As diplomats leave India, Canada halts in-person services at its consulates
globalnews.caOttawa has suspended in-person services at its consulates in India after the federal government pulled 41 diplomats out of the country.
The halt comes as tensions between India and Canada continue to remain sour after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last month that Canadian intelligence services had “credible evidence” that agents of the Indian government may have been involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The Canadian-Sikh advocate was gunned down outside his gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., in June.
“The Consulates General of Canada in Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Mumbai are temporarily suspending in-person operations. You can obtain consular assistance and further consular information from the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi,” the Canadian government said on its international.gc.ca website on Friday.
“Consular services in person remain available at the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Thursday the government has evacuated 41 diplomats from India after New Delhi formally conveyed its plan to Ottawa to strip their diplomatic immunity from them and their 42 family members by Friday.
Now just 21 of its diplomats remain in the country.
Joly said the stripping of immunity “would put their personal safety at risk.”
“The safety of Canadians and of our diplomats is always my top concern, given the implications of India’s actions on the safety of our diplomats,” she told reporters in Ottawa.
Joly added Canada would not retaliate in kind, noting that doing so would be contrary to international law. She later said India’s actions were “unreasonable.”
“There is no reason under international law that would justify a country’s withdrawal of diplomatic immunity in this way
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