Canada: Indian couple, their grandchild killed in multi-vehicle accident
An Indian couple and their grandchild were among four people who lost their lives in a multi-vehicle collision on Highway 401 in Whitby on Monday.
The Ministry of External Affairs has once again called out Canadian interference in India’s internal matters and reiterated its demand to have diplomatic parity days after reports claimed that New Delhi has asked Ottawa to repatriate 41 of its diplomats posted in India.
Addressing a weekly press conference on Thursday, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “Given the much higher presence of diplomats or diplomatic presence here…and their continued interference in our internal matters, we have sought parity in our respective diplomatic presence. Discussions are ongoing on the modalities of achieving this”.
When asked if the reduction in the number of Canadian diplomats could also reduce the issuing of visas by the Canadian High Commission, the MEA spokesperson said that it is completely up to the Canadian side and that India’s concerns are related to the parity in diplomatic presence.
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He further added that India’s primary focus is on two things – having an atmosphere in Canada, where Indian diplomats can work properly and in achieving parity in terms of diplomatic strength.
The diplomatic ties between India and Canada remained strained for the last few months. However, they deteriorated further after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of extra judicial killing against agents of Indian government.
Trudeau last month claimed that the Indian government was behind the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who was designated terrorist by New Delhi in 2020.
Trudeau, during a debate in the Canadian Parliament, claimed his country’s national security officials had reasons to believe that “agents of the Indian government” carried out the killing of the Canadian citizen, who also served as the president of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.
However, India has outrightly rejected the claims, calling them “absurd” and “politically driven”. Notably, Canada is yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim.
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