India asserted that it remained committed to ensuring parity in diplomatic strength with Canada in the wake of the ongoing diplomatic row between the two countries over the killing of “Khalistan” supporter Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
During a media briefing on Thursday, foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said, “We are committed to ensuring diplomatic parity … we are engaged with the Canadian authorities to achieve this.”
His comments came in the wake of reports that Canada had not withdrawn 41 of its 62 diplomats in India despite the deadline given by New Delhi to Ottawa to slash its diplomatic strength by Tuesday. Bagchi said whatever India was doing was in line with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
On reports that the foreign minister, S Jaishankar, had a secret meeting with his Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly, in September in the US in the middle of the diplomatic spat between the two nations, the spokesman said he did not have any specific information in this regard.
Asked for his comment on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raising the row with India in his conversations with other leaders, Bagchi said the real issue was the space being given by Canada to criminal and terrorist elements on its soil. He also added that Canada must take the issue of security and safety of Indian diplomats based in that country more seriously.