India Withdraws High Commissioner To Canada, Other Targeted Diplomats As Nijjar Row Gets Uglier

India has withdrawn its High Commissioner and diplomats from Canada after Canada’s foreign ministry said their main aim is to hold Indian officials ‘accountable’ in the investigation into Nijjar’s killing. 

India-Canada Ties: The Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials. This comes after New Delhi lambasted Canada for dragging the name of Sanjay Kumar Verma, New Delhi’s envoy to Ottawa, in its investigation into the murder of pro-Khalistan Sikh radical Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Slamming Canada for labelling Indian diplomats serving in Canada as “persons of interest”, New Delhi said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “hostility to India has long been in evidence”. 

The MEA today summoned Deputy High Commissioner of Canada, Stewart Wheeler. "The Canadian Charge d’Affaires was summoned by Secretary (East) this evening. He was informed that the baseless targeting of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable," the ministry stated.

"It was underlined that in an atmosphere of extremism and violence, the Trudeau Government's actions endangered their safety. 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. 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 added.

Shortly after India decided to withdraw the Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma and other diplomats, Canadian Charge d'Affaires Stewart Wheeler claimed that Ottawa provided proof of ties between "agents of the Indian government" and the murder of Nijjar.

"The government of Canada done what India has long been asking for. Canada has provided credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder 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 all those allegations. It is in the interest of both our countries and the people of our countries to get to the bottom of this. Canada stands ready to cooperate with India," he told the media.

The statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came after Canada’s foreign ministry said their main aim is to hold Indian officials “accountable” in the investigation into Nijjar’s killing. 

“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,” the MEA said in a press statement on Monday. 

“His Cabinet has included individuals who have openly associated with an extremist and separatist agenda regarding India. His naked interference in Indian internal politics in December 2020 showed how far he was willing to go in this regard,” it added, saying Canada has failed to share even a “shred of evidence” to back its allegations. 

Last week, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly told the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions, a panel formed by the government, that Ottawa wanted the officials potentially behind the killing held accountable.

“That’s the goal. But we have to shed light on what happened exactly. That’s why the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) is doing that work,” she said on Thursday. 

She was referring to the investigation being undertaken by the RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) into Nijjar’s killing, which took place on June 18, 2023, in Surrey, British Columbia.

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‘No Coincidence’

The MEA said the Trudeau administration, “under criticism for turning a blind eye to foreign interference in Canadian politics… has deliberately brought in India in an attempt to mitigate the damage”. “This latest development targeting Indian diplomats is now the next step in that direction,” said the MEA.

“It is no coincidence that it takes place as Prime Minister Trudeau is to depose before a commission on foreign interference. It also serves the anti-India separatist agenda that the Trudeau government has constantly pandered to for narrow political gains.”

India has also accused Canada of fast-tracking citizenship of those individuals who enter Canada illegally. “Multiple extradition requests from the Government of India in respect of terrorists and organised crime leaders living in Canada have been disregarded,” the MEA said.

Dragging Verma into the ongoing investigations is a “ludicrous” step by Canada that has to be “treated with contempt”, it added.

The row comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Trudeau on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Vientiane, Laos, last week. 

Meanwhile, a US court last month issued summons against National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and former RAW chief Samant Goel and others in a case concerning an alleged assassination plot targeting Canadian-American Sikh radical Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

US prosecutors have alleged the involvement of an Indian government employee in the case. India had dismissed the US court’s summons as “unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations”.