India, Canada expel diplomats as fallout of Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder hits new low
The bilateral ties between India and Canada that had been strained over the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an Indian-born Canadian citizen, in June 2023, deteriorated further with the two countries ordering diplomats of the other to leave. The development came on Monday after Canada designated Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, IFS, and other diplomats as "persons of interest" in its probe into the killing of the Khalistani separatist.
India's response
India, which vehemently denied the charges as 'absurd', termed Canada's move as "preposterous" and part of the political agenda of the Justin Trudeau government. It also ordered the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats from the country while announcing that the Indian High Commissioner and five others have been recalled.
The Canadian diplomats expelled by India are: Stewart Ross Wheeler, Acting High Commissioner; Patrick Hebert, Deputy High Commissioner; Marie Catherine Joly, First Secretary; Ian Ross David Trites, First Secretary; Adam James Chuipka, First Secretary; and Paula Orjuela, First Secretary. They have been asked to leave India by or before 11:59 PM on Saturday, 19 October 2024.
What Canada said
According to Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police, officials had met Indian authorities and asked them to waive diplomatic and consular immunity for the persons of interest and cooperate in the investigation, but India refused.
How?Trudeau shocked the world
In September 2023, Trudeau dropped a bombshell in the Canadian Parliament when he informed the House that Canada had evidence to link agents of the Indian government to the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. Nijjar, who was born in Punjab and migrated to Canada in the 1990s, was shot dead outside a Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, in June last year.
Indian officials behind Nijjar's murder: Canada
According to Canadian authorities, a top Indian intelligence official based in Delhi had directed the killing of Nijjar, and the country's diplomats were also involved in other homicides and violent acts in Canada. "The team has learned a significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada," RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme said.
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