India Orders Canada to Remove over 40 Diplomats From Delhi Embassy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday did not confirm how many diplomats had been told to leave.
In late September, I reported that India expelled one of Canada’s top diplomats, increasing tensions between the two countries over Canadian accusations that India may have been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in suburban Vancouver.
Tensions have ramped up yet again. An Indian official reports that Canada has been told to remove about 40 of its 62 diplomats from its embassy in Delhi.
Ottawa has been told by New Delhi that it must repatriate roughly 40 diplomats by October 10, said people familiar with the demand. One person said India had threatened to revoke the diplomatic immunity of diplomats who remain after that date.
[Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau on Tuesday did not confirm how many diplomats had been told to leave but highlighted the importance of having a diplomatic presence in New Delhi because of the dispute between the countries.
“Obviously, we are going through an extremely challenging time with India right now, but that’s why it is so important for us to have diplomats on the ground working with the Indian government and there to support Canadians and Canadian families,” he said.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly indicated she is in contact with the Indian government to try to resolve this situation.
“We will continue to engage privately because we think that diplomatic conversations are best when they remain private,” Joly said.
India has accused Canada for years of giving free rein to Sikh separatists, including Nijjar.
India has also canceled visas for Canadians. Canada has not retaliated for that. India previously expelled a senior Canadian diplomat after Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat.
So far, the economic impact has been slight.
- India’s JSW Steel Ltd is slowing down the process to buy a stake in the steelmaking coal unit of Canada’s Teck Resources, Reuters reported on Sept. 21 citing a source close to the discussions.
- India suspended issuing new visas for Canadians on Sept. 22 and asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in India.
- Fertiliser importer Indian Potash said on Sept. 22 that it does not expect supplies of Canadian potash to be affected by the row and that it hopes to extend a contract with Canadian supplier Canpotex beyond the end of September. Canada is one of the key suppliers of potash to India.
- Canadian lentil sales to India slowed after tensions rose between the two nations, industry sources in both countries told Reuters. Canada is India’s main import source of lentils, a protein-rich staple.
Canada’s opposition leader is concerned about the escalating tensions.
“Very concerned, I would be professional”, says Canada opposition leader Pierre Poilievre over India asking Canadian diplomats to leave the country as part of parity with number of Indian diplomats in Canada pic.twitter.com/PlPOMP6Vu0
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) October 3, 2023
Meanwhile, Canadians everywhere can rest easy now that US intelligence is assisting Canada in tracking down Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killers.
“We’ve been working with the U.S. very closely, including on the public disclosure yesterday,” the source said. The evidence in Canada’s possession would be shared “in due course”, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.
Between Trudeau and US intelligence, I wish the good people of Canada a ton of good luck.
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When the Sikhs and Indians really start going at it prime ministers get assassinated, and passenger planes are bombed. Indians kill Sikhs, and Sikhs kill Indira Gandhi, and Canadian Sikhs downed Air India flight 182. Let’s hope things don’t get as bad as they did in the 80’s.
Which explains why crime by Indian and Sikh minorities in the United States and Canada are not just below national crime rates but below the crime rate for whites in either nation.
Do you even hear the things you post before posting? Indians aren’t just mostly decent people but they very disproportionately do well in this country and are among the rarest arrests American police ever have to make.
One could say the same thing about the 1980s Irish. They were bad boys indeed… at home. Elsewhere, aside from “illegal fundraising” charges, they were quite the model citizens.
Same with Serbs and Croats.
Political enmities in a country can break along racial and ethnic lines, but they don’t tar those races and ethnicities when immersed in non-native political milieus.
This is a conflation. You don’t address the issue of historical tension between Indian Hindus and Indian Sikhs. They have committed tremendous violence against one another, and continue to do so to one degree or another.
Sikhs vs. Indians? Sikhs are Indians. Of a religion that is not Hindu or islam. Sort of a merger between the two. According to the CIA factbook, about 1.7% of India’s > 1.4 billion people. So 20 million or so. Neither the majority Hindi (79.8%) nor the largest minority religious adherents islam (14.2%) get along with them. They’re apostates to both. And concentrated on one or two regions of India, not spread out.
I wouldn’t call it Sikhs vs. Indians, but Sikhs vs. Hindus.
Understood.
Multi Culti ends up getting a lot of innocent people killed. That’s why Canadian ‘progs’ and American Democrats like it so much I guess.
When some really really really bad Sikhs are killed and go to hell is that called Sikh Hell?
Sorry, Ill get my coat! 😉
Why is India overacting like a spoiled child? Why is Canada name-calling like a kid on a playground?
Because this is what all nations do when there mistreatment of certain groups is highlighted. Just as Turkey gets all pissy when one mentions the Armenian genocide, or China blusters when one mentions the Uyghur genocide.
The Indian Government does not like to be accused of murder and Canada Is led by a boi
It would be a shame if all the computer systems in Canada suddenly lost their support teams.
On the bright side maybe all scam phone calls to Canada will also cease in protest.
Thousands of Canadians eager for the resulting IT jobs are distressed to learn there is also no longer anyone to phone them about the availability of openings.
Some good humor there!
Lots of expats celebrating they can come home… of course they are coming home to zero freedom gender bending Canada.
Canada and Trudeau breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Inspector Closeau has been assigned to the case. Word is he will get right on it as soon as they close the fire alarm case!
When Brandon makes a similar gaffe, he doesn’t get this much flak.
Trudeau’s recent browser history is stuffed with “faking dementia” searches.