The Indian High Commission in Ottawa announced on Wednesday that it will resume processing certain categories of visas. This could ease recent tensions caused by the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada.
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After a “thorough review of the security situation” in Canada and taking into account “recent Canadian measures,” the Indian government has announced that it will resume issuing standard entry visas as well as travel visas starting Thursday. Business, medical and conference visas.
The move comes after Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said on Sunday that services would be restored if the safety of New Delhi’s diplomats in Canada was ensured.
“As you know, ensuring the safety of diplomats is the most fundamental aspect of the Vienna Convention and that is exactly what has been questioned in Canada,” Mr. Jaishankar said on Sunday, quoted by the Times of India.
“If we see progress in this area, I would be very happy to restart visa services,” he added at the time.
Tourist visas are initially exempt from the resumption of visa processing.
“This is good news for Canadians,” Canadian Emergency Management Minister Harjit Sajjan responded, emphasizing the “strong people-to-people ties” the two countries enjoy and the importance of facilitating travel for families and businesses.
The minister reiterated calls for “better cooperation” from New Delhi in the investigation into the June killing of a Sikh leader near Vancouver in British Columbia (West).
Indo-Canadian relations soured when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the Indian government’s possible involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in September.
Allegations were immediately described as “absurd” by New Delhi. The country had requested the departure of Canadian diplomats, suspended visa processing in Canada and asked its citizens to avoid travel to certain Canadian regions.
Last week, Ottawa had to repatriate 41 diplomats stationed in India after New Delhi threatened to lift their diplomatic immunity.
However, ties between the two countries are close and Indian immigration to Canada, the country with the largest number of Sikhs outside India, is strong.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an activist for the creation of Khalistan – an independent Sikh state in northern India – was shot dead in June by two masked men in the parking lot of the Sikh temple he led near Vancouver. He came to Canada in 1997 and was naturalized in 2015.