Canada pulls 41 diplomats from India: Foreign Minister Melanie Joly

In the midst of a diplomatic spat over the death of a Sikh separatist, Canada has pulled 41 diplomats and their families out of India by Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly has said, after the country threatened to revoke their diplomatic immunity.

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Tensions flared between India and Canada last month following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's explosive allegations of the "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.

India angrily rejected the allegations as "absurd" and "motivated".

"I can confirm that India has formally conveyed its plan to unilaterally remove diplomatic immunities for all but 21 Canadian diplomats and dependents in Delhi by tomorrow, October 20," Joly said on Thursday.

Canada will be pausing all in-person services at the consulates in Chandigarh, Mumbai and Bengaluru and is now directing all Canadians in India to the High Commission in New Delhi.

The Canadian Embassy in New Delhi updated its travel advisory hours after Joly's statement, urging its citizens to "exercise a high degree of caution" in and around Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Mumbai.

Joly said that in their "unreasonable" request for diplomatic parity, India would only allow 21 diplomats and their families to maintain their diplomatic status, putting the others at risk of having their protections stripped arbitrarily, leaving them vulnerable to reprisal or arrest.

"This means 41 Canadian diplomats and their 42 dependents were in danger of having immunity stripped on an arbitrary date, and this would put their personal safety at risk," she said at a news conference in Ottawa.