Ottawa: Canada Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced on Thursday (local time) that Canada has removed 41 diplomats and their 42 family members, from India over the ongoing row between the two countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of now, I can confirm that India has formally conveyed its plan to unethically remove diplomatic immunities for all but 21 Canadian diplomats and dependents in Delhi by tomorrow, October 20. This means 41 Canadian diplomats and their 42 dependents were in danger of having immunity stripped on an arbitrary date. And this would put their personal safety at risk,\u201d Joly said, as she confirmed the departure of Canadian diplomats.<\/p>\n
This comes after India suspended visa operations to Canada and called for a reduction in Canadian diplomats in India, calling for \u2018parity\u2019, owing to the ongoing diplomatic row between the two nations.<\/p>\n
Canadian Foreign Minister said, \u201c\u2026we have facilitated their safe departure from India. This means that our diplomats and their families have now left diplomatic immunities. Keep diplomats safe, no matter where they\u2019re from and where they\u2019re sent to. Immunities allow diplomats to do their work without fear of reprisal or arrests from the country they\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are a fundamental principle of diplomacy and this is a two-way street. They only work if every country abides by the rules. A unilateral revocation of diplomatic privilege and immunities is contrary to international law. It is a clear violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and threatening to do so is unreasonable and escalatory. If we allow the norm of diplomatic immunity to be broken no diplomats anywhere on the planet would be safe,\u201d she said, adding that Canada \u201cwill not reciprocate,\u201d she said, according to CTV news.<\/p>\n
Along with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller, the minister made the announcement about the development \u201con the situation with India\u201d and how it will affect the level of service delivery Canada can offer following the withdrawal of diplomats.<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cThere\u2019s no question that India\u2019s decision will impact the levels of services to citizens in both countries. Unfortunately, we have to put a pause on all in-person services in our consulates in Chandigarh, Mumbai and in Bangalore.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCanadians who need consular assistance can still visit our High Commission in Delhi. And you can still also do that in person by phone and by email,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
This comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was questioned on Thursday about the situation with the Indian government\u2019s deadline of October 10 for Ottawa to considerably reduce its diplomatic presence.<\/p>\n
Joly would have more to say later, Trudeau said, declining to directly respond to the query, according to CTV News.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been continually engaged in diplomacy and in dialogue with the Indian government,\u201d Trudeau said, adding \u201cThis is a serious matter that we are taking extremely seriously,\u201d CTV News reported.<\/p>\n
Stating that India\u2019s focus is achieving \u2018parity\u2019 in terms of diplomatic presence, the Ministry of External Affairs had called for a reduction in Canadian diplomats in India citing their continued \u201cinterference\u201d in New Delhi\u2019s \u201cinternal matters\u201d.<\/p>\n
Addressing the press briefing earlier, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, \u201cGiven the much higher presence of diplomats or diplomatic presence here\u2026and their continued interference in our internal matters, we have sought parity in our respective diplomatic presence. Discussions are ongoing on the modalities of achieving this\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that Canadian diplomatic presence is higher, we would assume that there would be a reduction,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
On being asked if the reduction in the number of Canadian diplomats could see a decrease in the number of visas issued by the Canadian High Commission in India, Bagchi said, \u201cIt\u2019s up to the Canadian side, who they choose to staff the High Commission with\u2026our concerns are related to ensuring parity in diplomatic presence\u201d.<\/p>\n
He further added that India\u2019s primary focus is on two things; having an atmosphere in Canada, where Indian diplomats can work properly and in achieving parity in terms of diplomatic strength.<\/p>\n
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently alleged that the Indian government was behind the fatal shooting of Nijjar.<\/p>\n
Trudeau, during a debate in the Canadian Parliament, claimed his country\u2019s national security officials had reasons to believe that \u201cagents of the Indian government\u201d carried out the killing of the Canadian citizen, who also served as the president of Surrey\u2019s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.<\/p>\n
However, India has outrightly rejected the claims, calling it \u2018absurd\u2019 and \u2018motivated\u2019. Notably, Canada has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.<\/p>\n
Nijjar, who was a designated terrorist in India, was gunned down outside a Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada\u2019s Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ottawa: Canada Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced on Thursday (local time) that Canada has removed 41 diplomats and their 42 family members, from India over the ongoing row between the two countries. \u201cAs of now, I can confirm that India has formally conveyed its plan to unethically remove diplomatic immunities for all but 21 Canadian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11059,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11057\/revisions\/11059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrfrontlinenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}