Will current tensions between India and Canada affect trade relations – experts are divided

“Trade relations are unlikely to be affected,” Jayant Dasgupta, India’s former envoy to the WTO, said in a special session with CNBC-TV18’s Parikshit Luthra.

However, KC Singh, former MEA spokesperson and ambassador to Iran, has a different view. He said the current tensions in bilateral relations between India and Canada will have some impact on trade and services between the two countries.

The former diplomats made their observations after tensions flared on the diplomatic front. India on Tuesday, September 19, rejected Canada’s allegations, calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations regarding the “Indian government’s” links to the assassination of a separatist leader “absurd” and “motivated.” from Khalistan of Indian origin, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in June.

Trudeau said Canadian security agencies are “actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between Indian government agents and the murder of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.”

“Any involvement by a foreign government in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil constitutes an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he said.

Singh said Sikhs make up half of the Indian diaspora in Canada, giving them some electoral influence in the G7 country. “The majority community will not vote solely on the basis of this controversy with India,” he said. The Indian government is upset that Canada made these allegations publicly, without providing an opportunity to prevent untruths, he said.

Ashok Sajjanhar, a former Indian diplomat, has expressed shock over the identity leaks of the expelled Indian diplomat by the Canadian Foreign Minister’s office. According to Canadian channel CBC News, Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly’s office said the expelled diplomat is Pavan Kumar Rai, the head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), who was stationed at the ’embassy.

Sajjanhar added that India would never intervene in the internal affairs of any other country.

CBC News further reported that Trudeau briefed the leaders of some of Canada’s closest allies about the affair, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden.

India responded to Canada’s actions by expelling a senior Canadian diplomat after summoning Canadian High Commissioner Cameron MacKay to the Union Foreign Ministry office.