OTTAWA—The Canadian government admitted relations with India are at “an extremely difficult” juncture and underlined the need for “a strong diplomatic footprint in India” after the Indian government reportedly ordered the expulsions of 41 Canadian diplomats in the next week.
The ousters would be a sharp escalation of India’s rebuke following Ottawa’s charge that it has “credible allegations” that agents linked to the Indian government were involved in the June assassination of a Canadian Sikh leader.
The Canadian government refused Tuesday to confirm it had been warned to withdraw two-thirds of Canada’s diplomatic corps from India by Oct. 10. But it did not deny a Financial Times report that the expulsions are imminent. nstead, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters Tuesday that Indo-Canadian relations are “going through an extremely challenging time” and he stressed the need for diplomatic talks to continue. The move by the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes just days after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly and privately urged the Indian government to co-operate with the Canadian criminal probe into the June shooting death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. On Sept. 18, Trudeau went public with the damning accusation, revealing in the House of Commons that Canadian security agencies were investigating “credible allegations” that Indian government agents were involved in Nijjar’s killing. Trudeau has been careful when talking about India’s possible involvement, but he has also made clear through his government’s actions that he takes the potential link seriously. The day after Trudeau levelled his accusation, Ottawa expelled an Indian diplomat, Pavan Kumar Rai, whom Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly identified as the head of India’s intelligence agency RAW in Canada, calling the expulsion a “consequence” of the allegations. Since then, Trudeau has refused to publicly offer details. The Indian government insists he has not provided it with specific information to support the allegations…
Source: thestar.com/
