Days after Canada announced the withdrawal of 41 diplomats from India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said that India invoked diplomatic parity due to concerns over continuous interference in its internal affairs by Canadian personnel.
Jaishankar further said that India is looking at resuming visa services for Canadians very soon if it sees progress in the safety of its diplomats in Canada.
The EAM said India insisted on having diplomatic parity as it had concerns about the “continuous interference in our affairs by Canadian personnel”. “We have not made much of that public. My sense is that over a period of time, more stuff will come out and people will understand why we had the kind of discomfort with many of them which we did,” he said, replying to a question on the India-Canada ties at an interactive session.
On resuming the visa services, Jaishankar said, “If we see progress there, I would very much like to resume the issue of visas. My hope would be that it would be something which should happen very very soon.” “Some weeks ago, we stopped issuing visas in Canada because it was no longer safe for our diplomats to go to work to issue visas. So their safety and security was the primary reason we had to temporarily stop the issuance of visas,” the EAM added.
“My expectation is that the situation would improve in the sense that our people would have greater confidence in being able to do their basic duty as diplomats because as you know, ensuring the safety and security of diplomats is the most fundamental aspect of the Vienna Convention,” the EAM further said.
“And right now, that is what has in many ways been challenged in Canada that our people are not safe, our diplomats are not safe,” he said, adding that India would start the visa services if there is progress in the safety of its diplomats.
