Tit-for-tat moves come after Indian envoys were named in investigation into killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
The Indian and Canadian governments expelled each other’s senior diplomats, as relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply after Indian diplomats were named in an investigation into the killing of the Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
In a statement on Monday night, India’s foreign ministry said it had no faith in the Canadian government’s ability to assure the security of its top diplomats and had “decided to withdraw the high commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials”.
It also announced that six top Canadian diplomats would be expelled from New Delhi in response.
However, Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper and the Associated Press quoted unnamed Canadian officials alleging that it was Canada that had expelled the Indian diplomats first, after evidence implicated India’s high commissioner, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and six top diplomats in the assassination of Nijjar.
Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh, was gunned down outside a gurdwara in a Vancouver in June last year.
He had been a vocal advocate for the Khalistan movement, which advocates for an independent homeland for Sikhs and is banned in India. The Indian government had accused Nijjar of involvement in Khalistani terrorism.
In the aftermath of Nijjar’s killing, Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, took the unusual step of publicly announcing there were “credible allegations” that the Indian government was involved in Nijjar’s assassination.
