India to skip Canada-led Covid-19 meeting over Trudeau's comments

External Affairs Ministry cites 'scheduling issues' as an excuse for Jaishankar's unavailability

NEW DELHI:

India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will not attend a Canada-led foreign ministers meeting aimed at forging a common strategy to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, local media reported.

"The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) told the Canadian government that Jaishankar is not available to attend the December 7 meeting organised by Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne because of 'scheduling' issues," said a local television channel quoting government sources.

Media reports linked the foreign minister's decision to skip the meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's stand on the ongoing farmers protests in India.

Early last week, speaking at a Sikh community gathering in Canada, Trudeau voiced concern over the situation of the farmers protests in India and said his country supports the right of peaceful protests.

The Indian government has expressed opposition to the remarks made by Trudeau on the Indian farmers protests.

In response, foreign ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava described the comments as "ill informed" and "unwarranted" and constitute interference in India's internal affairs.

The Indian foreign ministry on Friday summoned the Canadian High Commissioner to India and issued a demarche to him saying, "Such actions, if continued, would have a seriously damaging impact on ties between India and Canada."

India and Canada have warm ties, but in recent years there has been concern in India that some Sikh leaders in Canada have ties to separatist groups hostile to India.

Canada is home to an influential Sikh community and Indian leaders say there are some fringe groups there that are still sympathetic to the cause of an independent Sikh state called Khalistan, carved out of India.