Despite diplomatic tensions, India may not impose restrictions on Canadian goods or investments: Report

 Despite diplomatic tensions, India may not impose restrictions on Canadian goods or investments: Report

According to a report by the news agency Reuters, New Delhi does not intend to implement any restrictions to restrict imports or investments from Ottawa despite the diplomatic friction between India and Canada.

After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September that his intelligence services were looking into serious claims linking Indian operatives to the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, relations between India and Canada abruptly worsened.

Canada also temporarily stopped doing in-person business in the Indian cities of Bengaluru, Chandigarh, and Mumbai on Friday. The Justin Trudeau administration has warned Indian citizens applying for visas to anticipate delays in processing timelines over the coming months.

The Canadian high commission in India's capital New Delhi will continue to provide in-person consular services.

This week, Canada withdrew 41 diplomats from India.

In response to the continuing dispute between the two nations, 41 diplomats from Canada and their 42 family members were expelled from India, according to Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Thursday.

As of right now, I can vouch for the fact that India has publicly announced its intention to illegally revoke diplomatic immunity for all but 21 Canadian diplomats and families stationed in Delhi by tomorrow, October 20. Thus, on some arbitrary day, the immunity of 41 Canadian ambassadors and their 42 dependents may have been revoked. As she announced the withdrawal of Canadian ambassadors, Joly said that this would put their personal safety in danger.

This comes after India demanded 'parity' and asked for a decrease in the number of Canadian ambassadors stationed there as a result of the continuing diplomatic spat between the two countries.

In a statement, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said: "In response to India's unilateral intention to remove immunity for all but 21 Canadian diplomats and dependents in Delhi by October 20, 2023, IRCC is reducing its employee count in India from 27 to 5. Applications from India will still be accepted and processed by IRCC, although processing times are predicted to be impacted by lower personnel numbers.

The Canadian government has guaranteed that the IRCC employees located in Canada will carry out the country's daily tasks.

The bulk of applications from India are already processed outside of the nation, with 89% of those applications being handled by the global network. The 5 IRCC employees based in Canada who are still in India will concentrate on tasks that call for being present locally, such expedited processing, printing visas, risk assessment, and managing important partners.