Canada halts some consular services in India amid murder row

• Canada halts some consular services in India amid murder row.
• Melanie Joly disclosed that Canada had recalled 41 diplomats from India.
• The bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $8 billion in 2022.

Canada announced the temporary suspension of in-person operations at its consulates in several Indian cities, citing potential visa processing delays, in the midst of a diplomatic dispute related to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia on Friday.

This decision came shortly after Foreign Minister Melanie Joly disclosed that Canada had recalled 41 diplomats from India.

Two senior Indian government sources assured that it would not escalate into a trade conflict or adversely impact investment, with imports from Canada continuing to flow despite this diplomatic dispute. The bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $8 billion in 2022.

The dispute began when India requested Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim of credible evidence linking Indian agents to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India denies any involvement in the shooting that occurred outside a Sikh temple in June.

According to the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, the Consulates General of Canada in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, and Mumbai are temporarily suspending in-person operations, but services in the capital remain unaffected.

Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) department announced a reduction in employee numbers in India, decreasing from 27 to five.

This reduction is expected to impact visa processing times, although the majority of these processes are handled abroad. Despite these developments, Canada expressed its commitment to maintaining its strong connection with Indian citizens, welcoming them for various purposes such as visiting, working, studying, reuniting with loved ones, or settling permanently in the country.

Notably, around 2 million Canadians, comprising approximately 5% of the total population, have Indian heritage, and India is a significant source of foreign students for Canada, with about 40% of them originating from India.

India has refuted Trudeau’s suspicions of its involvement in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Canadian citizen previously labeled as a terrorist by New Delhi.

The Indian foreign ministry defended its decision to downsize Canada’s diplomatic presence and rejected Joly’s assertion that it violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

According to India, the state of bilateral relations, the significantly larger number of Canadian diplomats in India, and what they perceive as continued interference in their internal affairs justify a parity in mutual diplomatic presence in New Delhi and Ottawa.

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