Tensions heat up as India demands Canada withdraw 41 of its diplomats from the country, according to the Financial Times. This is the latest escalation in a series of blows resulting from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s accusation that the Indian government was involved with the June murder of a Sikh political dissident, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on Canadian soil.
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One source claimed India threatened to revoke diplomatic immunity from any officials who did not leave by October 10th.
In response, Canada called on India to engage in private talks to resolve the dispute, according to Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Tuesday.
“Obviously, we are going through an extremely challenging time with India right now, but that’s why it is so important for us to have diplomats on the ground working with the Indian government and there to support Canadians and Canadian families,” Trudeau said.
Last month, Trudeau announced that the Canadian government received “credible allegations” that the Indian government was connected to the murder of Nijjar, a leading figure in the Sikh religious community who had been branded a “terrorist” by India in 2020. They claimed he had ties to the Khalistan Tiger Force, a militant separatist movement attempting to create an autonomous Sikh nation in India’s Punjab region. Punjab, which is inhabited by nearly 16 million Sikhs, was divided between Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India by the British in 1947.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said in a statement delivered in Canada’s legislature. “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.”
India rebuked his allegations, calling them “absurd and motivated” while at the same time claiming that Canada was serving as a haven to extremists affiliated with the Khalistan movement.
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