairs, claimed that the size of Canada’s diplomatic staff in India was more than that of New Delhi’s staff in Canada and that there should be parity in both strength and rank in the two countries’ presences.
Relationships between India and Canada have reached an all-time low as a result of Canadian suspicions that operatives of the Indian government were involved in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in June. India had previously designated Nijjar as a “terrorist” and Canada.
The accusation has been rejected by India as ludicrous. An “atmosphere of intimidation” and a “climate of violence” against Indian diplomats in Canada, according to earlier comments by Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar.
