Foreign Minister Melanie Joly says Indian diplomats in Canada are “on notice” after being asked if more expulsions could come amid the diplomatic row between India and Canada.
“They are clearly on notice,” Joly said in response to the question, referring to other Indian diplomats following the expulsion of six earlier this week.
“We will clearly not tolerate any diplomat who contravenes the Vienna Convention and clearly any diplomat from any country in the world who puts the lives of Canadians at risk.”
Joly’s comments come just days after both countries expelled each other’s diplomats on Monday, with Ottawa doing so “in connection with a campaign targeting Canadian citizens by agents linked to the government of India.”
Global News has learned that agents working at India’s high commission in Ottawa and consulates in Vancouver and Toronto were allegedly behind dozens of violent crimes across Canada targeting opponents of Narendra Modi’s government.
Although on paper they held diplomatic and consular positions, Indian agents allegedly played key roles in a wave of shootings, murders, threats, arson and extortion in Canada, according to senior sources familiar with the matter.
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The victims were mostly supporters of the Khalistan movement, which seeks independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab region. But others were simply rivals of the government, the sources said.
The revelations came as Canadian authorities continue to investigate the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, where the killers were allegedly linked to the Indian government.
Making the allegations public was an “extraordinary step” by the RCMP, Joly said Friday, adding that India’s alleged actions were something that had not been seen before in Canadian history.
“That level of transnational repression cannot occur on Canadian soil,” he said. “We’ve seen it in other parts of Europe, Russia has done it in Germany and the UK, but we needed to stand firm on this issue.”
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