India tells Canada to withdraw dozens of diplomatic staff

According to a report in the Financial Times on Tuesday, the Canadian government has received a request from the Indian government to recall approximately 40 of its diplomats from India by October 10.

This information is based on sources familiar with the matter, as the Indian government has not issued an official statement regarding this development. Canada currently maintains a diplomatic presence of 62 individuals in India, and India has conveyed that this number should be reduced by 41 diplomats, as reported by the newspaper.

The diplomatic relationship between New Delhi and Ottawa has been strained recently, primarily due to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations that the Indian government might be involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar, who was designated as a terrorist in India, was fatally shot in a parking lot outside a Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, on June 18.

During a debate in the Canadian Parliament, Trudeau suggested that Canada’s national security officials had credible reasons to believe that “agents of the Indian government” were responsible for Nijjar’s killing. However, India has vehemently denied these allegations, dismissing them as “absurd” and “motivated.”

The Indian government has pointed out that Canada has not provided any public evidence to substantiate the claim regarding Nijjar’s killing. India’s External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, recently remarked that the strained relations with Canada have been ongoing for some years due to what India sees as the Canadian government’s leniency toward terrorism, extremism, and violence within its borders.