India has summoned Canada’s charge d’ affairs in New Delhi after the diplomatic relations between the two countries witnessed a new low today. Foreign Ministry’s summons to Stewart Wheeler followed the government’s criticism of Canada for investigating the Indian ambassador and other diplomats as “persons of interest” over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The government called the allegations “preposterous” and a “strategy of smearing India for political gains”.
“The Government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government that is centred around vote bank politics,” the government said in a sharp rebuttal.
“India now reserves the right to take further steps in response to these latest efforts of the Canadian Government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats,” the foreign ministry added.
The 2023 murder of Nijjar crashed diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Ottawa after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence to the crime. India dismissed the charges as “absurd”.
Canada has now reportedly named the Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma as a ‘person of interest’ in its investigation. India accused Canada of maligning its officials without evidence and using “preposterous” claims to justify its failure to curb Khalistani extremism on its soil.
“High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma is India’s senior-most serving diplomat with a distinguished career spanning 36 years. He has been an Ambassador in Japan and Sudan, while also serving in Italy, Turkiye, Vietnam and China. The aspersions cast on him by the Government of Canada are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt,” the foreign ministry said.
NDTV News-India-news