New Delhi has asked Ottawa that it must repatriate 41 diplomats by October 10 due to deteriorating diplomatic relations between India and Canada.
According to a report published in the Financial Times on Tuesday, relationships between the two US allies have deteriorated significantly as a result of Canadian suspicions that operatives of the Indian government were involved in the assassination of Sikh leader and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June. India had designated Nijjar as a "terrorist" in India. The accusation has been rejected by India as ludicrous.
The Financial Times said that New Delhi has threatened to strip the diplomatic immunity of those diplomats who have been ordered to leave if they stay through October 10, citing sources familiar with the Indian demand.
New Delhi has requested a reduction of 41 from Canada's 62 diplomats now stationed in India, according to the publication.
Requests for feedback from the foreign ministries of Canada and India were not immediately fulfilled.
The existence of Sikh separatist organizations in Canada has irked New Delhi, and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said that there was a "climate of violence" and an "atmosphere of intimidation" against Indian officials there.
The Sikh community has organized demonstrations calling for the expulsion of Indian ambassadors from London and Ottawa ever since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's shocking admission that the Narendra Modi administration was probably responsible for Nijjar's death.
A sizable contingent of Sikhs demonstrated on Monday at the Indian High Commission in London to support Canada and protest India's overt and violent meddling in other nations' pro-Khalistan actions.
The demonstrators pledged to continue their activity for the right to self-determination of Sikhs through the worldwide Khalistan Referendum movement while chanting demands to close down Indian embassies and remove High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami.
Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar's posters were carried by the protesting Sikhs.