NEW DELHI: Speculation is rife on whether any Canadian diplomat has been posted out of India yet. This follows a story in the Financial Times suggesting that no Canadian diplomat has left India ahead of the October 10 deadline to downsize the mission.
It was also reported that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a secret meeting with his Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly in New York on the sidelines of the UNGA.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Canadian High Commission in Delhi refrained from making any comments on the issue, when contacted by The New Indian Express.
There has been a stalemate between India and Canada since the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau made allegations on India’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Trudeau made these allegations in the Canadian Parliament and also expelled an Indian diplomat.
India responded by calling this allegation 'absurd' and also expelled a Canadian diplomat.
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India went further and suspended visa services for Canadians. Jaishankar said that since Indian diplomats were threatened in Canada, it wasn’t possible for them to offer consulate services.
India went a step further and said there were far more Canadian diplomats in India than Indian diplomats in Canada, so the Canadian mission needed to downsize.
"We want to maintain parity and Canadian diplomats are seen interfering in our internal matters. Therefore, we would like the Canadian missions to downsize," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said earlier.
Meanwhile, Trudeau has been making phone calls to different heads of state including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Jordanian king Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein and UAE President Mohamed Bin Zayed.
He mentioned the Nijjar killing in all his conversations and spoke about the India-Canada diplomatic row. He underscored the importance of respecting the rule of law and the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.
