By – Prakarsh Kastwar
When Jaishankar was recently in Washington, the Financial Times claimed that they had a private meeting. Melanie Joy is the foreign minister of Canada.
During a recent trip to Washington, S Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, met Melanie Joly, the foreign minister of Canada, in a “secret” setting. The meeting, according to the Financial Times, was private, and the foreign minister of Canada declined to comment. The Canada problem came up in both of the meetings Jaishankar had with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NSA Jake Sullivan when he was in the country, according to Jaishankar. The news of a secret meeting comes as Canada’s deadline to India to remove more diplomats expired on October 10. According to a Financial Times story, Canadian diplomats are still in India where negotiations between Canada and India are ongoing.
India claimed there are more Canadian diplomats in India than there are Indian diplomats in Canada, sparking a dispute after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused India of being responsible for the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Ottawara was requested to remove 41 diplomats from India by October 10 by New Delhi, which accused them of interfering with internal Indian affairs. According to reports, Canada started the process, which resulted in the transfer of numerous diplomats stationed in India outside of New Delhi to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
“People with knowledge of the case indicated that Joly also met in secret with India’s foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, in Washington a few days previously. The Foreign Ministry of Canada declined to comment, according to The Financial Times.
India’s desire for parity is supported by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Canada has refuted that claim, claiming New Delhi is misinterpreting the treaty’s legal basis for diplomatic relations, according to the newspaper.
India disagreed with Canada’s accusations and requested more details about this particular situation. According to Jaishankar, India informed Canada that this is not their policy. Before Justin Trudeau brought it up in his meeting with Prime Minister Modi and before Trudeau made a public complaint, Canada insisted that they had provided intelligence regarding Hardeep Singh Nijjar weeks before.
While Melanie Joy stated that Canada was seeking a private discussion with India over this matter, Trudeau stated that Canada does not desire any escalation with India.