19 hours ago
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Canadians seem to have a problem with Indian diplomats trying to find out about what is happening there in relation to India, foreign minister S Jaishankar said today at the NDTV World Summit.
In an exclusive interview with Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia, Mr Jaishankar spoke of the different standards that seem to exist between how Canada treats other diplomats and the "license' their diplomats allow themselves while in India.
Speaking on the backdrop of the Canada-India political ties that have nosedived following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations about Indian involvement in the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was also a Canadian citizen, Mr Jaishankar attributed it to several reasons.
One of these, he said, was the changing world order where the western world is still recalibrating its relations to developing nations that have now surged ahead.
Besides this 'big picture" reason are conditions that are specific to Canada-India ties that are extremely strong in terms of trade or people to people connection.
"Canada has asked us to subject our High Commissioner to a police inquiry and we chose to withdraw our High Commissioner... They seem to have a problem with our diplomats trying to find out about what is happening in Canada which directly pertain to their welfare and security," Mr Jaishankar said.
On the other hand, the license they give themselves is "totally different from the restrictions they impose on diplomats in Canada," he said. "Canadian diplomats have no problem going around on our military or our police profiling people to be stopped in Canada," he added.
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