‘We have no faith’: India withdraws its high commissioner, diplomats from Canada

The Indian government on Monday decided to withdraw its high commissioner and other “targeted diplomats and officials” from Canada. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “…baseless targeting of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.”
“It was underlined that in an atmosphere of extremism and violence, the Trudeau Government’s actions endangered their safety,” the ministry’s statement read.
It added, “We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials.”
The Ministry of External Affairs released the statement on Monday evening after it summoned Canadian Charge d’Affaires Stewart Wheeler.
After attending a 20-minute long meeting at the ministry’s headquarters in Delhi, Wheeler said, “Canada has done what India has long been asking for. Canada has provided credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the government of India and murder of Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”
“Now, it’s up to India to live up to what it said it would do and look into those allegations. It is in the interest of both our countries and the people of both our countries to get to the bottom of this. Canada stands ready to cooperate…,” Wheeler said.
The ties between India and Canada further took a hit after India said on Monday that it “received a diplomatic communication from Canada”. As per the government, the document suggested that “the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in a matter related to an investigation in that country.”
The matter pertained to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.