India, Canada Hit Pause on Trade Talks, Expel Diplomats Amid Khalistan Spat
© AFP 2023 / EVAN VUCCI
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India-Canada ties have soured of late, marred by tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats, and tensions during the G20 summit, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed "strong concerns about continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada" during a meeting with PM Justin Trudeau, according to an Indian government statement.
India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has confirmed that the ongoing trade negotiations with Canada have been frozen due to disagreements on “certain issues”.
“We have given the trade dialogue with Canada a pause. We need to make sure that geopolitically and economically we are on the same page…we have had certain issues which are of serious concern and have been highlighted in the bilateral meeting [between PM Modi and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau],” Goyal was cited as saying by a local news outlet.
There had been earlier indications that the talks might have hit a pause, when previously in September, Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma told journalists that the Canadian side had argued for the need to take a break.
"There is an honest request from the Canadian side, and we have no reason not to accept it,” Sanjay Kumar Verma was quoted as saying on September 1.
Six rounds of trade talks have been held between India and Canada in connection with the Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) so far. The sixth took place in Ottawa in the first week of May between Mr. Goyal and Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development. India was negotiating an interim Agreement (EPTA), which would have finally culminated into a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) or a wide-ranging FTA.
Also, this month, media sources had cited a spokesperson for Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng as saying that, “At this time, we are postponing the upcoming trade mission to India.” The five-day mission led by Mary Ng was scheduled to begin on October 9.
Tit-For-Tat Diplomatic Spat
New Delhi expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in response to a similar move by Ottawa, the Indian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The day before, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said that Ottawa had expelled an Indian diplomat after a "link" was allegedly discovered between the Indian government and the murder of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who headed a secessionist group known as the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), earlier this year.
Indignant Indian officials on Tuesday vehemently dismissed the "absurd" allegations.
“Allegations of Government of India’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and [politically] motivated,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
Screenshot of X post by Arindam Bagchi, the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India.
© Photo : MEAIndia/X
"Similar allegations were made by the Canadian Prime Minister to our Prime Minister, and were completely rejected. We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to rule of law,” the MEA said, adding:
“The inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a long-standing and continuing concern.”
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier expressed concerns about the upsurge in Khalistani activities in Canada during his bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which took place on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Delhi on 9-10 September.
Modi told Trudeau that "extremist elements" were "promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomatic premises, and threatening the Indian community in Canada and their places of worship,” as per the Federal Ministry of External Affairs.
“The nexus of such forces with organised crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking should be a concern for Canada as well. It is essential for the two countries to cooperate in dealing with such threats,” Modi told Trudeau during the meeting.
Last year, India made a demarche to the Canadian government, asking it to stop the Khalistan referendum from being organized by a banned group in Ontario. Ahead of the Modi-Trudeau meeting at the G20, the banned 'Sikhs for Justice', led by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, declared a designated terrorist by the Government of India in 2020, held the Khalistan referendum at a gurdwara in British Columbia, Canada.
