India revokes Canadians’ visas as conflict worsens

India has stopped giving visas to Canadian people because of an argument over the death of a Sikh rebel on Canadian land.

Visa service provider BLS shared a message from India’s mission stating that the decision was made due to operational reasons.

This week, tensions increased after Canada said it was looking into believable claims that India was involved in the murder of the separatist leader.

India strongly denied the accusation, describing it as ridiculous.

Experts say that the relationship between the countries, which has been tense for many months, is now at its worst point ever.

The news that visas were being stopped was shared on the BLS website on Thursday.

The Indian Mission has an important announcement. Starting from September 21st, 2023, Indian visa services have been stopped for now because of certain problems.

India’s government department that deals with relations with other countries declined to give any opinions on the issue and told the BBC to look at the BLS website.

The decision was made one day after India advised its citizens who are going to or living in Canada to be very careful due to increased activities against India and supported hate crimes and violence in the country.

Delhi reported that there were threats towards its diplomats and some Indians who are against the anti-India plans.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that investigators are looking into whether the government of India played a part in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who is a Canadian citizen. India had labeled him as a terrorist in 2020.

Nijjar was killed when two men with masks shot him while he was in his car outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia on June 18th.

Mr Trudeau said that if a foreign government is involved in killing a Canadian citizen in Canada, it is not allowed and goes against our country’s independence.

India responded strongly, claiming that Canada was attempting to divert attention away from the Khalistani terrorists and extremists they had provided refuge to.

The Indian government strongly opposes the requests of Sikh separatists living in Western countries for Khalistan, which means a separate place for Sikhs to live.

The Khalistan movement was at its highest point in India during the 1980s. It involved a violent rebellion that mainly took place in the state of Punjab, where a majority of the population belonged to the Sikh community.

It was stopped by using force and doesn’t have much impact in India anymore, but some people in the Sikh community in countries like Canada, Australia, and the UK still like it.

Canada has a lot of Sikhs who are not from Punjab, and they have had many protests and demonstrations supporting Khalistan.

In June, it was reported that India had made a “serious complaint” to Canada about the safety of its diplomats in that country.