Nijjar killing row: Canada evacuates its diplomats from India to Southeast Asia following deadline over staff reduction
Canadian diplomatic staff in the country to a level on par with the number of Indian diplomats in Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had sparked a diplomatic crisis last month after claiming that there were ‘credible allegations’ linking Indian government agents to the June murder.
India has dubbed the assertion ‘absurd’ and retaliated with a slew of restrictive measures. Canada has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The country has said it wants to "work constructively with India" regarding the allegations. India has rejected the allegations as "absurd" and "motivated" and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa's expulsion of an Indian official over the case.
Trudeau had earlier also said that his country was not “looking to escalate the situation with India" and insisted that Ottawa wants to remain on the ground in New Delhi to help Canadians. Earlier reports pegged the number of diplomats that would have to leave at 41, but the sources CTV News spoke with said the ask is specific to one of parity, as reported by PTI.
"A majority of the Canadian diplomats working in India outside of Delhi have been evacuated to either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore," the report said as quoted by PTI. Global Affairs Canada, the department that manages the country's diplomatic and consular relations, had previously stated that "with some diplomats having received threats on various social media platforms," it was "assessing its staff complement in India." "As a result, and out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to temporarily adjust staff presence in India," the department said, just days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
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