India warns citizens in Canada to be cautious

 

India has urged its citizens travelling to or living in Canada to “exercise utmost caution”.

The advisory comes a day after tensions escalated between the countries with each expelling a diplomat from the other side.

Canada said it was investigating “credible allegations” linking the Indian state with the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.

India strongly denied this, calling the allegations “absurd”. Analysts say relations between the countries, which have been strained for months, are now at an all-time low.

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On Wednesday, India’s foreign ministry said it issued the advisory “in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence in Canada”.

The Indian government has often reacted sharply to demands by Sikh separatists in Western countries for Khalistan, or a separate Sikh homeland. The Khalistan movement peaked in India in the 1980s with a violent insurgency centred in Sikh-majority Punjab state.—Agencies

 

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