Canada pulls 41 diplomats from India amid row over separatist’s killing

Canada has pulled 41 diplomats out of India in the latest escalation of a bitter dispute over the killing of a Sikh separatist in Vancouver.

The Canadian government made the decision to recall its diplomats after the Indian government said it would revoke their diplomatic immunity, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Wednesday.

Joly said India’s threat to revoke their diplomatic immunity was “unprecedented” and violated international law.  “Given the implications of India’s actions on the safety of our diplomats, we have facilitated their safe departure from India,” Joly said during a press conference.

Joly said Canada would continue to defend international law and engage with India.  “If we allow the norm of diplomatic immunity to be broken, no diplomats anywhere on the planet would be safe. So for this reason, we will not reciprocate,” she said. “Now more than ever we need diplomats on the ground and we need to talk to one another,” she added.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs previously called for a reduction in the number of Canadian diplomats in the country, saying they outnumbered India’s staffing in Canada. Ottawa’s withdrawal of its diplomats leaves Canada with 21 representatives in India.

Ottawa and New Delhi have been at loggerheads since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month accused the Indian intelligence services of involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar,  a prominent member of the Khalistan movement that advocates for the creation of an independent Sikh state in northern India.

(Aljazeera)