'They're clearly on notice': Canadian minister Melanie Joly issues warning to remaining Indian diplomats
Ottawa: Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has issued a warning to over a dozen Indian diplomats remaining in Canada, following India's recall of six diplomats who were declared "persons of interest" in the investigation into Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing.
"They're clearly on notice," Joly told CBC News.
Speaking to the CBC News, she claimed that six of them have been “expelled”, including the Indian high commissioner in Ottawa.
She added, "Clearly, we won't tolerate any diplomats that are in contravention of the Vienna Convention."
These comments are directed at the 15 Indian diplomats still stationed in Canada.
The diplomatic tensions between India and Canada escalated after Canada labelled India's High Commissioner and other diplomats as "persons of interest" in the Nijjar case.
India subsequently recalled its High Commissioner and five other diplomats, accusing Canada of failing to act against extremist and separatist groups due to "vote bank politics."
Joly's remarks come after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) accused the Indian government, its agents, and diplomats of being involved in criminal activities in Canada, including coercion, extortion, and killings.
India has vehemently denied these accusations, calling them "preposterous imputations" and accusing the Canadian government of indulging in "vote bank politics."
The RCMP has claimed there are over a dozen credible and imminent threats to members of the South Asian community, particularly pro-Khalistan Sikhs.
It also alleges that Indian diplomats in Canada engaged in clandestine activities, including gathering intelligence for the Indian government, reported CBC News.
Joly emphasised the seriousness of the threat, stating that this was the reason the RCMP made the unprecedented decision to announce that Canadians were being intimidated.
"There was definitely a threat, and that's exactly why the RCMP decided to take the extraordinary measure of making public the fact that Canadians were being intimidated, [were] victims of extortion or even [received] death threats because agents and diplomats from India were linked to these criminal actions," she said at a press conference in Montreal.
Joly also compared the situation to transnational repression carried out by Russia in Germany and the UK, noting that such activity on this scale has never been seen in Canada before.
"We've never seen that in our history," she said. "That level of transnational repression cannot happen on Canadian soil."
India, in a statement released on Monday, "strongly" rejected Canada's claim that its diplomats were "persons of interest" in the investigation, calling the accusations "preposterous imputations" and part of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's political agenda.
India also accused Trudeau's government of fostering violent extremists and terrorists to intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada.
In response, India expelled six Canadian diplomats and summoned Canada's Charge d'Affaires, Stewart Wheeler, to convey that the "baseless targeting" of Indian diplomats was entirely unacceptable.
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