Jaishankar’s big attack on Canada: ‘Even double standards are mild words’

External affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Monday accused Canada of “inconsistent standards” in diplomatic relations. Speaking at the ‘NDTV World Summit 2024: The India Century’, the minister said,”So apparently, the license that they give themselves is totally different from the kind of restrictions that they impose on diplomats in Canada. When we tell them you have people openly threatening leaders of India, diplomats of India. Their answer is freedom of speech. When Indian journalists make social media comments, if you threaten the Indian High Commissioner, he is supposed to accept it as freedom of speech.””But if an Indian journalist says the Canadian High Commissioner walked out of South Block looking very grumpy, it is foreign interference. Even double standards are mild words for it. There is this thing that we will do differently at home. We will do it differently abroad. We will do it our way, but that doesn’t apply to you. I think these are the larger adjustments which have to happen in this changing world,” ANI quoted Jaishankar said.
Jaishankar’s attacks have come at a time when the diplomatic tensions between India and Canada are at an all-time high. Last week, India expelled six Canadian diplomats and recalled its envoy after Ottawa named the Indian high commissioner to the North American country and other diplomats as ‘persons of interest’ in its probe into the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, was shot dead in Surrey in June last year. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau had alleged role of Indian government agents behind the murder of Nijjar. ALSO READ: ‘Not hard evidence, just intelligence…’: Justin Trudeau’s big admission on Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder
When asked about Canada before the US, Jaishankar said,”Some time ago you would have said we will deal with Canada later, let’s talk about the US. Now for some inexplicable reason, you are saying we will talk about the US later, let’s talk about Canada first.”ALSO READ: ‘Khalistani terrorists are Canada’s deep assets’: Envoy Sanjay Kumar Verma
Adding further, the minister remarked,”To some extent, I think there are there is a general Western issue and to some extent, a very specific Canada issue…The world order after 1945 was heavily Western. What has happened in the last 20-25 years is that there is a rebalancing, a multipolarity. Many non-Western countries have a bigger share, a bigger contribution, a bigger role and a bigger influence which will naturally come.”So the equations in a way between the West and the non-West is changing and it’s not easy to adjust to that,” he said.
Continuing his attack on Canada, Jaishankar said,”Where Canada is concerned, I think there are some very specific issues. Canada asked us to subject our High Commissioner to a police inquiry and we chose to withdraw the High Commissioner and diplomats.” “They seem to have a problem if Indian diplomats are even trying to make efforts to find out what is happening in Canada on matters which directly pertain to their welfare and security. But look what happens in India. Canadian diplomats have no problem going around collecting information on our military, police, profiling people, targeting people to be stopped in Canada,” he said.