India-Canada News Updates: Not looking to escalate situation, says Trudeau

India-Canada News highlights: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau alleged India's role behind the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India-Canada News Updates: The diplomatic relationship between India and Canada has worsened in the past few weeks after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the Indian government could be behind the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar - who was shot dead outside at a parking lot outside a Gurdwara in Canada's Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18. India has outrightly rejected the claim, calling it "absurd" and “politically motivated”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau (AFP)

Amid the tensions, both sides expelled diplomats, while India stopped processing visa applications by Canadians. On Tuesday, the Indian government reportedly told Canada to withdraw dozens of diplomats from the country. According to the report, Ottawa has been told by New Delhi that it must repatriate roughly 40 diplomats by October 10.

Follow all the updates here:

• Oct 03, 2023 10:55 PM IST

  Canada wants private talks with India to resolve diplomatic spat

  Canada wants private talks with India to resolve a diplomatic dispute over the murder of a Sikh separatist leader, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on Tuesday, after a report said India had asked the country to withdraw 41 diplomats.

  India has told Canada that it must repatriate the diplomats by Oct. 10, according to the Financial Times. Neither Joly nor Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded when asked if the report was accurate.

  "We are in contact with the government of India. We take Canadian diplomats' safety very seriously and we will continue to engage privately because we think diplomatic conversations are best when they remain private," Joly told reporters.

• Oct 03, 2023 10:04 PM IST

  Canada is in talks with India over diplomats as dispute grows

  Canada’s foreign minister said the government is still in discussions with India about Canada’s diplomatic presence in the country as a dispute rages over the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in a Vancouver suburb.

  Melanie Joly said Tuesday that Canada is in “constant cooperation and dialogue with India” after reports that Canada has been instructed to reduce the number of diplomats by two-thirds — a move that would send dozens of staff home and significantly reduce its contingent in New Delhi.

  “In moments of tensions — because indeed there are tensions between both our governments — more than ever it’s important that diplomats be on the ground and that’s why we believe in the importance of having a strong diplomatic footprint in India,” she said in Ottawa.

  “That being said, we are i

• Oct 03, 2023 09:13 PM IST

  India-Canada News LIVE: 'We're going through an extremely challenging time with India,' says Trudeau

  "Obviously, we're going through an extremely challenging time with India right now," PM Trudeau was quoted as saying by the Canadian newspaper.

• Oct 03, 2023 07:56 PM IST

  India-Canada News LIVE: What is the reaction of US?

  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met last week with India’s foreign minister amid the simmering row between New Delhi and Ottawa. A U.S. official said the topic was raised.

  U.S. officials have acknowledged that the fallout from the allegations, which they take seriously, could have a profound impact on relations with India, but have been careful not to cast blame in the killing of Nijjar.

  There is a priority among the allies to bolster ties with India as a counterweight to Beijing’s rising power and assertiveness.

  “Reality is we need to find pathways of de-escalation and perhaps Canada’s allies can be helpful here,” said Bruce Heyman, a U.S. ambassador to Canada during the Obama administration.

  AP

• Oct 03, 2023 07:36 PM IST

  India tells Canada to withdraw 41 diplomats by October 10

  The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the Indian demand, said India had threatened to revoke the diplomatic immunity of those diplomats told to leave who remained after Oct. 10.

  Canada has 62 diplomats in India and India had said that the total should be reduced by 41, the newspaper said.

  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to confirm the report of the expulsions but said Ottawa was not looking to escalate the dispute.

• Oct 03, 2023 07:13 PM IST

  India-Canada News LIVE: We want to be on the ground in India to help Canadian families, says PM Trudeau

  We want to be on the ground in India to help Canadian families there, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

  Reuters

• Oct 03, 2023 07:11 PM IST

  India-Canada News LIVE: PM Trudeau says his country is not looking to escalate the situation

  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that Canada has no intention of escalating the situation with India and will maintain responsible and constructive engagement with New Delhi.

• Oct 03, 2023 06:43 PM IST

  India-Canada News LIVE: A recap

  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood up in Parliament last month and said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh leader who was killed by masked gunmen in June in Surrey, outside Vancouver. For years, India has said Nijjar, a Canadian citizen born in India, has links to terrorism, an allegation Nijjar denied.

• Oct 03, 2023 05:35 PM IST

  India tells Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country, an official says

  India has told Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country, an official familiar with the matter said Tuesday, ramping up a confrontation between the two countries over Canadian accusations that India may have been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in suburban Vancouver.

  The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly ahead of public reaction from the Canadian government later Tuesday. The official confirmed an earlier report from the Financial Times.

• Oct 03, 2023 05:11 PM IST

  India-Canada ties fray in row over Sikh separatist killing - A timeline

  Here's a list of diplomatic and trade actions taken by the two nations so far:

  • Canada paused talks on a proposed trade treaty with India, a Canadian official said on Sept. 1, an unexpected move that came about three months after both countries said they planned to seal an initial pact this year.

  • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed strong concerns about Sikh separatist protests in Canada to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of a G20 summit in New Delhi on Sept. 10.

