India will resume visa services for Canadians from today, India's High Commission in Ottawa said on Wednesday.
The resumption of services comes after they were suspended indefinitely in September amid a dispute over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil, which led to a major diplomatic row between the two countries.
India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma said that the “situation is still not ideal to conduct normal diplomatic and Consular functions by all Indian diplomats and consular officials.”
The High Commission, in a release issued on Wednesday morning, stated that the services would resume for entry, business, medical and conference visas. Visas for emergency situations will continue to be addressed by the High Commission and the Consulates.
Four of the eight visa categories were covered in the announcement. Categories omitted were tourist, employment, student and film.
The release said the decision was taken after a “considered review of the security situation that takes into account some recent Canadian measures in this regard.”
It had also said the missions had earlier been “constrained to suspended visa services temporarily because of safety and security considerations.”
Verma said that pro-Khalistan elements continue to target India’s seniormost diplomats in the country as well as its missions.
“Indian authorities continuously assess the security of Indian diplomats and consular officials stationed in Canada, as well as that of our diplomatic and consular premises,” Verma added.
The pro-Khalistan groups organised car rallies to India’s High Commission in Ottawa and its Consulates in Toronto and Vancouver last Saturday, holding posters describing Verma as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as “Enemies of Canada.”
SFJ has multiple programmes on its agenda including the next phase of the so-called Khalistan Referendum in Surrey on October 29.
The row started after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons on September 18 that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18.
India dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and both countries expelled a diplomat each since. Last week, 41 Canadian diplomats were pulled from India after New Delhi said they would lose diplomatic immunity if they remained in station beyond Friday.
Canada described the move as “mass expulsion” of its diplomats, while India has argued it wanted “parity” in the numbers of diplomats.
Nijjar, who was SFJ’s chief in British Columbia, was gunned down in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in the province of British Columbia.