In an unusually sharp response, India on Monday (October 14, 2024) refuted a “diplomatic communication” from Canada in which the Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and other Indian diplomats have been regarded as “persons of interest” in the case of June 2023 murder of pro-Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Ministry of External Affairs described the Canadian allegations as “preposterous imputations” arguing that the matter was linked with the political challenges that the Trudeau government is facing on the domestic front in Canada.
“We have receved 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. The Government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government that is centred around vote bank politics,” declared the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement.
The MEA came out in support of the Indian High Commissioner Verma describing him as India’s “senior most serving diplomat” with a career of 36 years saying, “He has been Ambassador in Japan and Sudan, while also serving in Italy, Turkiye, Vietnam and China. The aspersions cast on him are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt.”
Harjeet Singh Nijjar was found murdered by a group of unknown assailants on June 18, 2023. Subsequently, in September, soon after his return to Ottawa after attending the G20 summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had announced in the House of Commons that “Indian agents” were behind the killing of Mr Nijjar who worked in the Guru Nanak Gurdwara of Surrey, British Columbia in Canada.
Bilateral ties took a hit and subsequently India froze visa facilities for Canadian citizens and additionally in October 2023, 41 Canadian diplomats were withdrawn from Canada’s missions in India. Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly had described India’s demand as violative of the Vienna Convention. India had denied that charge saying that the staff representation had to follow the principle of reciprocity. The freeze in visa processing was enforced till about November 2023 in view of the threats to Indian diplomats issued by extremist pro-Khalistan elements, the MEA had said.
This story was originally published in thehindu.com. Read the full story here.
