India tells Canada to repatriate 41 diplomats by 10 October, reports Financial Times

Ties between India and Canada have stained over Canadian suspicion on Indian govt agents' involvement in murder of a Sikh separatist leader and Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar looks on as he delivers his speech in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Post Ministerial Conference with India during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting in Jakarta, on July 13, 2023, where Myanmar's seat was left empty. BAY ISMOYO/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

New Delhi: India has told Canada that it must repatriate 41 diplomats by Oct. 10, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Ties between India and Canada have become seriously strained over Canadian suspicion that Indian government agents had a role in the June murder in Canada of a Sikh separatist leader and Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who India had labeled a “terrorist”.

India has dismissed the allegation as absurd.

The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the Indian demand, said India had threatened to revoke the diplomatic immunity of those diplomats told to leave who remained after Oct. 10.

Canada has 62 diplomats in India and India had said that the total should be reduced by 41, the newspaper said.

The Indian and Canadian foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said earlier there was a “climate of violence” and an “atmosphere of intimidation” against Indian diplomats in Canada, where the presence of Sikh separatist groups has frustrated New Delhi.

 

(Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Robert Birsel)

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