Amid India-Canada diplomatic row, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said India's actions are making life hard for millions of people in India and Canada.
While speaking to the reporters, after Canada confirmed withdrawal of 41 diplomats from New Delhi, Trudeau said the action will delay the visa services in India.
"The Indian government is making it unbelievably difficult for life as usual to continue for millions of people in India and in Canada. And they're doing it by contravening a very basic principle of diplomacy," said Trudeau.
Earlier, Canada had called India's move, of asking Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in the country, as 'unreasonable'. Ottawa said it was forced to act after India threatened to unilaterally revoke the diplomat's official status, reported NDTV.
Along with reducing the diplomatic presence, Canada also suspended visa and in-person consular services in three cities--Chandigarh, Mumbai and Bengaluru. India had said that Canada's decision of cease operations in three consulates is 'unilateral' and not related to the implementation of diplomatic parity.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said in a statement: “We reject any attempt to portray the implementation of parity as a violation of international norms.”
“The state of our bilateral relations, the much higher number of Canadian diplomats in India, and their continued interference in our internal affairs warrant a parity in mutual diplomatic presence in New Delhi and Ottawa," it further stated.
The MEA stated that the actions "in implementing this parity are fully consistent with Article 11.1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”
After Trudeau accused India of being involved in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the diplomatic crisis between both the countries deepened. In a tit-for-tat move, India had suspended its visa services in Canada and asked Canada to reduce the number of its diplomats in India.
