Daily News

New Delhi: The Canadian High Commission surely needs a lesson in diplomacy. It first called the Border Security Force (BSF) a "notoriously violent force" and now it turns out it claimed the Intelligence Bureau is involved in terrorism.

CNN-IBN learns the High Commission in New Delhi rejected the application of a retired Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer, who had applied for a temporary resident visa to visit his son who is settled in Canada. The High Commission told S S Sidhu, who held the rank of deputy director in IB, in March 2010 that the IB is involved in terrorism and also snoops around.

The Union Home Ministry, which oversees the IB, has lodged a strong protest and called the High Commission’s comments discriminatory. The matter is now with the External Affairs Ministry.

Sidhu told CNN-IBN the High Commission rejected his visa twice on grounds that his past job was with an organization that was involved in “terror activities” and his visit could be a threat to the people of Canada.

CNN-IBN learns that Canadian High Commission also rejected the visa applications of retired Army officer Lt. General A S Bahiya and his wife because he had served in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier, in a diplomatic blunder, the High Commission called the BSF a "notoriously violent force" that engaged in "systematic torture".

The High Commission, while denying visa to Fateh Singh Pandher, a retired constable of BSF, told him that his visa application was "inadmissible" as he had served in a force that engaged in "systematic attacks on civilians".

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on May 26 reacted sharply to the High Commission’s comments on the BSF and said India takes the matter “very seriously”.

“The matter was taken up immediately with the Canadian high commission. We take this matter very seriously. We have expressed concern and we continue to take this seriously,” Rao had said.