The United States has rejected reports it is considering expelling Indian diplomats from Washington amid diplomatic tensions between India and Canada.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller denied the reports at a press conference on Tuesday and said he was not aware of reports that we were expelling Indian diplomats. I am not aware of any such removal.
After the news of the return of many diplomats including Sanjay Verma, the Indian High Commissioner to Canada, there were reports that Indian diplomats were being considered for expulsion from the United States, but this has been comprehensively rejected by the US government.
India and Canada expel diplomats from each other
India expelled six Canadian diplomats after rising tensions with Canada. Canada also expelled six diplomats from India. The Indian government also recalled its High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma. The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that we do not believe that the Canadian government can provide them with security guarantees. Canada declares an Indian diplomat a suspect in a case. This is related to the murder of Khalistan terrorist Nijar.
India first repatriates diplomats
As High Commissioner and courier between the two countries, I sent this note to Delhi. Afterwards, the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the Canadian High Commissioner and stated that the Indian government had decided that the six Canadian diplomats must leave India. The matter has been notified to Canada. The day after that, Canada emailed us a notice saying that all 6 of us had been declared persona non grata.
Why have relations between India and Canada deteriorated?
The entire incident is related to the murder of Khalistani supporter Hardeep Singh Nijar. Nijar was declared a terrorist by India despite being a Canadian citizen. He was shot and killed near the Gurudwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 last year.
On September 18 last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that Indian agents were involved in Nijar’s murder.
However, India has always denied these claims by Canada and considered them absurd and baseless. On Monday, Canadian police used their position to collect information directly or through agents in Indian diplomatic and consular missions. This means that Canada directly sent the Indian diplomats to the dock. Later, Trudeau repeated the same accusation at a press conference.
But the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied this and made it clear that Trudeau did this for vote bank politics. India also recalled High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma after Canada made the allegations. India has made it clear that they now do not trust the current Canadian government.