More tension around the crime of the Sikh activist: India requested the withdrawal of more than 40 Canadian diplomats

Posted On: November 3, 2023

Justin Trudeau and Narendra Modi (Reuters)

The government of India ask Canada cuts around 40 diplomatic officials its mission in the Asian country, as reported this Tuesday by the newspaper Financial Timesbetween bilateral crisis triggered after Ottawa implicated New Delhi in the murder of a separatist leader on Canadian soil.

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According to the article published this Tuesday by the British newspaper, citing sources close to the matter, India has requested the repatriation of some 41 diplomats by October 10, failing which it would revoke diplomatic immunity. of those who decided to stay after this date.

India had already declared more than a week ago that it expected Canada to reduce the number of diplomatic officials in this country to a number equivalent to the Indian mission, both in number and hierarchy , without however mentioning coercive measures or dates. limit.

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India maintains that the Canadian government enjoys much greater representation, which is contrary to the principle of parity and equity..

Protester at a demonstration outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver (Reuters)

“Their numbers here are much higher than ours in Canada,” Indian Foreign Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a September 21 press conference.

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consulted by EFEthe Indian government declined to comment on the matter.

India’s request comes amid a crisis between the two countries which began in mid-Septemberwhen Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi of being involved in the death on Canadian soil of Hardeep Singh Nijjarcitizen of Indian origin.

Indian authorities, who called the Canadian version absurd, accused Nijjar of leading a separatist group seeking to create Khalistan, an independent nation for the Sikh minority in India’s northern state of Punjab.

Trudeau’s accusation was accompanied by the expulsion of an Indian diplomat, a medida that New Delhi copied, to order the security of the Asian country from a member of the Canadian embassy, there was the freezing of Canadian visas in the Asian country until further notice.

Canada, which counts 770,000 followers of the Sikh religion among its 1.8 million people of Indian origin, has defended the right to freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration.

(With information from EFE)