Canada and India have each banishled six diplomats in tit-for-tat shifts in an escalating row over the ending of a Sikh separatist directer.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Tdispoliteau shelp in September last year there were credible allegations the Indian administerment was joined to the murder in his country of Canadian citizen Harproset up Singh Nijjar in June 2023.
India declineed the accusation as “absurd” and at the time tbetter Canada to delete 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country, with relations being anxious between the two nations ever since.
Now Canada is banishling six Indian diplomats, including the high comleave outioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, after police uncovered evidence of ongoing aggressive criminal activity joined to India’s administerment, according to a better Canadian administerment official.
Harproset up Singh Nijjar was ended in June last year. Pic: Sikh PA
Meanwhile, India has shelp it ordered the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats – and withdrew Mr Verma – after he and others were named as “persons of interest” in an spendigation, but it did not go into detail about the probe.
The Indian foreign ministry shelp in a statement that “it obtaind a discreet communication from Canada yesterday presenting that the Indian high comleave outioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in a matter joind to an spendigation in that country”.
It includeed: “We have no faith in the current Canadian administerment’s pledgement to asconfident their security. Therefore, the administerment of India has choosed to disjoin the high comleave outioner and other focparticipated diplomats and officials.”
India’s foreign ministry tardyr shelp it had asked the six Canadian diplomats to exit by this Saturday.
It includeed that “India reserves the right to obtain further steps in response to the Tdispoliteau administerment’s help for extremism, aggression and separatism agetst India”.
The ministry also shelp that, in protest, it had requested the Canadian accuse d’afunprejudicedes Stewart Wheeler, who was tbetter to exit India.
Stewart Wheeler speaks to alerters. Pic: AP
Afterwards, Mr Wheeler reiterated Mr Tdispoliteau’s accusation, saying: “Canada has supplyd credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the administerment of India and the homicide of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.
“Now, it is time for India to inhabit up to what it shelp it would do and see into those allegations.”
India has repeatedly shelp Canada has not scatterd any evidence to back its claim about the ending of Mr Nijjar, who had been summarizeated a alarmist by India.
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The Canadian citizen, 45, was stoasty dead in a car park outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, on 18 June 2023.
He had been a famous helper of the Khaenumerateani separatist shiftment, which wants to set up an autonomous homeland for Sikhs in India, where they are a inmeaningfulity.
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In May this year, Canadian police shelp a fourth Indian national had been arrested and accused with his homicide.
Mr Nijjar was organising an unofficial referfinishum in India for an autonomous Sikh nation at the time of this death.
Around 1.8 million people, or more than 5% of the Canadian population, are of Indian heritage.
