India has suspended visa services for Canadian citizens, the country’s visa service provider, BLS International, said on Thursday on its website.

The company cited a notice from the Indian mission.

The announcement came amid a diplomatic tussle between the two countries, where Ottawa accused New Delhi of involvement in the killing of a Sikh leader in Canada. 

Meanwhile, Canada has expelled a top Indian diplomat for his alleged involvement in assassinating Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the Canadian province of British Columbia in June.

Canada’s foreign minister, Melanie Joly, said the allegations against the Indian diplomat are very serious and, if they were proven, would violate Canada’s sovereignty.

“If proven true, this would be a great violation of our sovereignty and of the most basic rule of how countries deal with each other,” Ms Joly said. “As a consequence, we have expelled a top Indian diplomat.”

Ms Joly added she “expects India to fully collaborate with us and ultimately to get to the bottom of this.”

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said national security agencies were investigating “credible allegations.”

“Over the past weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of the Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” Mr Trudeau said. 

(Xinhua/NAN)