India has expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat action. High Commissioner to India Cameron Mackay was summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs headquarters in South Block in New Delhi amid India-Canada fireworks over the killing of Khalitsani terrorists.
Shortly after the expulsion, the Ministry of External Affairs told the Ministry that the grounds for expelling diplomats “are strong and had been in mind for a long time”.
“Canadian diplomats were probably involved in identifying a number of things, including targets and operatives for top gangsters based in Canada,” the source said.
External Affairs Ministry sources said the allegations against the diplomat are of a serious nature.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau on Monday said ‘foreign forces’ were behind the killing of pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, head of the Khalistan Tiger Force terror group. He claimed that the Indian government played a role in his fatal firing.
The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said the claims made by the Canadian Prime Minister are ‘motivated’ and ‘absurd’.
“We have seen and rejected the Canadian Prime Minister’s statement to his Parliament and his Foreign Minister’s statement. Allegations of Indian government’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated. Similar allegations were made by the Canadian Prime Minister against our Prime Minister and were completely rejected, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release.
Hours after Trudeau’s claim, Canada also expelled a senior Indian diplomat. Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Jolie told Canadian media outlets that her government has expelled a senior Indian diplomat over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, wanted in India, was shot dead outside the parking lot of a gurudwara in Surrey, a city in the Canadian province of British Columbia, on June 18.