Do not normalise what is taking place in Canada, says Jaishankar

Even as he made his most scathing comments about the "climate of violence" in Canada, its lack of responsiveness to Indian extradition requests and the relentless threats against Indian diplomats and diplomatic facilities, external affairs minister S Jaishankar reiterated that India hasn't closed its doors and is willing to look at any "relevant and specific" information Ottawa may want to share on its allegation.

- Prashant Jha

Speaking to reporters in the American capital on Friday-Jaishankar was in New York to attend the UN General Assembly for six days and then in Washington DC for bilateral engagements for three days the minister said that India did not want to suspend its visa operations in Canada but had to do so because of this environment and threat of violence. He also asked whether the world, or any other country, would have accepted this situation, pointedly saying he can't recall India having to deal with such a situation necessitating visa suspension in any other country, let alone a G7 and a Commonwealth member.

The minister's comments come in the wake of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's allegation of possible links of "agents" of the government of India to the killing of a Canadian citizen, a man India had designated a terrorist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on Canadian soil. India had rejected the allegation as absurd and Jaishankar, both in New York and DC, has said that India has told Canada that this isn't a part of government of India policy but New Delhi was open to looking at what Canada shares.