Canada minister warns Indian diplomats amid row with India: ‘We won’t tolerate...’

Amid escalating tensions between the two countries, Canada’s foreign minister Melanie Joly on Friday warned that the remaining Indian diplomats in Canada are “on notice” not to endanger Canadian lives, adding that the country would not tolerate diplomats “in contravention of the Vienna convention”.

The diplomatic standoff between India and Canada erupted earlier this week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau led government expelled India’s high commissioner and five other diplomats. Canada accused the diplomats of being linked to a campaign of violence and intimidation against Sikh separatists in Canada.

When asked if any more Indian diplomats will be expelled, Joly said, “They are clearly on notice.”

"Six of them have been expelled including the high commissioner in Ottawa. Others were mainly from Toronto and Vancouver and clearly, we won’t tolerate any diplomats that are in contravention of the Vienna convention,” she added.

The Foreign Minister also said that never in Canada's history have they seen such “transnational repression” – foreign government's reach beyond their borders to intimidate, silence, coerce, harass, or harm members of their diaspora and exile communities in another country.

“That level of transnational repression cannot happen on Canadian soil. We’ve seen it elsewhere in Europe. Russia has done that in Germany and the UK and we needed to stand firm on this issue,” Joly said.

Joly’s remarks come amid allegations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) that Indian diplomats had allegedly been involved in actions leading to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist and a designated terrorist in India, last year in British Columbia.

Meanwhile, India has vehemently denied the accusations and dismissed them as “absurd”. In retaliation to Canadian government's move, India expelled six Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner in New Delhi.

The ministry of external affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal also accused Canada of sheltering individuals wanted for terrorism-related charges in India.