On October 14, 2024, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement announcing the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats from India, with a deadline for their departure, and simultaneously decided to recall six Indian diplomats stationed in Canada.
On the same day, Canada also issued a statement, declaring that six Indian diplomats in Canada would be expelled for their alleged involvement in violent criminal activities.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs, in its statement on the evening of the 14th, stated that the Indian government had officially requested six diplomats, including the Canadian chargé d'affaires in India, to leave the country by 23:59 on October 19.
This decision was made in response to Canada's accusations against Indian diplomats.
Earlier, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs had released another statement announcing that India would recall its high commissioner to Canada along with five other diplomats.
The statement noted that due to a lack of trust in Canada's commitment to ensuring the safety of Indian diplomats, the Indian government decided to recall all the identified diplomats back to India.
Earlier, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs had issued a press release mentioning that on October 13, the Canadian government had notified the Indian foreign ministry, accusing India's high commissioner to Canada and other diplomats of being involved in the assassination of an Indian-origin Sikh separatist leader in 2023.
India strongly refuted this, calling the accusations baseless and an unjustified attack on Indian diplomats.
While India was responding, Canada's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement on the 14th, announcing the expulsion of India's high commissioner to Canada and five other Indian diplomats.
Canada claimed that these diplomats were connected to violent criminal activities.
According to the statement, the Canadian police had gathered concrete evidence, and to further the investigation and allow police to question the Indian diplomats involved, Canada requested that India waive the diplomatic and consular immunity of these diplomats and cooperate with the investigation.
However, the Indian government rejected this request. Considering domestic security concerns, Canada decided to issue an expulsion order for these Indian diplomats.
In her statement on the same day, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly further explained the decision. She emphasized that the expulsion of the Indian diplomats was made after carefully weighing all the evidence.
She pointed out that after a thorough investigation, Canadian police had collected sufficient, clear, and compelling evidence confirming the direct involvement of these six Indian diplomats in the assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot in June 2023 in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
He held Canadian citizenship and had immigrated to Canada from India in the 1990s.
He was a supporter of the Sikh separatist movement and advocated for the independence of certain regions of India.
Due to his activities, Nijjar was designated a terrorist by the Indian government in July 2020.
Canada believes that the Indian government may have been involved in Nijjar's assassination, a claim strongly denied by the Indian government.
This incident has sparked a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, with each side expelling the other's diplomats.
In addition to the expulsion of diplomats, the Indian government has also imposed visa restrictions on Canadian citizens, further escalating tensions between the two nations.
The escalation of these events has led to a deeper diplomatic rift between India and Canada, and how the two sides will resolve the deadlock through diplomatic means remains to be seen.
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