India’s visa processing center in Canada suspended services Thursday as a rift widened between the countries after Canada’s leader said India may have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen.
Ties between Ottawa and New Delhi, two key strategic partners on security and trade, have plunged to their lowest point in years after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader on its soil.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Canadian citizen who had been wanted by India for years, was gunned down in June outside the temple he led in Surrey, outside Vancouver.
For those who think Canada should suspend visas from India too, most Indians going to Canada on visas are students and people travelling for work. The route to citizenship in Canada is fairly streamlined so most Indian residents are already citizens, which by Indian law requires them to surrender their Indian citizenship. So the vast majority of Canadians getting Indian visas are visiting family in India. Meaning blocking visas from India would have a much different message as it would effect a much different effect.
Source - Am a Canadian with family who moved here from India.