ALLEGATIONS MADE BY CANADA 'PRIMARILY POLITICALLY DRIVEN'

“Support for the Khalistan movement faded through the 1990s and has all but died, mostly as a result of the aggressive policing in India, although there are still extremist elements in Canada that fervently believe in the cause. ‘Khalistan died because nobody wanted Khalistan,’ an Indian government official told me. ‘The people who wanted Khalistan were sitting in Canada and the UK.’”

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Amid the ongoing tensions between India and Canada, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that the allegations by the Canadian government are “primarily politically driven”, emphasising parity in numbers when it comes to mutual diplomatic presence. During a press conference in New Delhi, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “Yes, we’ve informed the Government of Canada that there should be parity in strength in our mutual diplomatic presence. Their number is very much higher than ours in Canada... I assume there will be a reduction from the Canadian side.” Bagchi then went on to add, “Yes, I do think there is a degree of prejudice here. They have made allegations and taken action against them. To us, it seems that these allegations by the government of Canada are primarily politically driven.”

When asked about allegations levelled by Canada, MEA Spokesperson Bagchi said, “Yes, these allegations were raised by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with Prime Minister Narendra Modi…PM rejected them.”

India on Thursday suspended issue of visas to citizens of Canada “till further notice”. A notice by BLS International—a private agency hired for initial scrutiny of visa applications of Canadian nationals—read “Due to operational reasons... Indian visa services have been suspended till further notice”.

This notice comes on the heels of an international row over Ottawa’s claim that it had “credible allegations” linking agents of New Delhi to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistan Sikh terrorist. The Indian government firmly rejected the allegation as “absurd” and “motivated”.