The external affairs ministry lashed out the Canadian government after it sent a diplomatic communication saying Indian envoy and other Indian diplomats are 'persons of interest' in a probe.
The external affairs ministry has summoned the Canadian envoy on Monday, a day after it said it received diplomatic communication from Canada which said that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in a matter related to an investigation in that country, CNN-News18 has learned.
The Canadian chargé d’affaires to India is Stewart Wheeler appeared in place of the Canadian envoy. Cameron MacKay, the High Commissioner for Canada in India, is not present in the country, CNN-News18 has learned.
India has firmly denied Canada’s accusations tying senior Indian diplomats to an ongoing investigation, labelling it as part of the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau-led government’s ‘political agenda’.
CDA reacts
CDA Wheeler has said that Ottawa has provided enough evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and Nijjar. He said that it is now upto New Delhi to look into the allegations.
“Canada has provided credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. Now, it is time for India to live up to what it said it would do and look into all those allegations. It is in the interest of both our countries and the people of our countries to get to the bottom of this. Canada stands ready to cooperate with India,” he said.
India-Canada relations have been tense since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged last year that “Indian agents” were behind the killing of terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India has consistently denied the accusation.
On Monday, India criticised Canada by saying that it has failed to share a “shred of evidence” with New Delhi and that the accusations are motivated by Trudeau’s ‘vote bank politics’.
