NEW DELHI – India will partially resume some visa services for Canadian nationals from October 26, a month after suspending them, the Indian High Commission in Ottawa said on Wednesday. India suspended visa services last month, citing security concerns, amid a massive diplomatic row over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen designated a terrorist by New Delhi.
The Indian High Commission said it would resume services for entry, business, medical and conference visas for the time being and that further decisions would be announced after assessing the situation.
“After a considered review of the security situation, taking into account some recent measures taken by Canada in this regard, it has been decided to resume visa services for the following categories with effect from 26 October 2023: Entry Visa, Business Visa, Medical Visa and Conference Visa,” the Indian High Commission in Canada said in a press release.
The development comes days after Union Minister of State for External Affairs S Jaishankar said that India is ready to resume visa services for Canadians and a decision in this regard will be taken once New Delhi sees an improvement in the security of its diplomats in Indian missions across Canada.
Earlier on September 21, India suspended visa services in Canada and asked the North American nation to ensure parity in diplomatic strength between New Delhi and Ottawa, citing security threats to its diplomats and interference by Canadian diplomats in the country’s internal affairs amid escalating tensions over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The diplomatic row erupted after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged New Delhi’s role in the extrajudicial killing of Nijjar. The Khalistani terrorist was gunned down by two masked men in the car park of a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on 18 June.
India rejected the Canadian Prime Minister’s allegations, calling them ‘absurd and politically motivated’. It also asked the Canadian Prime Minister to provide concrete evidence to support his claim.
Ottawa failed to provide India with any such information, but Trudeau’s allegations snowballed into a major diplomatic row, with India threatening to strip all but 21 Canadian diplomats of their diplomatic immunity.
Earlier this month, Canada recalled 41 diplomats but cried foul, accusing India of violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Jaishankar, however, rejected Canada’s allegations, saying that the parity clause was well provided for in the Vienna Convention. The foreign secretary said India was forced to invoke the parity clause after continuous interference in the country’s internal affairs by Canadian diplomats.
