New Delhi: Canada has designated Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Verma and other diplomats in the country as “persons of interest” in an ongoing investigation, following which India Monday accused Canada of “concocting allegations”. This is the latest flare-up between Delhi and Ottawa since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed last September that Indian agents were allegedly involved in the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
On Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced that it had received communication from Canada indicating that the diplomats were classified as “persons of interest”, though it did not specify the particular case.
“The Government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government that is centered around vote bank politics,” said a statement from the Indian government.
This comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Trudeau on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Laos, though New Delhi later denied that any “substantive discussion” took place between the leaders.
In the latest development, India has warned that it has the right to take “further steps in response to these latest efforts of the Canadian Government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats”.
Last year, after Trudeau’s initial claims about the Nijjar case, India insisted Canada reduce its diplomatic staff to achieve “mutual parity” in strength, and alleged that some of the Canadian diplomats were involved in interfering in New Delhi’s internal matters. Canada eventually withdrew 41 diplomats from India.
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‘Trudeau’s hostility to India’
In its sharply worded statement, the MEA accused the Canadian PM of taking certain steps to serve a political agenda and noted his long-held “hostility” towards India.
“This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” read the statement from India’s foreign ministry.
“Prime Minister Trudeau’s hostility to India has long been in evidence. In 2018, his visit to India, which was aimed at currying favour with a vote bank, rebounded to his discomfort. His Cabinet has included individuals who have openly associated with an extremist and separatist agenda regarding India,” it added.
Also read: ‘Double standards’ — India hits out at Canada over ‘lack of action’ on ‘anti-India’ elements
Ties are virtually at breaking point now.