India Renews Electronic Visa Services For Canadian nationals

India has renewed electronic visa services for Canadian nationals after two-month pause, NDTV report as sources saying. Visa services has been halted due to diplomatic conflict between India and Canada over the killing of the Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. Canada claimed that “agents of the Indian government” were involved in the activist”s death in June.

The renewal of visa services include issuance of entry visas, medical visas business visas, and conference visas. This initiation came in view of Canadian Prime Minister”s participation in the Virtual G20 Leaders’ Summit on Wednesday and the summit will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) pointed that the virtual summit will build on the results and action points discussed in the G20 annual summit held in September under India”s leadership.

The diplomatic row between both countries came to light when Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  alleged in the parliament that the Sikh separatist leader was killed in an extraterritorial assassination operated by the Indian government and there was a “credible evidence” to prove so. India, in response rejected Canadian government’s allegation and said it as “absurd and motivated” and demanded to share evidence to back its assertion. The conflict got worsened when both countries expelled its senior diplomats. On September 21, India suspended visa services to Canada “till further notice,”  calling “operational reasons”. Also, issued an advisory for its citizens and those who are travelling to Canada to exercise “utmost caution in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence” in the country.