Bhubaneswar: Canada on Thursday said it had withdrawn 41 diplomats from India as a result of the fallout from a bitter row over the killing of a Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil, news agency AFP reported.
India planned to “unethically” revoke diplomatic immunity for all but 21 of Canada’s diplomats and their families by Friday, forcing Ottawa to pull out the others, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly was quoted as saying.
“We have facilitated their safe departure from India,” Joly added. “This means that our diplomats and their families have now left.”
“Revoking the diplomatic immunity of 41 diplomats is not only unprecedented, but also contrary to international law,” Joly said adding that Canada did not plan to retaliate in kind, so as to not “aggravate the situation.”
“Canada will continue to defend international law, which applies to all nations and will continue to engage with India,” she said.
“Now more than ever we need diplomats on the ground and we need to talk to one another,” Joly added.
