Safety of Indian diplomats, missions of utmost importance for govt: MEA on posters threatening Indian diplomats

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on Thursday said that posters inciting violence against Indian diplomats, missions are unacceptable “We condemn this. We have taken up the issue with Canadian government. We have seen media reports about comments by PM Trudeau. The issue is not about freedom of expression but misuse for advocating violence, propagating separatism and legitimising terrorism,” he said.

“No space should be given to extremist, terrorist elements in name of freedom of expression. We are aware of this video. We have been consistently taking up cases of threats with the Canadian authorities and so-called referendum,” he added. A poster threatening Indian diplomats in London has recently surfaced online just days after the Indian consulate in San Francisco was set on fire allegedly by Khalistani supporters. The poster of the Khalistan “Kill India” rally features the names of two Indian diplomats - High Commissioner Vikram K Doraiswami and Dr Shashank Vikram, Counsul General of India, Birmingham. The video, PTI reported, had the words “violence begets violence” over it. It also showed news articles related to the death of Canada-based Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Amid reports of Khalistanis threatening Indian diplomats in posters informing about 8 July march to Indian embassies to protest the killing of designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Canada on Tuesday said that it takes the safety of diplomats very seriously and termed promotional material targeting Indian officials “unacceptable”. Taking to Twitter, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said, “Canada takes its obligations under the Vienna Conventions regarding the safety of diplomats very seriously. Canada remains in close contact with Indian officials in light of some of the promotional material circulating online regarding a protest planned for July 8th, which are unacceptable.” According to a Hindustan Times report, the posters have threat references to India’s high commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma and consulate general in Toronto Apoorva Srivastava. EAM Jaishankar said that India has requested its partner countries including Canada and the UK to not give space to the Khalistanis as it will affect their relationship. “We have requested our partner countries like Canada, the United States, the UK and Australia not to give space to the Khalistanis. This will affect our relations. We will raise this poster issue with the government of these countries,” the EAM had said.