India has accused Canada of indulging in harassment and intimidation of its consular personnel after Ottawa placed officials on audio and visual surveillance amid an escalating diplomatic row between the two countries.
The Indian foreign ministry said it summoned the Canadian high commission representative and lodged a strong protest over Ottawa’s allegation against union home minister Amit Shah, prime minister Narendra Modi’s chief lieutenant
“Such irresponsible actions will have serious consequences for bilateral ties,” spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday.
It comes as Canadian deputy foreign minister David Morrison reiterated that Mr Shah sanctioned a wave of violence targeting Sikh separatists across the North American country.
Relations between India and Canada have gone into a tailspin since Ottawa accused the Indian high commissioner and other top diplomats of being directly involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, 45, a Sikh Canadian who was wanted in India, was shot dead by masked gunmen in Surrey outside Vancouver in June last year. He was the face of the Khalistan movement — which seeks to carve out an independent Sikh homeland in western India.
New Delhi had long accused Nijjar, a Canadian citizen born in India, of being involved in terrorism, an allegation he denied.
