“We want to be on the ground in India to help Canadian families there,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau’s comments come hours after India asked Canada to repatriate over 40 of its diplomats.
The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the demand, said India had threatened to revoke the diplomatic immunity of those diplomats told to leave who remained after October 10. Canada has 62 diplomats in India and India had said that the total should be reduced by 41, the newspaper said.
India asks Canada to repatriate 41 diplomats by October 10
India-Canada ties have hit rock bottom after Trudeau alleged that Indian agents had a role in the killing of a Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whom India had labeled a “terrorist”.
India has dismissed the allegation as “absurd”. Foreign minister S Jaishankar said earlier there was a “climate of violence” and an “atmosphere of intimidation” against Indian diplomats in Canada.
EAM Jaishankar’s Point-by-Point Rebuttal to Canadian PM Trudeau’s Charges!
Jaishankar also reiterated that if Canada had something specific or relevant relating to the assassination of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, India is open to looking at it.
“The Canadian PM made some allegations initially privately, and then publicly. Our response to him, both in private and public, what he was alleging was not consistent with our policy. And that if he had, if his government had anything relevant and specific they would like us to look into, we were open to looking at it. Now, that’s where that conversation is at this point of time,” he said.
During his recent visit to the US, the minister also highlighted the “organised crime, mixed with secessionism, violence, terrorism” in Canada and shared his concerns over the safety of diplomats in the country.