India has additionally requested Canada to downsize its diplomatic presence within the nation.

New Delhi:

In a reduction for Indians in Canada amid the snowballing diplomatic row between the 2 nations, the Centre has clarified that companies like issuing passports, offering a police clearance certificates and attestation of paperwork will proceed. The announcement got here a day after India mentioned it has suspended issuing visas to Canadian residents as a consequence of “security issues”. 

In a submit on X on Friday, the deal with for the Consulate General of India, Toronto, posted, “Consular services for Indian nationals in Canada, e.g. Passport issuance, Passport renewal, Police Clearance Certificate, Attestation etc. continue to be extended.”

Consular companies for Indian nationals in Canada, e.g. Passport issuance, Passport renewal, Police Clearance Certificate, Attestation and so on. proceed to be prolonged.@S_Nath_S@MEAIndia@IndianDiplomacy

— IndiainToronto (@IndiainToronto) September 22, 2023

The present diplomatic stand-off started on Monday, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned within the Canadian parliament that his authorities had “credible allegations” linking the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June with the “agents of the Government of India”.

The Indian authorities rejected the allegation as “absurd and motivated” and the nations have, since, expelled a diplomat every. On Wednesday, India additionally issued a journey advisory for Canada, a day after the latter up to date its personal journey advisory for India.

On Thursday, India stopped issuing visas to residents of Canada “till further notice”. BLS International – a non-public company employed for preliminary scrutiny of visa functions of Canadian nationals – had initially mentioned, “Due to operational reasons… Indian visa services have been suspended till further notice”. 

Hours later, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi elaborated on the suspension and mentioned “security threats” had been “disrupting” the work of Indian officers. He mentioned personnel in Indian missions had been unable to hold out visa features due to the safety surroundings that they discovered themselves dealing with.

“For now, the security situation in Canada and because of Canadian government inaction, we have stopped visa services temporarily,” mentioned Mr Bagchi.

The MEA spokesperson additionally mentioned India has requested Canada to downsize its diplomatic presence within the nation and cited the “interference of Canadian diplomats in Indian affairs”.

“The Canadian diplomatic presence in India is larger than what India has and accordingly needs to be downsized. We have informed the Canadian government that there should be parity in diplomatic presence. Their numbers are very much higher than ours in Canada… I assume there will be a reduction,” he mentioned.

Mr Trudeau, in the meantime, additionally repeated his cost on Thursday. Addressing a press convention at Canada’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, he mentioned, “As I said on Monday, there are credible reasons to believe that agents of the Government of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil.”