Bhubaneswar: Senior Indian Foreign Service (ISF) officer Dinesh K. Patnaik has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to Canada.
An IFS officer of the 1990-batch, Patnaik is a seasoned diplomat and presently serving as India’s Ambassador to Spain.
According to a notification issued by the Ministry of External Affairs, Patnaik will be assuming charge as the High Commissioner to Canada soon. Dinesh Patnaik, who hails from Odisha, brings a wealth of experience to his new role.
His appointment is significant as India had in October 2024 decided to withdraw its envoy to Canada following serious allegations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau against New Delhi following the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani terrorist in Canada.
The Canadian Prime Minister claimed that India was behind the killing of Nijjar on Canadian soil, leading to serious diplomatic tensions between the two nations.
Diplomatic ties between the two countries worsened further after Canada named Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Saxena and a few other diplomats as ‘persons of interest’ in the investigation into Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder.
Reacting sharply, India initially announced the withdrawal of the High Commissioner and other diplomats from Canada. Subsequently, India said it was expelling six Canadian diplomats from New Delhi, including the acting High Commissioner.
Patnaik has over three decades of experience as a diplomat serving at India’s missions in Beijing, Dhaka, Vienna, and Geneva. Before Spain, he was the Indian ambassador to Morocco and Cambodia, and additionally, served as the deputy high commissioner in the country’s mission to London.
