Canada's new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has named a young and ethnically diverse cabinet, with a ministerial team that for the first time in the country's history is equally balanced between men and women.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that he discussed the 'present state' of bilateral ties and the current global issues with his Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly, amidst a diplomatic row between the two countries over the killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada.
India on Thursday strongly rejected as 'baseless' allegations of its interference in Canadian elections and asserted that the core issue has been Ottawa's meddling in New Delhi's internal affairs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday welcomed a host of world leaders, including United States President Joe Biden and United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, at the Bharat Mandapam, the venue of the G20 Summit.
A private agency hired by India to carry out initial scrutiny of visa applications of Canadians on Thursday put out a note on its website on suspension of visa services but hours later withdrew it.
The Congress on Tuesday said the country's interests and concerns must be kept paramount and its fight against terrorism has to be uncompromising, amid a row between India and Canada over the killing of a Khalistani separatist leader in that country.
"We have intelligence from multiple sources including our alliance and our own intelligence and the evidence indicate that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile. This may have been unintentional," Trudeau said during a conference. The Boeing 737 jet with 176 people on board including 63 Canadians crashed minutes after taking off from Tehran on Wednesday morning.
'In today's world, it is difficult for public pressure to work against a country like India.'
With the backdrop of the famous wheel from the Konark Sun temple in Odisha, Prime Minister Narendra D Modi welcomed G20 leaders at the Bharat Mandapam, venue of the G20 Summit in New Delhi, on Saturday, September 9, 2023.
Andreescu has rapidly become a home-country favourite
'We have unfortunately created that kind of ecosystem in Canada where these people are very vocal, very violent, very aggressive, and they don't let anybody.... come out against them. They will bully, they will threaten, they will use every possible illegal means... to counter any sanity'
"Indians will decide the fate of India, not the foreigners," Verma told the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, a prominent think-tank.
'Are we to believe that coordinated moves by the Canadian and US authorities are no longer taking place?', asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has urged the Sikh community in Ottawa to speak out as they continue to investigate allegations linking the Indian government to a campaign of violence on Canadian soil.
India and Canada have mutually beneficial political and economic linkages. The two countries should get together and find a solution. The expulsion war should, in the meantime, be a guarantee against any deterioration of the situation, asserts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, the first Indian head of mission to be ever expelled by any country.
India also accused Canada of allowing "celebration and glorification" of violence, expressing concerns over the security of Indian diplomats in that country, and said it expects Ottawa to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear.
Canada's intelligence agency chief David Vigneault paid two under-the-wraps visits to India in February and March to apprise Indian officials of the case relating to the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, people familiar with the matter said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Apulia to attend the Outreach session of the G7 Summit and hold bilateral talks on a wide range of issues with world leaders on Friday.
Trump's method are more destabilising than his policy. So, a good idea these couple of years is to sip Kool-Aid, and savour the joys of Trumplomacy, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Chandra Arya, a Member of Parliament from Nepean in the House of Commons, said in a post on his X account that separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun of Sikhs for Justice released a video demanding that Arya and his Hindu-Canadian friends go back to India after he (Arya) condemned the vandalism of the Hindu temple and other acts of hate and violence by Khalistan supporters in Canada.
Glimpses from the Trudeau photo diary in India on Day 1.
Four Indian nationals accused of killing Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year in Surrey were ordered by a Canadian court to have no contact with several people in the community, as they made their first joint appearance before it in the case that has severely strained ties between India and Canada.
The United States has said there ought to be a full and fair investigation into Canada's allegations that the Indian government was involved in the killing of a separatist Sikh leader in British Columbia earlier this year.
Canada has evacuated a majority of its diplomats working in India outside of New Delhi to either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore after it gave Ottawa an October 10 deadline to reduce its diplomatic staff to achieve parity in strength following a row over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, according to a media report on Friday.
Last week, Canadian authorities charged three Indian nationals with the murder of Nijjar. It is reported that they entered Canada on student visas.
America has thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh extremist in the US, and warned India that its government may have been involved in it, reports the Financial Times.
An Indian-origin Canadian lawmaker also expressed concern over the issue, saying by doing so, the Khalistan supporters are trying to instil fear of violence in Hindu Canadians.
The Canadian government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have confirmed they are investigating a possible terror threat.
The United States has urged India to cooperate with Canada in its investigations.
Canada's Indian-origin MP Chandra Arya has announced that he is running to be the next prime minister, hours before his Liberal Party announced that their next leader will be chosen on March 9.
The sources claimed that one of those arrested is believed to be Arsh Dalla, who is associated with the banned Khalistan Tiger Force and ran terror modules on behalf of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist who was killed in June last year.
One person has been arrested by Canada's Peel Regional Police in connection with the 'demonstrations' at the Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton on November 4, a Peel police official said.
Amid the ongoing diplomatic tussle between India and Canada over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a group of hackers claiming to be Indian Cyber Force temporarily disabled the official website of Canadian army, The Telegraph, London, reported on Thursday.
If the only superpower, which calls India an ally, sees the region through an India-Pakistan prism, it is unacceptable. Rather than endorse India's sphere of influence, this undermines it, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
On Tuesday, Trudeau called up United States President Barack Obama to convey that he would make good on a campaign promise to withdraw Canada's jets from the United States-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
India on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced withdrawing its high commissioner and other 'targeted' officials from Canada after strongly dismissing Ottawa's allegations linking the envoy to a probe into the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a major downturn in already frosty ties between the two nations.
Trudeau apologised for 1914 decision by the then Canadian government to turn away 376 Indian migrants onboard the ship 'Komagata Maru' after their arrival in Vancouver.
According to the sources, when the charges are laid against the two men, police will reveal their role and that of the Indian government.
'Many of these issues will be resolved within 6 months because the US economy has started unravelling.'
Amid worsening bilateral ties in the wake of tit-for-tat expulsions over the alleged Indian involvement in the killing of a Khalistani leader on its soil, the Canadian government on Tuesday issued a travel advisory, asking his citizens to 'exercise a high degree of caution'.
