NEW DELHI:
Canada on Friday mentioned it was quickly suspending in-person operations at consulates in a number of Indian cities and warned of visa processing delays amid a diplomatic dispute over the homicide of a Sikh separatist chief in British Columbia.
The bulletins affecting consulates in Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Mumbai got here hours after International Minister Melanie Joly mentioned Canada has withdrawn 41 diplomats from India.
Regardless of the dispute, two senior Indian authorities sources advised Reuters the uproar wouldn’t spill right into a commerce dispute or influence funding, with imports from Canada persevering with to move.
Bilateral commerce touched $eight billion in 2022.
India final month requested Ottawa to cut back its diplomatic presence after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited what he mentioned was credible proof of a possible hyperlink between Indian brokers and the homicide of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India denies any connection to the capturing exterior a Sikh temple in June.
“The Consulates Common of Canada in Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Mumbai are quickly suspending in-person operations,” mentioned an announcement from the Canadian Excessive Fee, or embassy, in New Delhi, including that companies stay regular within the capital.
‘robust connection’
Canada’s Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) division mentioned it was lowering worker numbers in India to 5 from 27, with visa processing instances more likely to be impacted although the bulk had been dealt with overseas.
“Canada has a robust reference to Indian residents, and can proceed to welcome them, whether or not they want to come right here to go to, work, research, be reunited with family members, or stay completely within the nation,” it added.
Round 2 million Canadians, some 5% of the general inhabitants, have Indian heritage. India can also be Canada’s largest supply of overseas college students, roughly 40%.
India has dismissed as absurd Trudeau’s suspicions that its brokers had been linked to the homicide of Nijjar, 45, a Canadian citizen whom New Delhi had labelled a terrorist.
The Indian overseas ministry defended its downsizing of Canada’s diplomatic presence and rejected Joly’s assertion that it violated the Vienna conference on diplomatic relations.
“The state of our bilateral relations, the a lot larger variety of Canadian diplomats in India, and their continued interference in our inside affairs warrant a parity in mutual diplomatic presence in New Delhi and Ottawa,” it mentioned.