New Delhi:

Canadians appear to have a problem with Indian diplomats wanting to find out what is happening there regarding India, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said at the NDTV World Summit today. In an exclusive interview with Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia, Mr. Jaishankar spoke about the different standards – “double standards is a very mild word for it” – that seem to exist between the way Canada treats other diplomats and the “license.” their diplomats allow themselves to be in India.

With Canada-India political relations frayed following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of India’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was also a Canadian citizen, Mr. Jaishankar led several reasons for this.

One of them, he said, is the changing world order, in which the Western world still struggles to adapt to developing countries that have moved forward and stand on an equal platform. In addition to this “big picture” reason, there are conditions specific to Canada-India relations.

While relations are extremely close in terms of trade or people-to-people relations, things changed politically when the two nations emerged from the shadow of the 1985 Kanishka bombing, the Air India 182 flight from Montreal.

Mr Jaishankar spoke about the lowest point in this relationship – the random expulsion of diplomats – and said: “Canada has asked us to subject our high commissioner to a police investigation and we have decided to withdraw our high commissioner… you.” It seems that our diplomats have a problem finding out what is happening in Canada that directly affects their well-being and safety.”

On the other hand, the license they give themselves is “completely different than the restrictions they place on diplomats in Canada,” he said. “Canadian diplomats have no problem joining our military or police, profiling people and targeting people to be stopped in Canada,” he added.

“When we tell them that there are people who openly threaten Indian leaders and diplomats, they respond with freedom of speech… If you threaten the Indian High Commissioner, he should accept it as freedom of speech, but if an Indian journalist says that,” The Canadian High Commissioner left South Block looking very sullen, it seems to be foreign interference,” he added.

Relations between India and Canada, which have been in a downward spiral since Mr. Trudeau’s allegations in September last year, have plummeted following a series of new allegations against the Indian envoy.

The State Department criticized Ottawa over its allegations against Sanjay Kumar Verma – one of the country’s most senior diplomats who served in Japan, Sudan, Italy, Turkey, Vietnam and China.

India said the allegations were “ridiculous” and deserved to be treated with contempt. New Delhi said it had “no confidence in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensuring their security.” The ministry had also recalled the diplomats, after which Canada officially expelled them. India reiterated this by sending six Canadian diplomats.

Last week, in a surprise admission during a public inquiry, Mr. Trudeau admitted that Canada had no “hard evidence” in 2023 to support claims linking Indian government agents to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. His claims, Mr. Trudeau acknowledged, were based on intelligence rather than concrete evidence.

“I was informed that there was intelligence from Canada and possibly from Five Eyes allies that made it quite clear, incredibly clear that India was involved…Indian government agents were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil.” ” he said.