How relations between India and Canada hit rock bottom
India and Canada have expelled their top diplomats amid escalating tensions over the assassination of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil, marking a new low in a historically cordial relationship. While past disagreements have strained ties, none have reached this level of open confrontation. In 1974, India shocked the world by detonating a nuclear device, drawing outrage from Canada, which accused India of extracting plutonium from a Canadian reactor, a gift intended solely for peaceful use. Relations between the two nations cooled considerably – Canada suspended support to India’s atomic energy programme. Yet neither expelled their top diplomats like they did on Monday as the row intensified over last year's assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar , a Canada-based Sikh leader labelled a terrorist by India. The tit-for-tat expulsions followed PM Justin Trudeau’s claim that Canadian police were investigating allegations of Indian agents’ - and the Indian government's - direct i