Western Standard - October 20, 2023


New Delhi Ultimatum as Canadian diplomats asked to leave India


Episode Stats

Length

2 minutes

Words per Minute

97.015816

Word Count

272

Sentence Count

15


Summary

Learn English with Navdeep Nagaraj Singh. Prime Minister Navaraj speaks about the Indian government's decision to revoke the diplomatic immunity of 40 Canadian diplomats working in India, and the implications for Canadian citizens who travel back and forth between India and Canada.


Transcript

00:00:00.960 The actions that the government of India took this week are themselves contrary to international law.
00:00:14.280 The government of India decided to unilaterally revoke the diplomatic immunity of 40 Canadian diplomats in India.
00:00:27.420 This is a violation of the Vienna Convention governing diplomacy.
00:00:35.700 This is them choosing to contravene a very fundamental principle of international law and diplomacy.
00:00:49.500 It is something that all countries in the world should be very worried about.
00:00:57.420 And this is putting aside the allegations we made of a serious violation of international law
00:01:04.860 with the alleged killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil that the Indian government could have been involved in.
00:01:13.280 This is a matter, putting that aside, that all countries should be concerned about.
00:01:19.280 The government of India decided to cancel, to revoke the diplomatic protections of 40 diplomats working in Canada, working in India.
00:01:34.000 This is something that has far-reaching consequences for the diplomatic world that I know many, many countries are very worried about.
00:01:42.540 But it also has very real impacts on the millions of people who travel back and forth between India.
00:01:52.040 As students, as family members, for weddings, for businesses, for the growing trade ties between our countries.
00:01:58.780 The Indian government is making it unbelievably difficult for life as usual to continue for millions of people in India and in Canada.
00:02:13.220 And they're doing it by contravening a very basic principle of diplomacy.
00:02:22.220 This is something that should concern everyone, but it's something that has me very concerned for the well-being and happiness of millions of Canadians who trace their origins to the Indian subcontinent.
00:02:40.220 Thank you very much.