MEA issues statement on withdrawal of 41 Canadian diplomats from India, says, ‘We reject any attempt..’
India-Canada Diplomatic Tensions: Amid the Canada's Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly’s announcement of confirming the withdrawal of 41 Canadian diplomats and their 42 family members from India, the Ministry of External Affairs strongly responded to the Canada’s statement and rejected Canada’s allegations stating that there was no attempt to portray the implementation of parity as a violation of international norms.
In the statement issued by MEA, it said, "We have seen the Statement by the Government of Canada on October 19 regarding Canadian diplomatic presence in India. The state of our bilateral relations, the much higher number of Canadian diplomats in India, and their continued interference in our internal affairs warrant parity in mutual diplomatic presence in New Delhi and Ottawa.”
“We have been engaged with the Canadian side on this over the last month in order to work out the details and modalities of its implementation. Our actions in implementing this parity are fully consistent with Article 11.1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which states the following: "In the absence of specific agreement as to the size of the mission, the receiving State may require that the size of a mission be kept within limits considered by it to be reasonable and normal, having regard to circumstances and conditions in the receiving State and to the needs of the particular mission,” read MEA statement.
“We reject any attempt to portray the implementation of parity as a violation of international norms," the ministry said.
Earlier, Canada's Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly explained the reasoning behind this decision, stating, "As 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."
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The tension between Canada and India escalated when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the Indian government was behind the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Trudeau claimed that Canadian national security officials had reason to believe that "agents of the Indian government" were responsible for Nijjar's killing. However, India categorically denied these allegations, deeming them "absurd" and "motivated." As of now, Canada has not provided public evidence to substantiate these claims.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who had been designated a terrorist in India, was fatally shot outside a Gurdwara in a parking area in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18.
Updating...
- With inputs from agencies
