Indian diplomats recalled likely to return by Oct 19

The six Indian diplomats, withdrawn by New Delhi, headed by High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma have started packing their bags and will reach India latest by Saturday afternoon through different flights, people familiar with the matter said. Their exit will reduce Indian diplomatic representation in Canada to nine, while Canada will still have 15 diplomats in India after six diplomats were expelled by the Modi government and asked to leave by Saturday afternoon.
While the Royal Canadian Mounted Police did not present on Monday any evidence indicating India’s hand in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, designated a terrorist by India, it is believed that Canada could now embark on a political and diplomatic offensive to target India. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to tow the pro-Khalistan and anti-India line of the New Democratic Party of Jagmeet Singh, and even target Canadian Hindus on grounds that they are opposed to both Sikhs as well as Muslims. Indian officials have described this as a result of “vote-bank politics”.
The Canadian PM, who faces polls next year, has also sought the support of the Anglo-Saxon West by briefing the Five Eyes Alliance on the diplomatic war with India.
The people cited in the first instance added that Pakistan and its deep state are working through the National Council of Canadian Muslims to further drive a wedge between India and Canada.
They add that Trudeau will use the Foreign Interference Commission and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to indict India in the Nijjar case.
“If it was such an open and shut case on Nijjar as Justin Trudeau has been stating, then why has the investigating agency, Royal Mounted Canadian Police, not filed a charge-sheet till date? Why has the Canadian government not shared any evidence linking Indian agents with the murder of the Khalistan Tiger Force terrorist?” asked a top diplomat.
The people said that Trudeau could use the statements of counsel for proscribed Sikhs for Justice to Foreign Interference Commission to indict India as the inquiry did not allow any organization with a counter-view to join the public hearing. Trudeau is slated to appear before the Commission on October 16, a day after his Safety Minister deposes before the Commission. “ It is a one-sided inquiry….a sham….and the whole idea is to defame India and its government,” said a top security official who asked not to be named.
HT learns that Canada’s next move may be to make one of the four arrested Sikh youth for the murder of Nijjar an approver and use his statement before RCMP to indict India. As all of the arrested are either Canadian citizens or asylum seekers, they will be more than happy to indict India in the court, the people cited above said.
Meanwhile, a bounty of half a million Canadian dollars has been put on the head of High Commissioner Sanjay Verma with Khalistanis ‘shooting and burning’ his effigy in Vancouver on Saturday.