NEW DELHI, Oct 20 — India has said it did not violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations in reducing Canadian diplomatic presence in the country.
Yesterday, Canada confirmed it had withdrawn 41 of its 62 diplomats from India as the government threatened to revoke their diplomatic immunity.
The diplomats’ withdrawal is the latest episode in the continuing row between the two countries over the murder of a Canadian Sikh leader in June this year.
“The state of our bilateral relations, the much higher number of Canadian diplomats in India, and their continued interference in our internal affairs warrant a parity in mutual diplomatic presence in New Delhi and Ottawa.
“We have been engaged with the Canadian side on this over the last month to work out the details and modalities of its implementation,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement today.
It added India’s actions in implementing this parity are fully consistent with Article 11.1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Earlier today, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said India had “formally conveyed its plan to unilaterally remove diplomatic immunities for all but 21 Canadian diplomats and dependents in Delhi” by October 20.
She accused India of violating the Vienna Convention, saying the threat of removing the Canadian diplomats’ immunity was “unreasonable and escalatory.”
However, Joly added that Canada would not retaliate on this issue.
“If we allow the norm of diplomatic immunity to be broken, no diplomats anywhere on the planet would be safe. So, for this reason, we will not reciprocate,” she said.
India insisted the move was aimed at achieving parity in diplomatic presence.
“We reject any attempt to portray the implementation of parity as a violation of international norms,” the statement said.
The evacuation of Canadian diplomats will seriously affect visa, immigration, and consular services at the Canadian diplomatic missions in India.
Canada will stop all in-person services at its Chandigarh, Mumbai, and Bangalore consulates. India stopped processing visa services for Canadian citizens last month.
According to some media reports, many Canadian diplomats from India have relocated to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Canada’s diplomatic missions in India are among the busiest due to heavy Indian student and migration traffic to Canada.
India was the top source of permanent residents, migrant foreign workers, and international students in Canada in 2022.
“I want to reassure our clients in India and Canadians who have family and friends in India that Canada will continue to accept and process all temporary and permanent resident applications from India,” said Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller, who spoke alongside Joly today.
Canada has about 1.5 million people of Indian ethnic or cultural origin.
Over 770,000 are Sikhs, making Canada the largest centre of the Sikh diaspora. More than 178,000 non-resident Indians (NRIs), or Indian nationals who are residents abroad, are also based in Canada.
The two countries have been in a bitter diplomatic row since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India last month of involvement in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Canadian citizen of Indian origin and a vocal supporter of the Khalistan separatist movement.
He was gunned down by two masked men outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia.
India has rejected the Canadian allegations as baseless.
Canada has asked India to cooperate in the ongoing investigation into the activist’s murder.
— Bernama
