India-Canada diplomatic spat escalates

Canada has pulled 41 diplomats and their families from India after New Delhi threatened to have their diplomatic immunities revoked if Ottawa did not comply with demands for parity in diplomatic staffing.

“Canada confirms that India formally communicated its plan to remove immunities unilaterally for all but 21 Canadian diplomats and dependents in New Delhi by October 20, 2023,” the Canadian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Canada’s compliance effectively slashed its diplomatic numbers in India by about two-thirds. As a result, Canada has to temporarily suspend in-person services at consulates in Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Mumbai, leaving its High Commission in New Delhi as the only place in India where it is able to offer services in a country that’s been its largest source of new

Tensions between the two countries escalated in September when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claimed there were “credible allegations” the Indian government orchestrated the extra-judicial slaying of a Sikh separatist in Canada.