India, Canada resume talks to reset relations

Anirudh Bhattacharyya and Rezaul H Laskar

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India and Canada have resumed contacts between security agencies and are eyeing the possibility of appointing new high commissioners, paving the way for a reset of diplomatic ties after the storm over the 2023 killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, people familiar with the matter said.

Discussions between the two sides through diplomatic and security channels resumed around December, after the relationship went through another rough patch in October, when India withdrew its high commissioner and five other diplomats who were declared "persons of interest" in the investigation into Nijjar's killing and expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats.

The Indian side considered a handful of diplomats for the position of the envoy in Ottawa and India's ambassador to Spain, Dinesh K Patnaik, has emerged as a front-runner, the people familiar with ongoing conversations on both sides said on condition of anonymity.

Patnaik, an officer of the 1990 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, is one of India's most senior diplomats and served as deputy envoy to the UK during 2016-2018, a position that required comprehension of the Khalistan problem within the diaspora, as is the case with Canada.

Ottawa's candidate for the post of high commissioner in New Delhi continues to be Christopher Cooter, who was till recently the envoy to South Africa, the people said. Cooter's name was proposed earlier by Canada and it was cleared in principle by India in mid-2024.

There was no word from Indian officials on these developments.

The people cited above said there is still no clarity on how soon the two sides will go ahead with the appointments as there is a thinking in some quarters that the posting of envoys should be preceded by a meeting of the top leadership of both sides to signal the resetting of relations.