India on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced withdrawing its high commissioner and other 'targeted' officials from Canada after strongly dismissing Ottawa's allegations linking the envoy to a probe into the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a major downturn in already frosty ties between the two nations.
Hours later, Canada too expelled six Indian diplomats "in relation to a targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents linked to the Government of India".
“Keeping Canadians safe is the fundamental job of the Canadian government. The decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case. We continue to ask that the Indian government support the ongoing investigation in the Nijjar case, as it remains in both our countries' interest to get to the bottom of this,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly said in a press release.
India's decision to recall High Commissioner Sanjay Verma and some other diplomats came shortly after the Canadian Charge d'Affaires Stewart Wheelers was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Wheelers was bluntly told that baseless 'targeting' of the Indian envoy and other officials was 'completely unacceptable'.
The Washington Post, quoting unnamed Canadian officials, reported that Canada on Monday ordered six Indian diplomats to leave the country, including Verma and the top consular official in Toronto.
In a late evening statement, the MEA said India has asked six Canadian diplomats including Charge d'Affaires Wheelers and Deputy High Commissioner Patrick Hebert to leave India by or before 11.59 pm on October 19.
The other diplomats expelled are Marie Catherine Joly, Ian Ross David Trites, Adam James Chuipka and Paula Orjuela (all first secretaries).
In its reaction to Canada's charges against Verma, New Delhi described them as 'concocted' and 'preposterous imputations' and ascribed the allegations to the 'political agenda of the Trudeau government that is centred around vote bank politics'.
In its statement, the MEA said India received a 'diplomatic communication from Canada yesterday suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are 'persons of interest' in a matter related to an investigation in that country'.
Canadian Charge d'Affaires (CDA) Wheelers was summoned by MEA's Secretary (East) Jaideep Mazumdar and it was underlined to him that in an atmosphere of extremism and violence, the Trudeau government's actions 'endangered' the safety of Indian diplomats and other officials.
'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 MEA said.
'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,' it said.
It is learnt that Verma and other officials will return from Canada in the next few days.
The relations between India and Canada came under severe strain following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of a 'potential' involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar.
He was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia, in June last year. New Delhi had rejected Trudeau's charges as 'absurd'.
The Canadian charge d'affaires told reporters that his government has done what India has long been asking for.
"Canada has provided credible and irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and murderer 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 those allegations," he said.
"It is in the interest of both our countries and peoples of our countries to get to the bottom of this. Canada stands ready to cooperate with India," he added.
Earlier in the day, the MEA said India reserves the right to take further steps in response to these "latest efforts of the Canadian government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats".
'Since Prime Minister Trudeau made certain allegations in September 2023, the Canadian government has not shared a shred of evidence with the Government of India, despite many requests from our side,' it said.
In its statement, the MEA also made a mention of what it called PM Trudeau's 'naked interference' in Indian internal politics in December 2020, apparently recalling the Canadian leader's comments during the farmers' agitation.
On Canada's latest charges, the MEA said it 'leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains'.
It said 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,' the MEA said.
'His naked interference in Indian internal politics in December 2020 showed how far he was willing to go in this regard,' it said.
'That his Government was dependent on a political party, whose leader openly espouses a separatist ideology vis-a-vis India, only aggravated matters,' it said.
'Under criticism for turning a blind eye to foreign interference in Canadian politics, his government has deliberately brought in India in an attempt to mitigate the damage,' the MEA said.
It said this latest development targeting Indian diplomats is now the next step in that direction.
'It is no coincidence that it takes place as Prime Minister Trudeau is to depose before a commission on foreign interference,' it said.
'It also serves the anti-India separatist agenda that the Trudeau Government has constantly pandered to for narrow political gains,' it said.
'To that end, the Trudeau government has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada. This has included death threats to them and to Indian leaders,' the MEA said.
'All these activities have been justified in the name of freedom of speech. Some individuals who have entered Canada illegally have been fast-tracked for citizenship.
'Multiple extradition requests from the Government of India in respect of terrorists and organized crime leaders living in Canada have been disregarded,' it added.
The MEA said High Commissioner Verma is India's senior most serving diplomat with a distinguished career spanning 36 years.
'He has been Ambassador in Japan and Sudan, while also serving in Italy, Turkiye, Vietnam and China. The aspersions cast on him by the Government of Canada are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt,' it said.
'The government of India has taken cognizance of the activities of the Canadian High Commission in India that serve the political agenda of the current regime,' it said.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trudeau had a 'brief exchange' on the sidelines of the East Asia summit in Laos.
