New Delhi:
Canadians appear to have a problem with Indian diplomats trying to find out what is happening there regarding India, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said today at the NDTV World Summit. In an exclusive interview with Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia, Mr. Jaishankar spoke about the different standards – “double standards is a very mild word for it” – that seem to exist between Canada's treatment of other diplomats and the 'license' their diplomats themselves allow while they are in India.
Speaking on the backdrop of political ties between Canada and India that have deteriorated following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations about Indian involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was also a Canadian citizen, Mr. Jaishankar wrote this is due to various reasons.
One of these, he said, was the changing world order in which the Western world is still struggling to adapt to developing countries that have advanced and are on an equal platform. In addition to this “big picture” reason, there are circumstances specific to Canada-India relations.
While relations are extremely strong in terms of trade or people-to-people connections, things have changed politically just as the two nations have emerged from the shadow of the 1985 bombing of Kanishka, the Air India 182 flight from Montreal.
Speaking about the lowest point of that relationship – tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats – Mr Jaishankar said: “Canada has asked us to subject our High Commissioner to a police investigation and we have chosen to withdraw our High Commissioner… She seem to have a problem with our diplomats trying to find out what is happening in Canada that directly affects their well-being and security.”
On the other hand, the license they give themselves is “completely different from the restrictions they impose on diplomats in Canada,” he said. “Canadian diplomats have no problem targeting our military or police, profiling people and targeting people who need to be stopped in Canada,” he added.
“When we tell them that people are openly threatening Indian leaders and diplomats, their response is freedom of expression. If you threaten the Indian High Commissioner, he is supposed to accept it as freedom of speech, but if an Indian journalist says that the Canadian High Commissioner walked out of the South Block looking very grumpy, it is apparently foreign interference,” he added. he added.
Ties between India and Canada – which have been on a downward spiral since Mr Trudeau's allegations last September – have plummeted following the series of new allegations against the Indian envoy.
The State Department blasted Ottawa for its allegations against Sanjay Kumar Verma — one of the country's top diplomats who served in Japan, Sudan, Italy, Turkey, Vietnam and China.
India said the allegations were “ridiculous” and deserved contempt. New Delhi said it has “no confidence in the current Canadian government's commitment to ensuring their security.” The ministry had also recalled the diplomats, after which Canada formally deported them from the country. India reiterated this by ordering six Canadian diplomats.
Last week, in a surprise admission at a public inquiry, Mr. Trudeau had admitted that Canada had no “hard evidence” in 2023 to support allegations linking Indian government agents to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. His claims, Mr. Trudeau admitted, were based on intelligence rather than hard evidence.
“I was briefed on the fact that there was intelligence from Canada, and possibly from Five Eyes allies, that made it quite clear, incredibly clear that India was involved… Agents of the Indian government were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil,” he said.