India Canada row live updates: US asks India to take Ottawa’s allegations ‘seriously’, urges cooperation

India Canada row live updates: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, and Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, takes part in a press conference about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s investigation into “violent criminal activity in Canada with connections to India”, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Earlier on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Indian government had made ‘a fundamental error’ by thinking it could engage in ‘murders or extortion or other violent acts’ against Canadians on Canadian soil.

Trudeau also said Canada confronted India with evidence with the aim of disrupting ongoing violence against Canadian citizens. Urging cooperation to probe the allegations, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said her country does not want a diplomatic confrontation with India.

India termed Canada’s move to investigate its diplomats as “preposterous” and part of the political agenda of the Justin Trudeau government.

New Delhi also expressed grave concerns regarding the safety of its diplomats, citing an atmosphere of “extremism and violence” fostered by the Trudeau government.

In a release, the MEA stated, “We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security,” prompting the decision to withdraw India’s High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, along with other targeted officials.

Timeline of the India-Canada diplomatic row:

– September 2023: Justin Trudeau tells parliament that Canada was investigating Indian government agents’ links to Nijjar’s killing. Nijjar, who India designated as a terrorist in 2020, was shot dead by masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia.

– September 2023: India suspends issuing new visas for Canadians and asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in India. India resumes issuing visas two months later.

– October 2023: Canada withdrew 41 diplomats from India amid the dispute.

– November 2023: India’s anti-terror agency, National Investistion Agency (NIA), files a case against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist, stating that he warned Air India passengers in video messages shared on social media that their lives were in danger.

– February 2024: India’s High Commissioner says in an interview with Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper that India will not provide information to Canadian investigators over Nijjar’s murder until Canada shares evidence.

– August 2024: Canadian police warn Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an aide to Nijjar, of an increased threat to his life, a prominent Sikh separatist says.

October 2024: India expels six Canadian diplomats and recalls its ambassador after they are designated as “persons of interest” in its probe into the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.