Nijjar killing: Indian envoy opens up on tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions, strained ties with Canada

India’s high commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma has opened up on the expulsion of a Canadian diplomat and the strip of the diplomatic immunity of dozens of other officials, saying it was “retaliatory” and based partially on “an emotional element”.

Verma made the remarks during an interview with CTV News, Canada’s largest privately owned television network.

Canada and India witnessed strains in their relationship following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020. India has rejected Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”.

In the immediate aftermath, both countries expelled each other’s diplomats. India also suspended its visa services to Canada initially, but relaxed them for a select group a month later. Last week, India resumed issuing electronic visas for Canadian nationals.

In the CTV News interview, which was aired on Sunday, Verma, however, said relations between the two countries are better than they were two months ago. This after he said “the emotional element was a factor” in India’s decision to expel a Canadian diplomat.

The Indian high commissioner, however, that the move to strip the diplomatic immunities from dozens of other diplomats in October was largely for the sake of parity, to have the same number of Canadian diplomats in India as there were Indian diplomats stationed in Canada.

Last month, Canada recalled 41 of its diplomats from India after the Indian government said it would revoke their diplomatic immunity, in an escalation of their dispute over the killing of Nijjar.

Verma insisted that India was “absolutely” and “decidedly” not involved in the killing of Nijjar— but has thus far refused to cooperate with any investigation.

Verma said India’s “main concern” in its relations with Canada remains that “some Canadian citizens are using Canadian soil to launch attacks on (India’s) sovereignty and territorial integrity,” referring to the Sikh separatist movement. He added that from that “core issue” come “security concerns” for Indian diplomats and officials working in Canada, himself included.

When asked about the timing of relations between the two countries going sour, and the quid-pro-quo expulsion of diplomats taking place shortly after Trudeau’s allegation in the House of Commons, Verma said “emotions became very high” at that time.

“Since one of our principal diplomats was expelled from here as persona non grata, so yes, we did retaliate on that,” Verma said.

“Any action will have reaction, and similarly, we declared persona non grata on one of the Canadian diplomats who was at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, and others are in a process of evaluation.”

When asked why having parity in terms of the number of diplomats in both countries did not seem to be an issue prior to September, Verma said Trudeau’s allegations impacted the Indian government’s assessment.

“The emotions became very high once the statements were made from Ottawa,” he said. “And a bit of emotional elements will be there, and the decisions are taken.”

“The events which unfolded after the (prime minister’s) statements were made, we did not feel it was very friendly,” he also said.

Verma also said, however, that Canada and India are working on “more dialogue” to sort out how to “facilitate a better diplomatic presence” in both countries.

When asked whether he sees a path to some form of solution and improved relations between the two countries, Verma said “of course.”

During the interview, Verma was asked why India was not cooperating with Canada in the investigation. To this, he said, “…even without an investigation being concluded, India was convicted.”

“Is that the rule of law?” Verma asked.

When asked how India was convicted, Verma replied: “Because India was asked to cooperate. And if you look at the typical criminal terminology, when someone asks us to cooperate which means that you have already been convicted, and you better cooperate. So we took it in a very different interpretation.

“But we always said that if there is anything specific and relevant, and communicated to us, we will look into it. And that had been said from day one. So we have never said, of course, we have not used the word cooperate, because we feel that’s humiliating. But we have always said, that gives us something specific and relevant, and we’ll look into it,” he added.

“We are a country of rule of law, and all the freedoms and everything has been given in the Indian Constitution, which was in 1950, when we adopted our Constitution. So they are our pillars. (We) will not go beyond that. So, therefore, what I feel is that the space which is available, on some pretext or other to these elements, needs to be evaluated,” he said.

Later, when asked whether he is overblowing the risk Sikh separatists pose for domestic political advantage in India, the high commissioner said his government has presented “documentation” to the Canadian government “through a mutually agreed channel” to prove Sikh separatists living in Canada are engaging in criminal activity in both countries.

“These are red corner notices, which went through the Interpol. And by the way, one of the recording notices was for Mr Nijjar, who was shot down. So we have shared all these things and Interpol certainly will not forward anything without the evidence being submitted. So we have given all the documentation that we had and I hope to hear back from Canada soon.

“So in India, there is no traction. But we are treating these guys like terrorists, not as separatists,” he said.

They are terrorists because they are raising their funds in Canada, sending it across to the gangsters and gangs in India, who are doing illegal activities in India, he said, adding: “So our main concern is not the separatism, but they being terrorists.”

When suggested that Sikh separatists holding a referendum in Canada is not hate speech, Verma replied: “See, the referendum, if you do it for Canada domestically, I’m fine. How are you allowing your citizens to do a referendum to bifurcate India?

“..So if they are using Canadian soil to challenge the territorial integrity of India, which international law in the world will support that?” he asked.

Responding to a question about India resuming the electronic visa services for Canadians after suspending all visa services for nearly two months, the Indian envoy said, “We did a continuous evaluation of the situation. And during the last evaluation, we came to the conclusion that the security situation is relatively better than what it used to be when we suspended the visa services. And therefore we decided to resume e-visa services.”