India accuses Canada of interfering in its affairs

Canadian diplomats interfered in India's affairs, prompting New Delhi's actions against them, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, explaining New Delhi's decision to reduce the number of diplomatic staff at the Canadian embassy.

"Parity is largely provided for in the Vienna Convention, which is the relevant international rule in this matter. In our case, we invoked parity because we had concerns about constant interference in our affairs by Canadian personnel," Jaishankar said, rejecting the claims that India violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

"India-Canada relations are going through a difficult phase right now. But I want to say that the problems that we have are related to a certain segment of Canadian political life and the policies that flow from it," Jaishankar said.

Ottawa earlier said it was bringing home 41 diplomats and their families from India as India formally unveiled a plan to lift diplomatic immunity for all but 21 Canadian diplomats.