New Delhi: The discussion between India and Canada for parity in diplomatic strength is an “ongoing process” and no Canadian diplomat has been forced to leave, government sources told ThePrint.
The sources also made it clear that no deadline has been given for diplomats to leave India. They were referring to media reports that claimed India had set up a deadline of 10 October for nearly 40 Canadian diplomats to leave.
“India has sought parity with Canada when it comes to the number of diplomats posted in each other country. This is an ongoing process and a matter under discussion,” a source said.
Asked if Canada has withdrawn diplomats within the reported 10 October deadline, the source said: “No Canadian diplomat has been forced to leave. The deadline is something which the media reports have claimed.”
ThePrint first reported on 22 September that Canada has at least three times more accredited diplomats than India.
This comes amid an ongoing diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar, chief of the pro-Khalistani outfit Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and a designated terrorist in India, was shot dead by unidentified assailants on 18 June in Canada.
In his remarks at the Canadian Parliament last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed his government was investigating “credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar”.
India has rejected these allegations as “absurd and motivated”, and issued a travel advisory for Indian nationals and students in Canada. The two countries have also expelled each other’s diplomats.
Significantly, Financial Times, which had reported about the 10 October deadline, has now said that India’s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar secretly met with his Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly in Washington to “resolve the stand-off in private”.
There was no official word from the Indian government on this reported meeting between the two ministers.
Also Read: Jaishankar met Canada FM in secret, Canadian diplomats still in India after ‘deadline’ — FT report