India has announced the expulsion of a Canadian diplomat hours after Canada asked an Indian official to leave that country, citing a “potential” Indian link to the killing of a Khalistani separatist leader1 in June.
The Canadian High Commissioner to India was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and informed about the decision to expel the senior Canadian diplomat.
The MEA said the decision to expel the Canadian diplomat reflects India’s growing concern at the “interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities”, reports PTI from New Delhi.
“The concerned diplomat has been asked to leave India within the next five days,” it said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, India outrightly rejected as “baseless” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim of a “potential link” between Indian government agents and the killing of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey in June.
After Trudeau made the comments in Parliament, Canadian Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly announced that a “top Indian diplomat” has been expelled from Canada.
In a statement in Parliament, Trudeau claimed that there were “credible allegations of a potential link” between Indian government agents and the killing of Nijjar in June, according to a PTI report from Toronto.
In a strong reaction, the MEA said the allegations of the Government of India’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are “absurd and motivated”.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and one of India’s most-wanted terrorists who carried a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen outside a gurdwara in Surrey in the western Canadian province of British Columbia.
“Over the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” Trudeau said Monday in a speech to the House of Commons.
“Allegations of the Government of India’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated,” the MEA said in a statement in New Delhi.
“Similar allegations were made by the Canadian Prime Minister to our Prime Minister, and were completely rejected,” it said. “We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to the rule of law,” the MEA said.
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