Chandigarh, 14 October, 2024: The Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Monday announced the withdrawal of its High Commissioner and several diplomats from Canada and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration of supporting extremism and violence against India.
The decision followed a Canadian diplomatic communication on Sunday that identified Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Verma and other diplomats as “persons of interest” in an ongoing investigation related to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada last year.
Sources indicated that this designation suggests the diplomats could be questioned. On Monday evening, the Canadian Charge d’Affaires was summoned by Secretary (East) Jaideep Mazumdar, leading to a strongly-worded statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
It asserted, “We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure security for the diplomats.”
The MEA also stated that India reserves the right to take further action in response to what it termed the Trudeau government’s “baseless targeting” of Indian officials.
The MEA dismissed Canada’s allegations as “ludicrous,” suggesting they were motivated by Trudeau’s “vote-bank politics.”
It added that the Canadian government has failed to provide any evidence since Trudeau’s accusations were made in September 2023.
High Commissioner Sanjay Verma, who has served for 36 years in various diplomatic roles, was described by the MEA as deserving respect, stating, “The aspersions cast on him by the Government of Canada are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt.”
The MEA criticized Trudeau’s government for relying on a political party associated with separatist ideology concerning India. In response to India’s aggressive diplomatic stance, Canadian Charge d’Affaires Stewart Wheeler claimed that Canada had credible evidence linking Indian government agents to the murder of a Canadian citizen.
“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,” Wheeler stated.
He called for India to investigate the allegations, stating“It is now 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.”
