Hardening its stand against unsubstantiated allegations levelled by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, India on Thursday suspended issuance of visas to Canadian citizens “due to security threat to its embassy and consulates there”. At the same time, Canada has sought adequate security for its diplomatic staff in India, claiming that some of them have received threats on various social media platforms.
India has apprised its key Western partners and friends about its concerns over increasing activities of anti-India elements from Canadian soil, sources said on Thursday.
Trudeau Thursday reiterated that there are “credible allegations” that should be taken “extremely seriously” as he urged the Government of India to work with his country to allow justice to follow its course in the killing of a Khalistani extremist leader.
“We call upon the government of India to take this matter seriously and to work with us to shed full transparency and ensure accountability and justice in this matter,” he said while responding to questions on the diplomatic row between India and Canada.
“We are a country of the rule of law. We are going to continue to do the work necessary to keep Canadians safe and to uphold our values and the international rules based order. That’s our focus right now,” Trudeau said when asked whether his government will take any retaliatory measures following India’s suspension of visa services for Canadians.
Earlier, Trudeau refused to take questions in the United Nations (UN) in New York on his allegations about a “potential” involvement of Indian Government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.
Enunciating India’s stand on the issue in New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday “India is “temporarily unable to process visa applications” from Canada because of “security threats faced by our High Commissions and Consulates” in that country.
“You are aware of the security threats being faced by our High Commissions and Consulates in Canada... This has disrupted their normal functioning. Accordingly, our High Commissions and Consulates are temporarily unable to process visa applications,” Bagchi told reporters.
“We will be reviewing the situation on a regular basis,” he said, adding the Government has also suspended the issue of electronic visas. Bagchi also said the issue is about “discrimination in how visas are granted by the Canadian side”.
“All categories of visas are suspended. Issue not about travel to India... those who have valid visas (issued before this suspension order) are (cleared) to travel to India. The issue is the creation of an environment that disrupts functioning of our consulates and high commission,” he said.
Bagchi dismissed claims Indian “agents” had killed Nijjar and called them “politically driven”. He pointed out that “no specific information” had been shared by Ottawa on the alleged killing.
“We are willing to look at specific information if provided... from our side, we have very specific information on particular individuals in Canada and all these have been shared with them.”
“But Canada hasn’t acted on them,” he said adding that Canada’s inaction was a huge concern.
“From our side, specific evidence about criminal activities by individuals based on Canadian soil has been shared with Canada but not acted upon...Yes, I do think there is a degree of prejudice here. They have made allegations and taken action on them. To us, it seems that these allegations by the government of Canada are primarily politically driven,” he added.
On India expelling a senior diplomat — after Canada ordered a top Indian diplomat to leave its borders — Bagchi said the other side had been asked to downsize its diplomatic presence in India citing “interference of Canadian diplomats in Indian affairs”.
“Canadian diplomatic presence in India is larger than what India has (in Canada)... accordingly needs to be downsized. There should be parity, their numbers are much higher,” Bagchi said.
In another development, Canadian MP Chandra Arya alleged that the extremist elements are “attacking” and “threatening” Hindu-Canadians to go back to India. He has also urged all the Hindu-Canadians in the country to stay calm, and vigilant and report any untoward incident to law enforcement agencies. Arya is an Indo-Canadian leader who comes from the Liberal Party of Canada, the same party as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“I have heard from many Hindu-Canadians who are fearful after this targeted attack. I urge Hindu-Canadians to stay calm but vigilant. Please report any incident of Hinduphobia to your local law enforcement agencies,” Arya added.
He further said the Khalistan movement leader is trying to “provoke” the Hindu Canadians to react and “divide the Hindu and Sikh communities” in Canada.
However, Arya also clarified that a majority of Canadian Sikhs do not support the Khalistan movement. “Let me be clear. Vast majority of our Canadian Sikh brothers and sisters do not support the Khalistan movement. Most Sikh Canadians may not publicly condemn the Khalistan movement for several reasons but they are deeply connected to the Hindu-Canadian community. Canadian Hindus and Sikhs are connected through family relationships and shared social and cultural ties,” he further said.
Few days back, Khalistan movement leader in Canada and president of Sikhs for Justice, which organised the so-called referendum, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun attacked Hindu-Canadians asking them to leave Canada and go back to India.
“I can’t understand how the glorification of terrorism or a hate crime targeting a religious group is allowed in the name of freedom of speech and expression. There would be an outrage in Canada if a white supremacist attacked any group of racialized Canadians asking them to get out of our country. But apparently, this Khalistani leader can get away with this hate crime,” Arya said.
Arya added that the Hindu Canadians keep a low profile, are considered soft targets, and the “anti-Hindu elements” cannot digest the success of Hindu-Canadians.
