As Ties Thaw, Dinesh K Patnaik Named India's High Commissioner To Canada

In an official statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that Patnaik would assume his new assignment shortly. It is to be noted that his appointment comes more than 10 months after New Delhi withdrew its previous High Commissioner to Ottawa, over what it described as former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s continued hostility towards India.
 
In October 2024, India recalled its High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, following tensions triggered by Trudeau's statement in the Canadian Parliament, alleging “credible allegations” of India’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. 

The accusations led to a major diplomatic row between the two countries, with Canada labelling India’s High Commissioner and other diplomats as “persons of interest” in its investigation. India strongly rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”, accusing Ottawa of providing space to extremist and anti-India groups. 

The MEA had then conveyed that it had “no faith in the Canadian government’s commitment” to ensure the security of Indian diplomats, and reserved the right to take further steps in response.
 
The diplomatic strain was further compounded by Khalistani extremists in Canada openly targeting Hindus and their places of worship, drawing strong remarks from Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the Trudeau government’s leniency toward such groups.
 
However, the ties between the two countries started showing signs of recovery after Mark Carney assumed office as Canadian Prime Minister. 

In June this year, Carney invited PM Modi to the G7 Outreach Summit in Kananaskis, where both leaders held a crucial bilateral meeting on the sidelines. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri later described the June 18 meeting between the two leaders as "very positive and constructive". He had said that both leaders agreed to restore High Commissioners at the earliest opportunity as a first step toward normalising ties.
 
“They also agreed to take calibrated steps to restore stability to this important relationship, and the first of these steps was to restore High Commissioners to each other’s capitals. Other diplomatic steps will follow in due course,” Misri had said