India demands cuts in Canada’s embassy, citing ‘interference’ in its affairs

NEW DELHI - India went on the diplomatic offensive against Canada on Thursday, ordering the country to reduce staffing at its embassy and suspending the issuance of new visas for Canadians, as the fallout from allegations that New Delhi was behind the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia widened dramatically.

Arindam Bagchi, spokesman for India’s External Affairs Ministry, disclosed India’s demand several hours after Canada’s Embassy in New Delhi announced that it would “temporarily adjust staff presence” to protect its diplomats from threats on social media, and days after the two governments expelled senior diplomats identified as intelligence officers.

Indian and Canadian officials said the details of the reduction are still being worked out, and it is unclear how many Canadian diplomats will have to leave India. But that number - and the damage to bilateral ties - is probably significant.

“We have seen Canadian diplomatic interference in our internal affairs,” Bagchi said at a regular briefing in New Delhi. “This is a factor taken into account for seeking parity and rank equivalence in our mutual diplomatic presence.”

Bagchi noted Canada had a much larger diplomatic staff in New Delhi than India does in Ottawa.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stunned the world by announcing in Parliament on Monday that there were “credible allegations” that agents of the Indian government were linked to the execution of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18.

The Canadian leader on Thursday repeated a call for the Indian government “to work with us to take seriously these allegations and to allow justice to follow its course.”

“We’re standing up for the rules-based order, we’re standing up for the rule of law,” he said at a news conference in New York. “We’re highlighting how unacceptable it would be for any country to be involved in the killing of a citizen on their home soil, and that’s something we will continue to stand for.”

After Trudeau’s announcement, Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, expelled the Indian intelligence service’s station chief, who was operating under diplomatic cover. India retaliated Tuesday by expelling a Canadian diplomat, identified in Indian media as an intelligence official. The two countries had already announced a pause in trade talks this month.

The tit-for-tat moves escalated sharply Thursday with the Indian demand for Canada to draw down its diplomats, a step in line with India’s increasingly muscular and independent foreign policy.

In recent months, India has brushed aside Western pressure to criticize Russia for its war in Ukraine, dismissed questions over its continued purchases of Russian oil, and this week stridently denied suggestions that it assassinated Nijjar on Western soil while arguing that he needed to be brought to justice.

In sharply worded remarks Thursday, Bagchi accused Trudeau of making a “primarily politically driven” allegation against India and lashed out at Canada in general.

“We should look at the larger issue of terrorism and the fact that it is being funded and supported by our western neighbor Pakistan, but the issue of safe havens and places to operate is being provided abroad by places including Canada,” Bagchi said. “Are we going to justify and condone it?”

Bagchi also said India had stopped issuing new visas to Canadians, attributing the pause to security threats against Indian diplomats in Canada and a staffing shortage there.

BLS International, the Indian company that processes visa applications in Canada, cited “operational reasons” for the suspension of visa services “till further notice,” without elaborating.

The Canadian High Commission in India declined to comment on whether it was requested to cut down its presence, but said in an email that it was reducing its footprint after some diplomats “received threats on various social media platforms” and “in light of the current environment where tensions have heightened.”

“We expect India to provide for the security of our accredited diplomats and consular officers in India, just as we are for theirs here,” it said in the statement.

On Wednesday, an updated travel advisory from India urged its citizens to “exercise extreme caution” when traveling in Canada, citing what it said were “anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes” in the country.

The 45-year-old Nijjar, who was wanted by India on terrorism charges, championed the Khalistan movement calling for the creation of an independent Sikh state in the Punjab region of India. The movement is outlawed in India, where authorities consider it a top national security threat.

Canadian authorities have not detailed the allegations because they say they want to avoid jeopardizing the investigation.

“I think it’s extremely important that as a country with a strong and independent justice system, we allow those justice processes to unfold with the utmost integrity,” Trudeau said Thursday. “But I can assure you the decision to share these allegations … was not done lightly. It was done with the utmost seriousness.”

Canadian intelligence and security officials made several trips to India in recent months to privately raise the issue with their counterparts. Canada also briefed several allies before it made the allegations public. While many allies said they are concerned by the allegations, they have avoided harshly rebuking India, a power they’ve been courting as a counterweight to China.

That muted response stands in stark contrast to the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from Western countries after Moscow’s use of a nerve agent in the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter in the English town of Salisbury in 2018.

It also pales in comparison to the vocal condemnation of Beijing for its detention that same year of two Canadian citizens in China in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of a Chinese business executive who was wanted in the United States on fraud charges.

“There is no question that India is a country of growing importance and a country that we need to continue to work with, not just in the region but around the world,” Trudeau said. “We’re not looking to provoke or cause problems, but we are unequivocal around the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians and standing up for our values.”

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Francis reported from London. Andrew Jeong in Seoul contributed to this report.