Canadian authorities will not publicly comment on the deterioration of current diplomatic relations with India. Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced this to reporters.
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“Regarding relations with India, I think it is always better when diplomacy remains non-public,” the minister said.
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Joly added that Ottawa continues to condemn the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Nijjar on Canadian soil, for which Canadians blame the Indian authorities.
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“I, like other officials of our government, will no longer comment on this,” Joly concluded.
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Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Nijjar’s murder led to a deterioration in relations between the two countries and Ottawa could not ignore it. On April 29, India protested to Canada due to the fact that slogans of pro-Khalistan separatists were heard at an event in Toronto with the participation of Trudeau. In this regard, the Deputy Ambassador of Canada in New Delhi was summoned to the Indian Foreign Ministry. According to the Indian TV channel India Today, on April 28, a festive evening on the occasion of the Sikh New Year was held in Toronto, at which the Canadian Prime Minister spoke and stated that almost 800 thousand people of Sikh origin live in Canada and his government “will always be there to protect them rights and freedoms.”
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In September 2023, Canada decided to expel one of the senior diplomats of the Indian Embassy in connection with the assumption of the involvement of the republic’s intelligence services in the murder of Nijjar on Canadian territory. Relations between Ottawa and New Delhi have deteriorated sharply. The Indian Foreign Ministry believes that Canadian politicians openly sympathize with extremists from among the representatives of the Sikh community who advocate the creation of an independent Sikh state of Khalistan.
