Canada withdraws 41 diplomats from India embassy amid murder dispute

Canada has withdrawn 41 diplomats from India amid a dispute over the murder of a Sikh separatist, announced foreign minister Melanie Joly, adding that Ottawa would not take retaliatory steps. New Delhi last month asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence after prime minister Justin Trudeau said there was credible evidence of a potential link between Indian agents and the murder in June of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, who was shot outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia. Joly said India had threatened to unilaterally revoke the diplomats’ official status by Friday unless they left. This move, she said, was unreasonable and unprecedented and clearly violated the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations. “Given the implications of India’s actions on the safety of our diplomats, we have facilitated their safe departure from India,” she told a press conference. “If we allow the norm of diplomatic immunity to be broken, no diplomats anywhere on the planet would be safe. So for this reason, we will not reciprocate,” she said. Canada now has 21 diplomats in India. The 41 who left were accompanied by 42 dependents. Relations between India and Canada have plunged since Trudeau publicly linked Indian intelligence to the murder of Nijjar, a Canadian citizen whom New Delhi had labeled a “terrorist”. Canada has called for India to cooperate in the investigation, but New Delhi has rejected the allegations and taken countermeasures, such as shutting down visa services for Canadians. Ottawa also expelled an Indian diplomat over the affair. Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said last month in New York that his country would be willing to examine any evidence presented by Canada. “We have actually been badgering the Canadians. We’ve given them loads of information about organized crime leadership which operates out of Canada,” Jaishankar said, referring to Sikh separatists. “We have a situation where actually our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked and often comments are made [that are] interference in our politics,” he said. About 2 million Canadians, approximately 5% of the overall population, have Indian heritage. Canada is home to about 770,000 Sikhs, or approximately 2% of the country’s population, with a vocal group calling for creating a separate state of Khalistan. Immigration minister Marc Miller said the diplomats’ departure meant Canada would slash the number of embassy staff dealing with immigration. “We acknowledge the concerns and frustrations that this situation may cause for clients, families, educational institutions, communities, businesses in Canada as a whole,” he told the press conference. India is by far Canada’s largest source of global students, making up for roughly 40% of study-permit holders. Visa application centers in India are operated by third-party contractors and would not be affected, Miller said.