New Delhi: India has relaxed visa services for Canadians and will resume issuing them from Thursday, the High Commission in Canada said on Wednesday.
The services were indefinitely suspended on September 21, even though India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma said the “situation is still not ideal to conduct normal diplomatic and Consular functions by all Indian diplomats and consular officials.”
In a release issued on Wednesday morning, India’s High Commission in Ottawa stated that the services will resume for entry, business, medical and conference visas. Visas for emergency situations will continue to be addressed by the High Commission and the Consulates.
Four of the eight visa categories were covered in the announcement. Categories omitted were tourist, employment, student and film.
The release said the decision was taken after a “considered review of the security situation that takes into account some recent Canadian measures in this regard.” It had also said the missions had earlier been “constrained to suspend visa services temporarily because of safety and security considerations.”
In an interview with the Hindustan Times on Tuesday, Verma said, “If improvement in the security environment for Indian diplomats and consular officials stationed in Canada shows a positive sign, there is a likelihood of some relaxation in the existing Indian visa regime for Canadian citizens.”
But there is the lingering problem of pro-Khalistan elements continuing to target India’s senior diplomats in the country as well as its missions. Without mentioning the pro-Khalistani groups such as Sikhs for Justice or SFJ, Verma told HT, “Security threats per se originate from anti-India activities of inimical elements in Canada, who are very small in number. As long as the core reasons are not dealt with, security threats will continue to be there.”
Pro-Khalistan groups organised car rallies at India’s High Commission in Ottawa and its Consulates in Toronto and Vancouver last Saturday. They featured posters describing Verma as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as “Enemies of Canada.” SFJ has multiple programmes on its agenda including the next phase of the so-called Khalistan Referendum in Surrey on October 29, HT reported.
“Indian authorities continuously assess the security of Indian diplomats and consular officials stationed in Canada, as well as that of our diplomatic and consular premises,” Verma was quoted as saying.
Canada has provided personal security details to the diplomats while also enhancing coverage of the missions. But, Verma said, “Provision of security to key Indian diplomats and consular officials does not necessarily mean that the security environment has improved. It only means that despite threats to their persons, they are able to have restricted physical movement. The situation is still not ideal to conduct normal diplomatic and Consular functions by all Indian diplomats and consular officials.”
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