India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has said that they will start giving visas to Canadians again if they notice improvements in the safety of Indian diplomats in Canada.
India stopped issuing visas in September because they said there were security problems at their offices in Canada.
The two countries are in the middle of a disagreement over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada.
Ottawa has previously stated that it is very concerned about the safety of diplomats.
But it has not answered India’s specific claims about dangers to its diplomats in Canada.
The relationship between the countries got much worse after the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said in September that his country was looking into “believable accusations that could link” the Indian government to the murder of a Sikh leader.
India completely disagreed with the accusations and thought they were ridiculous.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who is from Canada, was killed in his car by two people wearing masks outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia in June. Nijjar strongly supported a separate Sikh homeland called Khalistan. This was a controversial topic in India because there was a violent rebellion in the 1980s demanding it.
Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the leader of Sikhs in Canada.
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India was worried about the safety of its officials in Canada even before things got worse. They were concerned about threats from Khalistan supporters. In July, Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly wrote on Twitter that the country is very concerned about the safety of its diplomats. This came after a poster for a pro-Khalistan rally blamed two Indian diplomats for the death of Nijjar.
In September, the Indian government said they had to temporarily stop giving visas to Canadians. They said this was because their embassy and consulates in Canada were being threatened, which made it hard for them to work normally. The Canadian embassy also mentioned that some of the people who work for them have been threatened on different social media sites.
Canada’s foreign minister said 41 diplomats left India last week. India asked Canada to remove many of their staff, saying they would not have immunity if they stayed.
Canadian officials have said that this goes against the rules that countries have agreed upon in the world. The United States and the United Kingdom are worried about the decision.
On Sunday, Mr Jaishankar explained that India wants both countries to have equal diplomatic rights and that this aligns with the rules of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.
He said that we used parity because we were worried about Canadian people interfering in our affairs often. This was mentioned at an event, and he also mentioned that the relationship between India and Canada was going through a tough period.
“But I just want to say that the issues we have are with a specific group in Canadian politics and the decisions that come from that,” he said.
Canada’s visa services are still available in India, but it has informed that it will take longer to process them due to having fewer staff after the diplomats left. Currently, both Canada and India have 21 diplomats in each other’s country.
Last week, Mr. Trudeau said that India’s strict actions towards diplomats were making life difficult for many people in both countries.
According to the 2021 census, Canada has 1. 4 million people who come from India. More than half of them are Sikhs. These Indian-origin people make up 3. 7% of Canada’s population. India sends the most students from other countries to Canada. In 2022, 320,000 of the total international students in Canada were from India, which is 40% of the total.
In 2021, around 80,000 people from Canada went to visit India. Only the US, Bangladesh, and UK had more tourists visiting India that year.