India and Canada are no longer as close as they used to be. This is because Canada said that India may have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada. India has denied this claim.
As a result of this disagreement, India has told Canada to reduce the number of its diplomats in India. India has also stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens.
This means that it will be more difficult for Canadians to travel to India and for Indians to travel to Canada. It is also a sign that the relationship between the two countries is not as good as it used to be.
Ties between Canada and India, close allies on security and trade, have worsened significantly after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that there were claims of Indian involvement in the killing of a Sikh activist in Vancouver in June.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a 45-year-old Canadian citizen who was wanted by India for many years. He was shot and killed outside the Sikh temple he led in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, in June 2023. Nijjar was born in India but became a Canadian citizen in 2007.
Prime Minister Trudeau spoke about the difficult diplomatic situation with India at the United Nations General Assembly.
“There is no question that India is a country of growing importance and a country that we need to continue to work with,” he said. “We are not looking to provoke or cause problems, but we are unequivocal around the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians.”
Trudeau made a serious accusation on Monday, which led to both countries expelling a diplomat from each other’s consulates. India said the accusations were ridiculous.
Canada has not yet given any proof to support Prime Minister Trudeau’s claims, and Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, said on Thursday that it may take a long time to do so. “This is very early days,” Rae told reporters at the U.N., insisting that while facts will emerge, they must “come out in the course of the pursuit of justice.”
“That’s what we call the rule of law in Canada,” he said.
- The company that helps people get Indian visas in Canada has stopped taking new applications.
- The company did not say why it has stopped taking new applications.
India has stopped issuing visas to Canadians. This means that Canadians who do not already have a valid visa will not be able to travel to India until the suspension is lifted.
Canada is one of the top countries for tourists to India. In 2021, 80,000 Canadian tourists visited India.
In other words, Canadians who don’t have an Indian visa right now can’t go to India until India starts issuing visas again. Canada is a popular tourist destination for Indians, so this is a big deal for both countries.
Source: LA Times
