The ongoing diplomatic row between India and Canada escalated late Monday night with New Delhi recalling its top envoy to Ottawa and expelling six Canadian diplomats from the country.
Monday’s developments followed Ottawa naming India’s High Commissioner to Canada and a few other diplomats as 'persons of interest' in the investigation into Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's murder.
In response, India initially announced the withdrawal of High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and the other diplomats from Canada.
Soon after, India said it was expelling six Canadian diplomats from New Delhi, including the acting High Commissioner. All of them have been asked to leave India by the end of this week.
India expelled six Canadian diplomats, including Acting High Commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler, Deputy High Commissioner Patrick Hebert, and First Secretaries Marie Catherine Joly, lan Ross David Trites, Adam James Chuipka, and Paula Orjuela. They have been asked to leave India in five days -- by 11.59 pm on Saturday, October 19.
Earlier, in a statement announcing the withdrawal of India's High Commissioner to Canada, the Ministry of External Affairs underlined that in an atmosphere of extremism and violence, the Trudeau Government's actions endangered the diplomats' safety.
"We have no faith in the current Canadian Government's commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials", the statement said.
This came after the Canadian Charge d'Affaires in New Delhi, Stewart Wheeler, was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs. He was informed that the baseless targeting of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.
It was also conveyed that India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau Government's support for extremism, violence and separatism against India, the MEA statement said.
After leaving the MEA office in New Delhi, Wheeler asserted that India has to live up to what it said it would do with regard to Ottawa's allegations.
"Canada has provided credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. Now, it is time for India to live up to what it said it would do and look into all those allegations", Wheeler said.
"It is in the interest of both our countries and the people of our countries to get to the bottom of this. Canada stands ready to cooperate with India", he added.
On Monday morning, India sent out a scathing response to Canada's allegations, calling them "preposterous imputations".
The Ministry of External Affairs said the Canadian government did not share a shred of evidence of India's involvement in Nijjar's killing despite repeated requests and accused Trudeau of doing vote bank politics and not doing enough to tackle separatist elements on Canadian soil.
Diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Ottawa have taken a plunge since September last year, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Indian government agents' involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. New Delhi rejected those charges as "motivated and absurd".