  • Canada postponed a trade mission to India planned for October led by Trade Minister Mary Ng, a spokesperson for the minister said on Sept. 15. Canada's decision to halt trade treaty talks and postpone the mission was due to concerns surrounding the murder, a Canadian source told Reuters.

  • Trudeau told parliament on Sept. 18 that Canada was "actively pursuing credible allegations" linking Indian government agents to the killing of Nijjar, a Canadian citizen campaigning for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India.

  • India dismissed Trudeau's assertion as "absurd" on Sept. 19. Both countries expelled a diplomat in tit-for-tat moves, with Canada throwing out India's top intelligence officer in the country while India expelled his Canadian counterpart.

  • India urged its citizens in Canada to exercise caution in a statement on Sept. 20, as the U.S., Australia and Britain expressed concerns about the issue.

  • India's JSW Steel Ltd is slowing down the process to buy a stake in the steelmaking coal unit of Canada's Teck Resources, Reuters reported on Sept. 21 citing a source close to the discussions.

  • India suspended issuing new visas for Canadians on Sept. 22 and asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in India.

  • Fertiliser importer Indian Potash said on Sept. 22 that it does not expect supplies of Canadian potash to be affected by the row and that it hopes to extend a contract with Canadian supplier Canpotex beyond the end of September. Canada is one of the key suppliers of potash to India.

  • Canadian lentil sales to India slowed after tensions rose between the two nations, industry sources in both countries told Reuters. Canada is India's main import source of lentils, a protein-rich staple.

  • India's steel secretary told reporters on Sept. 28 that Indian exports to Canada were marginal and have not been affected by the diplomatic row.

• Oct 03, 2023 04:23 PM IST

  Canada to pick new House speaker after fiasco involving former Nazi soldier

  Canada's House of Commons on Tuesday will vote to select a new speaker after the previous one quit following an uproar for unknowingly inviting a former Nazi soldier to a special parliamentary session in honor of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

  Former speaker Anthony Rota, a member of the governing Liberal party, resigned last week. He took full responsibility for inviting Yaroslav Hunka, 98, a Polish-born Ukrainian who served in one of Adolf Hitler's Waffen SS units during World War Two, to the House when Zelenskiy spoke on Sept. 22.

• Oct 03, 2023 03:09 PM IST

  Urged India to cooperate with Canada in its probe into Khalistani separatist's death: US official

  The Biden Administration has engaged with the Indian government on a number of occasions urging them to cooperate with Canada in its investigations into the death of a Khalistani separatist, a US State Department official has said.

  Bilateral ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations of "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June.

  India has rejected the allegations as "absurd" and "motivated" and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa's expulsion of an Indian official over the case.

• Oct 03, 2023 02:28 PM IST

  India-Canada News LIVE: Who was Sukhdool Singh?

  A resident of Duneka village in Punjab's Moga district, Sukhdool, 40, was shot dead in the Canadian city of Winnipeg by unidentified people, with officials terming it “a result of inter-gang rivalry”.Sukhdool's killing came amidst diplomatic tensions between India and Canad over the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar by unidentified assailants in British Columbia's Surrey in June 2023.

• Oct 03, 2023 02:26 PM IST

  Slain gangster Sukhdool Singh associated with Khalistani entities to run syndicate from Canada

  India's wanted gangster Sukhdool Singh, who was fatally shot last month in northwest Winnipeg city in Canada, was associated with terrorist entities like designated Khalistani terrorist Arsh Dala for acquiring sophisticated weapons to run his syndicate.

  India's federal probe agency National National Investigation Agency (NIA) had mentioned the fact in one of its charge sheets filed in a special court in Delhi in March this year naming Sukhdool and 21 others.

  As per the charge sheet, Sukhdool, who also went by the alias Sukh Duneke and was known as a notorious criminal in India for allegedly organizing hits on rival gang members there, and a few gang members such as Gaurav Patyal fled India and ran their syndicate from abroad.

  ANI

• Oct 03, 2023 01:36 PM IST

  Canadian MP asks Trudeau govt to provide evidence backing its allegations

  Canadian MP Kevin Vuong on Monday asked the Justin Trudeau government to provide evidence backing its allegation that the Indian government was possibly behind the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on its soil. Read more here

• Oct 03, 2023 01:04 PM IST

  Urged India to cooperate with Canada in its probe into Nijjar's death: US official

  A US State Department official on Tuesday said that the Biden administration has urged India to cooperate with Canada in its investigations into the death of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. "We have engaged with the Indian government on a number of occasions to urge them to cooperate with Canada's investigation. The secretary had an opportunity to do that in his meeting with the foreign minister on Friday," the official said.

• Oct 03, 2023 12:25 PM IST

  India tells Canada to withdraw dozens of diplomatic staff

  India on Tuesday told Canada to withdraw dozens of diplomats from the country amid the row over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Financial Times reported. According to the report, Ottawa has been told by New Delhi that it must repatriate roughly 40 diplomats by October 10. Read more here