India is kicking a Canadian diplomat out of the country, a response to Canada expelling the head of Indian intelligence as bilateral relations between the two plunge amid a fight about an alleged assassination.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shocked the nation in Parliament on Monday when he warned the country’s national security institutions uncovered “credible” allegations of a “potential link between agents” of the Indian government and the death of a Canadian Sikh leader and Khalistan separatist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on Canadian soil earlier this summer.
Nijjar was fatally shot in a parking lot outside a temple in June.
India’s foreign ministry denied the claim, calling it “absurd and motivated,” and said in a statement it is expelling a Canadian envoy amid “growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities.”
Trudeau has raised the issue with President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Canadian officials have confronted India with the claims.
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said if the allegations prove true, it would constitute a “grave violation” of Canadian sovereignty.
The conflict comes amid strained relations between the two countries. Canada abruptly suspended a trade mission with India Friday.