India withdraws envoy from Canada as tensions over murder probe intensify

NEW DELHI

India on Monday said it was withdrawing its ambassador in Ottawa and also expelled six Canadian diplomats as bilateral ties hit bottom over probe into the June 2023 murder of a dissident Sikh activist in Canada.

The decision came after Canada identified Indian envoy Sanjay Kumar Verma and other diplomats as “persons of interest” in the investigation into the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

New Delhi rejected the charges and summoned Canadian charge d’affaires to the Foreign Ministry in New Delhi.

The ministry rejected what it said “baseless targeting” of the Indian diplomats and officials in Canada, which “was completely unacceptable.”

“It was underlined that in an atmosphere of extremism and violence, the (Justin) Trudeau government's actions endangered their safety. We have no faith in the current Canadian government's commitment to ensure their security,” said the ministry.

In a separate statement, the ministry said acting Canadian ambassador Stewart Ross Wheeler, deputy ambassador Patrick Hebert, and four other diplomats were asked to leave India by Oct. 19.

Earlier, India rejected what it called “preposterous imputations” after Canada sent a diplomatic note to New Delhi suggesting that the Indian ambassador and other diplomats were “persons of interest” in the murder probe.

Tensions between India and Canada have escalated since Nijjar, a vocal proponent of a separate Khalistani state in India’s Punjab region, was fatally shot last year outside a Sikh temple. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last September alleged “credible allegations” linking the Indian government to the killing, a claim India dismissed as “absurd.”

*Writing by Riyaz ul Khaliq