Canadian High Commissioner to India Cameron MacKay on Monday was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs as Khalistani posters featuring the names of Indian diplomats were doing the rounds on social media. The Indian government issued a strong demarche regarding the posters' incident and another incident on March 23.
The Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Verma, Consul General Vancouver Manish, and Consul General Toronto Apoorva Srivastava were named in posters circulated by Khalistani extremists. The posters are a part of the ‘Khalistan Freedom Rally’ being organised by extremists on July 8 outside the Indian consulates in Toronto and Vancouver.
These posters claimed India was responsible for the killing of the 45-year-old Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar. In June this year, Nijjar was killed by unidentified shooters in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Gurudwara Sahib in Canada’s Surrey.
The March 23 incident pertains to Sikh extremists throwing two smoke canisters inside the Indian High Commission premises. Not only this, Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Verma also took up the matter with Canadian authorities, India Today reported citing sources.
Meanwhile, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joy on Tuesday assured the safety of Indian diplomats ahead of the ‘Khalistan Freedom Rally’ on July 8.
Terming the promotional material regarding the protests circulating online as “unacceptable”, Joy said: “Canada takes its obligations under the Vienna Conventions regarding the safety of diplomats very seriously. Canada remains in close contact with Indian officials in light of some of the promotional material circulating online regarding a protest planned for July 8, which are unacceptable”.
She added that the actions of a few people don’t speak for an entire community or even for Canada. Her comments came a day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar urged Canada, the US, the UK and Australia to not give space to Khalistani elements. He also said that such actions could impact relations between countries.
Jaishankar said on Monday: “We have requested our partner countries like Canada, US, UK and Australia, where sometimes Khalistani activities happen, not to give space to the Khalistanis. Because they’re (Khalistanis) radical, extremist thinking is neither good for us nor them nor our relations”.
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