New Delhi: India announced on Wednesday, October 25, that it will partially reinstate visa services to Canadian citizens, which were suspended last month amid a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.Starting Thursday, the Indian high commission in Ottawa and consulates in Vancouver and Toronto will resume services for entry, business, medical and conference visas.“Further decisions, as appropriate, would be intimated based on continuing evaluation of the situation,” a media statement from the high commission said.India suspended visa services on September 21, citing alleged ‘security threats’ against diplomatic staff after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged, a few days prior, that Indian agents were linked to the killing of a Canadian Sikh in Vancouver in June. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistan activist, was accused of terrorism in India.Earlier this week, Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar said the government was reviewing the “security situation” around India’s missions in Canada and indicated that if there is substantial “progress” in ensuring the safety of diplomats, the resumption of visa services could occur “very soon”.The media statement issued by the high commission said, “After a considered review of the security situation that takes into account some recent Canadian measures in this regard, it has been decided to resume visa services for the following categories with effect from October 26, 2023…”The development will come as a reprieve to Canadian citizens of Indian origin, who were unable to travel to India over the past month if they did not have an OCI card.The development comes just five days after Canada announced that it had withdrawn 41 diplomats from India and stopped in-person facilities at three consulates in the country after New Delhi sought ‘parity’ in diplomatic staff. Ottawa said that visa processing times for Indian applicants would increase as a consequence.On Wednesday, Canadian immigration minister Marc Miller told a parliamentary standing committee that out of the 38,000 visas for Indians, only 20,000 will now be processed by the end of the year.Canada’s immigration department foresees a backlog of about 17,500 Indian applications at the start of 2024. Out of the 41 diplomats who left India, about half were dealing with visa issues. Currently, there are just five immigration officials working in the Canadian high commission.Earlier, Canada’s missions in India used to process around 15,000 visas a week, in total.After India had publicly dismissed the allegations made by Trudeau in the House of Commons, it had sought “parity” and furnished a list of names to the Canadian side whose diplomatic immunity would be revoked if they did not leave by October 10, which was later extended by 10 days. Canadian foreign minister Mélanie Joly said India violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations when it unilaterally threatened to remove the diplomatic immunity of accredited journalists. India has, however, claimed that its actions were as per Article 11.1 of the 1961 treaty.India also has publicly said, which Jaishankar reiterated on Sunday, that Canadian diplomats were interfering in India’s internal affairs. However, India has never publicly mentioned any specific instances.After the US and UK supported Canada’s contention that India had violated the Vienna Convention, New Zealand also joined the chorus on Wednesday. “We are concerned India’s demand that Canada reduce its diplomatic presence there has led to the departure of a large number of Canadian diplomats from India. Now seems the time for more diplomacy, not less,” tweeted the New Zealand foreign ministry.It added that all states were expected to “uphold their obligations under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, including in relation to the privileges and immunities of accredited staff”.Canada is part of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network along with the US, UK, New Zealand and Australia.Last month, the US ambassador to Canada David Cohen said that intelligence input from the Five Eyes network contributed to Trudeau’s decision to go public with the allegations against India.More recently, Australia’s domestic spy chief Mike Burgess had said that there was “no reason to dispute” claims by Canada of Indian involvement in Nijjar’s killing.After Canada and its Five Eyes allies repeatedly called on India to cooperate with the investigation, New Delhi has said that it was willing to look at information shared by Canada related to the killing.