Foreign secy to brief Parl panel on India-Canada ties on Wednesday

Foreign secretary Vikram Misri is likely to brief the Parliamentary panel on external affairs on Wednesday on the India-Canada ties, which have taken a hit after Canadian officials accused Indian government functionaries of ordering the murder pro-Khalistani terrorist Harjeet Singh Nijjar.

Misri is also likely to brief the parliamentary panel on the recent upswing in India's ties with China following the agreement to resume patrolling at friction points along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.

India's relationship with Canada has taken a hit after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau linked top Indian officials to the murder of Nijjar, a charge rubbished by New Delhi.

Canada's deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison had alleged on Tuesday that Home Minister Amit Shah ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation and intelligence-gathering targeting Sikh separatists inside Canada, a charge dismissed as "absurd and baseless" by India.

India has been maintaining that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.

India had withdrawn its high commissioner to Canada Sanjay Verma after the security officials there named him as a "person of interest" in the investigation in Niijar's murder case.

India had also expelled six Canadian diplomats, including acting high commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler on October 14.

On October 25, Misri had briefed the Parliamentary panel on the Israel-Palestine conflict and asserted that India favoured a two-state solution to the issue.

India has supported a negotiated two-state solution, towards establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable state of Palestine within secure and recognised borders, living side by side in peace with Israel.

The Parliamentary panel on external affairs, chaired by former Union minister Shashi Tharoor, is examining the demand for grants of the external affairs ministry.