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04-10-2023
Bureau Report + Agencies
NEW DELHI: Amid worsening diplomatic ties between India and Canada, New Delhi has asked Ottawa that it must repatriate 41 diplomats by October 10, according to a report published in Financial Times on Tuesday.
Ties between the two US allies have become seriously strained over Canadian suspicion that Indian government agents had a role in the June murder in Canada of a Sikh leader and Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who India had labelled a “terrorist”.
India has dismissed the allegation as absurd.
The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the Indian demand, said New Delhi had threatened to revoke the diplomatic immunity of those diplomats who have been asked to leave if they remain beyond October 10.
Canada has 62 diplomats in India and New Delhi had said that the total should be reduced by 41, the newspaper said.
The Indian and Canadian foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said earlier there was a “climate of violence” and an “atmosphere of intimidation” against Indian diplomats in Canada, where the presence of Sikh separatist groups has frustrated New Delhi.
Since Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s bombshell revelation that the government of Narendra Modi was likely behind Nijjar’s murder, the Sikh community has staged protests demanding the expulsion of Indian diplomats from London and Ottawa.
On Monday, a large number of Sikhs rallied at the Indian High Commission in London to show their support to Canada and to challenge India’s open and violent interference in other countries against pro-Khalistan activism.
Chanting slogans to shut down Indian missions and to expel High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami, the protesters vowed to carry on the activism for Sikhs’ right to self-determination through the global Khalistan Referendum campaign.
The Sikh demonstrators were carrying posters of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Referring to blocking Doraiswami’s entry into Glasgow Gurdwara Sahib, Paramjeet Singh Pamma, UK-EU Coordinator of Khalistan Referendum stated: “It’s the collective decision of the Sikh Sangat that Indian agents should not be allowed to visit the Gurdwara Sahibs because they do not come to pray or pay respect but they come to spy on the Sikhs and spread the lies manufactured by the Hindutva Modi government”.
“Now there is no doubt that Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, was assassinated by the Indian agents working under the supervision of Indian High Commission in Canada solely for leading the Khalistan Referendum campaign in Canada,” stated Paramjeet Singh Pamma, UK-EU coordinator of Khalistan Referendum.
