There has been no other significant instance of India asking a nation to reduce its diplomatic presence in the country except for Pakistan
Canada has maintained a studied silence on reports that New Delhi has asked Ottawa to significantly reduce personnel at missions in India amid an escalating diplomatic row even as foreign minister Melanie Joly said her government would prefer to engage privately on the issue.
The Indian side has asked Canada to withdraw several dozen diplomats to ensure parity in strength and rank in mutual diplomatic presence, a move that experts believe is sure to affect the processing of Canadian visa applications. Canada maintains a large diplomatic presence at its high commission in New Delhi and consulates in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, and Mumbai to deal with the high volume of visa applications.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation last month linking Indian government agents to the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar triggered a diplomatic storm. India dismissed the accusation as “absurd” and both sides carried out tit-for-tat expulsions of senior diplomats. India also issued an advisory for its citizens traveling to Canada that urged them to exercise “utmost caution” due to growing anti-India activities and “politically-condoned hate crimes”.
While Trudeau ducked a question from reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday about India asking Canada to reduce its diplomatic presence and whether the Canadian side will retaliate against such a move, foreign minister Joly said Ottawa is in touch with New Delhi on this issue.
“We are in contact with the government of India. We take Canadian diplomats’ safety very seriously,” Joly told reporters. “And we will continue to engage privately because we think that diplomatic conversations are best when they remain private.”
Financial Times reported on Tuesday that India had asked Canada to withdraw 41 of 62 diplomats posted at the missions in the country. In the face of reports that India could revoke the diplomatic immunity of some diplomats who remained in the country beyond a deadline of October 10, there was no official word from the Canadian side on whether it has been pulling out its officials or the impact of such a withdrawal.
People familiar with the matter said the latest developments have not affected Canadian visa processing services as yet but acknowledged that any significant reduction in diplomatic personnel will certainly have an impact.
There has been no other major instance of India asking a nation to reduce its diplomatic presence in the country, except for Pakistan. In recent decades, India and Pakistan have downgraded diplomatic relations and reduced the number of staff at missions when their ties have hit a low point. The most recent instance occurred when Pakistan decided not to appoint a new high commissioner to New Delhi after India scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
The size of a country’s diplomatic presence in India also reflects the status of the overall bilateral relationship. For instance, the US has significantly increased the number of diplomats posted in India to cope with the massive growth in visa applications and to deal with expanded cooperation in a wide range of areas.
India is currently the top source of foreign students in Canada, with 230,000 Indian students studying in Canadian institutions. Some educational institutions in the Canadian province of Ontario are completely dependent on Indian students and the diplomatic row has already sparked questions on whether the spat will hit a key source of funding for these organizations.
The office of Ontario’s auditor general concluded in a 2021 report that some colleges could have incurred annual losses in recent years without the fees collected from international students, according to public broadcaster CBC News.
“Indian students not only contribute twice the amount of money to the college system than Canadian students do, they also contribute slightly more than does the government of Ontario,” said Alex Usher, president of Toronto-based consulting firm Education Strategy Associates.
Surrey Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman also told CBC News that enterprises in Surrey, which has a significant South Asian population, are worried about the uncertain business climate. “Businesses are feeling that their trade with India is stalled, the future remains uncertain. And there is great concern as well because of significant family ties that our community has [with] India and visits that have been scheduled and are to be scheduled,” she said.