Jaishankar and Canadian Foreign Minister met in a secret meeting to end diplomatic rift
Announcing that Canada would continue to "engage responsibly and constructively with New Delhi," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said that his nation did not want to "escalate the situation" with India.
According to reports, the foreign ministers of India and Canada recently met in a secret meeting amid the diplomatic dispute between the two nations over the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
According to a report in the British newspaper Financial Times, during the diplomatic standoff between the two nations over Canada’s claim that India was responsible for the killing of Nijjar, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly met in secret with Indian Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar in Washington.
Following allegations that Canadian ambassadors were being ordered to leave India or risk losing their diplomatic immunity, the report said that the Canadian government was attempting to end the diplomatic deadlock.
Canada seeks a private resolution
However, there has been no confirmation of the meeting from either country’s foreign ministry.
They are attempting a private resolution, as Melanie Joly had stated earlier in the month.
“We are in contact with the government of India. We take Canadian diplomats’ safety very seriously, and we will continue to engage privately because we think diplomatic conversations are best when they remain private,” said Joly in response to the Indian government’s order to cut Canada’s diplomatic involvement in the country.
Announcing that Canada would continue to “engage responsibly and constructively with New Delhi,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said that his nation did not want to “escalate the situation” with India.
Canada and India’s diplomatic rift
The Canadian government recently transferred roughly 30 diplomatic staff workers from India to either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, according to a recent report by CTV News in Canada.
After Justin Trudeau claimed that “potential” Indian operatives were involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia, relations between India and Canada deteriorated. According to reports, Nijjar was a Canadian citizen who was killed on June 18 by two masked assailants.
India rejected the accusations, calling them “absurd” and “motivated.” The Indian government had also removed a senior Canadian diplomat in retaliation to Canada’s expulsion of an Indian official. The External Affairs Ministry later requested that Ottawa decrease staff in order to “reach parity” in terms of diplomatic presence, citing Canada’s “higher diplomatic presence” in India.
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