Ottawa

India has decided to resume its visa services to Canadians, weeks after temporarily closing down the services in the wake of tensions between both countries over the row on the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

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The Indian High Commission in Ottawa on Wednesday in a press statement said that they are resuming some visa services with effect from October 26.

“After a considered review of the security situation that takes into account some recent Canadian measures in this regard, it has been decided to resume visa services," it said.

"Further decisions, as appropriate, would be intimated based on continuing evaluation of the situation," it added.

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India will resume visa services for entry visa, business visa, medical visa, and conference visa, the High Commission said.

The development came after Canada withdrew 41 of its envoys on the request of the Indian government, which had sought parity in the presence of diplomats.

Jaishankar wanted assurances from Canada to restart services 

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On Sunday, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that they would "very much to resume the issuing of visas" provided Indian envoys are provided safety in Canada as per the Vienna Convention.

"If we see progress in the safety of our diplomats in Canada, we would like to resume issuance of visas there," Jaishankar said.

He also brushed aside the statements by the US and the UK over making Canada withdraw 41 of its 62 diplomats, both of whom claimed that it falls contrary to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

“Parity (between the diplomatic presence of the two countries in each other’s capitals) is very much provided for by the Vienna Convention, which is the relevant international rule on this. In our case, we invoked parity because we had concerns about continuous interference in our affairs by Canadian personnel,” Jaishankar said while speaking at an event in New Delhi on Sunday.

“The relationship right now is going through a difficult phase. But I do want to say, you know, the problems we have are with a certain segment of Canadian politics and the policies, which flow from that,” said the external affairs minister, replying to a question on the Canada-India diplomatic row.  “So, I want people to understand the extent of the issue.

India and Canada visa row 

India stopped issuing new visas to Canadians on September 21 after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had "credible" inputs about the involvement of Indian government agents in Nijjar's murder.

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New Delhi categorically denied the claims made by Trudeau, calling them "absurd" and "motivated".

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 “We have seen and rejected the statement of the Canadian Prime Minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their Foreign Minister,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.