UK calls for respecting sovereignty as Canada-India row endures
British government says all countries should respect sovereignty and rule of law after India reportedly asks Canada to withdraw 41 diplomats amidst their spat over Sikh leader's murder in British Columbia.
Canada is home to the largest Sikh community in the world outside of India, with 770,000 Canadians professing Sikhism in 2021, or two percent of the country's population. / Photo: Reuters Archive.
Britain has reaffirmed its position that all countries should respect sovereignty and the rule of law after reports said that India had asked Canada to withdraw 41 diplomats.
"The Prime Minister reaffirmed the UK's position that all countries should respect sovereignty and the rule of law, including the principles of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," a government spokesperson said in a statement on Friday after Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Financial Times reported on October 3 that India had told Canada to withdraw around 40 diplomats from the country as the diplomatic tensions between Ottawa and New Delhi escalated.
India reportedly gave October 10 as a deadline and reportedly threatened to revoke all diplomatic immunity to those who stay after that date.
Canada had 62 diplomats in India.
Diplomatic row
Tensions between India and Canada escalated last month when Canada said it was "actively pursuing credible allegations" linking Indian government agents to the murder of a Sikh activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia in June.
Trudeau said Canada did not want to rupture ties with India but takes the matter seriously, a concern that the United States later echoed.
India dismissed Canada's allegations as "absurd" and, in turn, accused Ottawa of harbouring "extremists."
Canada is home to the largest Sikh community in the world outside of India, with 770,000 Canadians professing Sikhism in 2021, or two percent of the country's population.
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