Canada announced the expulsion of six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner.
The police accused agents of the Indian government of being linked to homicides, harassment, and other “acts of violence” against Sikh separatists in the country.
Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly said in a statement that the decision to expel the diplomats “was made with great consideration and only after (Canadian police) gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case.”
According to a statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the extraordinary step has sharply escalated diplomatic tensions between the countries, with India swiftly expelling six Canadian diplomats in response, including the acting High Commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler.
Relations between both countries hit rock bottom last year when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had credible information linking the Indian government to the assassination on Canadian soil of prominent Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The Indian government has called the accusations “preposterous” and said it was withdrawing the officials expelled by the Canadian government. “There is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” the statement added Monday.
“The aspersions cast on (High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma) are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt.”
