The flags of Canada and India.
Credit: iStock Photo
India has told Canada to withdraw around 40 diplomats by October 10, Financial Times reported. The publication, citing people familiar with the matter, said that the Narendra Modi government has threatened to revoke diplomatic immunity of diplomats who remain beyond the set date.
The move marks an escalation of tensions that has been brewing since Canadian PM Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of being involved in the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
New Delhi previously said that it wanted 'parity' in the number and grade of diplomats that each nation posts to the other.
India had already issed a visa ban for Canadians soon after Trudeau's explosive claims on September 18.
"Declaring more Canadian diplomats personae non gratae wouldn’t help the situation and would make reducing the emotions associated with this disagreement more difficult", FT reported Peter Boehm, chair of the Canadian Senate committee on foreign affairs and international trade saying.
Trudeau's aide had recently offered 'help' to India in the matter of Nijjar's killing while junking allegations of Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI, being involved in the matter. Adding fuel to fire, BJP leader Tejinder Pall Singh Bagga has claimed that Nijjar was gay and Trudeau used to like him, but Nijjar chose to be with someone else, trying to paint it as a possible motive for killing.
Nijjar was killed on June 18 outside a Surrey gurudwara by gunmen. India, in 2020, had designated him a terrorist. Nijjar was involved in networking, financing, and training the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) module.