India demands cuts in Canada embassy, citing ‘interference’
Rift widens after Trudeau linked India to slaying
NEW DELHI — India went on the diplomatic offensive against Canada on Thursday, ordering the country to reduce staffing at its embassy and suspending the issuance of new visas for Canadians, as the fallout from allegations that New Delhi was behind the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia widened dramatically.
Arindam Bagchi, spokesman for India’s External Affairs Ministry, disclosed India’s demand several hours after Canada’s embassy in New Delhi announced that it would “temporarily adjust staff presence” to protect its diplomats from threats on social media, and days after the two governments expelled senior diplomats identified as intelligence officers.
Indian and Canadian officials said the details of the reduction are still being worked out, and it is unclear how many Canadian diplomats will have to leave India. But that number, and the damage to bilateral ties, is probably significant.
"We have seen Canadian diplomatic interference in our internal affairs," Bagchi said at a briefing in New Delhi. "This is a factor taken into account for seeking parity and rank equivalence in our mutual diplomatic presence." Bagchi noted Canada had a much larger diplomatic staff in New Delhi than India does in Ottawa.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stunned the world by announcing in Parliament on Monday that there were "credible allegations" that agents of the Indian government were linked to the execution of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18.
The Canadian leader on Thursday repeated a call for the Indian government "to work with us to take seriously these allegations and to allow justice to follow its course."
After Trudeau's announcement, Canada's foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, expelled the Indian intelligence service's station chief, who was operating under diplomatic cover. India retaliated Tuesday by expelling a Canadian diplomat, identified in Indian media as an intelligence official. The two countries had already announced a pause in trade talks this month.
The tit-for-tat moves escalated sharply on Thursday with the Indian demand for Canada to draw down its diplomats, a step in line with India's increasingly muscular and independent foreign policy.
Bagchi also said India had stopped issuing new visas to Canadians, attributing the pause to security threats against Indian diplomats in Canada and a staffing shortage there.
The Canadian High Commission in India declined to comment on whether it was requested to cut down its presence, but said in an email that it was reducing its footprint after some diplomats "received threats on various social media platforms" and "in light of the current environment where tensions have heightened."
On Wednesday, a travel advisory from India urged its citizens to "exercise extreme caution" when traveling in Canada, citing what it said were "anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes" in the country.