India resumed issuing electronic visas to Canadian tourists and business travelers on Wednesday, two months after it suspended those services following a dispute over Ottawa’s allegation of possible Indian government involvement in the killing of a Canadian Sikh separatist leader.
While this move is likely to defuse tensions slightly, relations between the two countries are not expected to improve significantly in the near future.
“E-visa services for Canadian nationals have resumed,” an Indian government official briefed on the decision said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.
The official did not say whether the decision will lead to a significant easing of relations with Ottawa.
India issues e-visas to Canadian citizens only for tourism and business purposes.
This comes a month after New Delhi resumed issuing visas for four of the 13 categories that were suspended in September.
Relations between the countries plummeted after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Canadian Parliament that his government is “actively investigating credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to the killing of 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar in a Vancouver suburb.
Nijjar was a supporter of a decades-old but now fringe demand to carve out an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan from India.
