’India making millions of lives unbelievably difficult’: Trudeau after Canada withdrew 41 diplomats

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

New Delhi, Oct 20, 2023: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that the central government’s crackdown on his country’s diplomats was making normal life difficult for millions of people in both countries. “The Indian government is making it unbelievably difficult for life as usual to continue for millions of people in India and in Canada. And they’re doing it by contravening a very basic principle of diplomacy,” he said.

 

“It’s something that has me very concerned for the wellbeing and happiness of millions of Canadians who trace their origins to the Indian subcontinent,” Trudeau said during a televised press conference at Brampton in Ontario.

The comments came a day after Canada said it had withdrawn 41 diplomats following an Indian threat to unilaterally revoke their status. The country now has 21 diplomats remaining in India.

New Delhi is angry after the prime minister suggested last month that Indian agents might have been involved in the June murder of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada. He said the expulsion of some of Canada’s diplomats will hamper travel and trade as well as pose difficulties for Indians studying in Canada.

At least two million Canadians, 5 percent of the overall population, have Indian heritage. India is by far Canada’s largest source of global students, making up for roughly 40 percent of study permit holders.

The ministry of external affairs earlier rejected the idea it had violated the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations. “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,” the ministry said.