NewsGate Press Network

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has “rejected” Canadian reasons for any kind of violations in forcing a reduction of their diplomats from India.

In a strongly worded statement issued on Friday the 20th of October 2023, the MEA said : ‘We reject any attempt to portray the implementation of parity as a violation of international norms.’

The international norms quoted in the statement said that its based in the principle of parity of number of diplomats posted in each other country and is based on the Vienna Conventions.

In particular, the MEA statement added: ‘our actions in implementing this parity are fully consistent with Article 11.1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which states the following:

“In the absence of specific agreement as to the size of the mission, the receiving State may require that the size of a mission be kept within limits considered by it to be reasonable and normal, having regard to circumstances and conditions in the receiving State and to the needs of the particular mission.”

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was reacting to statements made by Government of Canada on October 19 regarding Canadian diplomatic presence in India.

‘The state of our bilateral relations, the much higher number of Canadian diplomats in India, and their continued interference in our internal affairs warrant a parity in mutual diplomatic presence in New Delhi and Ottawa.

We have been engaged with the Canadian side on this over the last month in order to work out the details and modalities of its implementation’, the MEA release stated.