India has told Canada it must remove 41 diplomats from its embassy in Delhi, according to reports, as the diplomatic spat continues between the two countries.
According to officials who spoke to the Financial Times, the Indian foreign ministry has given Canada a week to repatriate two-thirds of its diplomats stationed in India, reducing the number to 21.
Relations have deteriorated since the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said last month that there were “credible allegations” that Indian government agents were involved in the assassination of the Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June.
Nijjar had been designated a terrorist by the Indian authorities, who accused him of involvement in militant groups and extremist activity, charges he had denied.
Trudeau had called on India to cooperate with the investigation into the killing but India dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and politically motivated. It swiftly escalated into a diplomatic row, as the two countries engaged in a tit-for-tat expulsion of top diplomats and India suspended all visa applications for Canadians.
In the aftermath, India’s foreign ministry said it would be demanding that Canada reduce the number of its diplomatic staff in India, claiming it was for reasons of “parity” as Canadian diplomats in Delhi far outnumbered India diplomats in Ottawa.
The Indian and Canadian foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reports that Canadian diplomats had been told to leave.
Trudeau said he had first brought up the allegations of Nijjar’s assassination privately with the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, during the G20 leaders’ summit in Delhi in early September, where they were also raised by the US president, Joe Biden.
Trudeau’s decision to go public with the allegations at the end of September had angered India, which in return accused Canada of being a “safe haven for terrorists” involved in the Khalistani separatist movement, which fights for an independent state for Sikhs and is banned in India. The evidence for Trudeau’s claims has yet to be made public, apparently because of concerns it could compromise the investigation. The US government has repeatedly urged India to cooperate with Canada in the investigation.
The Indian foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, last week accused Canada of allowing a “climate of violence” against Indian diplomats in Ottawa, alleging that “our diplomats are threatened and our consulates have been attacked”. He described the ongoing diplomatic situation with Canada as a “deadlock”.