India is "temporarily unable to process visa applications" from Canada because of "security threats faced by our High Commissions and Consulates" in that country, the government said Thursday afternoon, as hostilities escalate over accusations that "agents of New Delhi" killed a Khalistani terrorist and Canadian national - Hardeep Singh Nijjar - on Canadian soil.
The Foreign Ministry statement comes hours after BLS International - a private agency hired for initial scrutiny of visa requests - cited "operational reasons" to suspend services till further notice.
"You are aware of the security threats being faced by our High Commissions and Consulates in Canada... this has disrupted their normal functioning. Accordingly, our High Commissions and Consulates are temporarily unable to process visa applications," Arindam Bagchi, the ministry spokesperson, told reporters. "We will be reviewing the situation on a regular basis."
The Indian government has also suspended issue of electronic visas, Mr Bagchi added, stressing that the issue is about "discrimination in how visas are granted by the Canadian side".
READ |Indian Visas For Canadians Suspended Amid Row: "Operational Reasons"
"All categories of visas are suspended. Issue not about travel to India... those who have valid visas (issued before this suspension order) are (cleared) to travel to India. The issue is the creation of an environment that disrupts functioning of our consulates and high commission," he said.
Mr Bagchi dismissed claims Indian "agents" had killed Nijjar and called them "politically driven". He pointed out that "no specific information" had been shared by Ottawa on the alleged killing.
READ | "Allegations By Canada Politically Driven": India Amid Diplomatic Row
"We are willing to look at specific information if provided... from our side, we have very specific information on particular individuals in Canada and all these have been shared with them."
"But Canada hasn't acted on them," he said.
On India expelling a senior diplomat - after Canada ordered a top Research and Analysis Wing official to leave its borders - Mr Bagchi said the other side had been asked to downsize its diplomatic presence in India citing "interference of Canadian diplomats in Indian affairs".
READ |In Tit-For-Tat Move, India Asks Canada Diplomat To Leave Within 5 Days
"Canadian diplomatic presence in India is larger than what India has (in Canada)... accordingly needs to be downsized. There should be parity, their numbers are much higher," Mr Bagchi said.
READ | "Interference In Our Affairs": India Wants Reduction In Canada Diplomats
Apart from each side ejecting one official, India and Canada also traded adverse travel advisories.
Canada updated its India advisory this week to mirror that of the United States and it explicitly mentions Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, warning of "violent clashes between militants and security forces in the former" and "ethnic tensions" leading to "conflict and civil unrest"in the latter.
READ | Canada Rejects India's Travel Advisory Amid Escalating Diplomatic Row
And, on Wednesday, shortly after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met PM Modi in the new Parliament building, India advised its citizens in Canada, and those contemplating travelling, to exercise "utmost caution" in view of anti-India activities and "politically-condoned" hate crimes.
Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Canada's British Columbia in June. Hailing from Punjab's Jalandhar, he was chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force and one of India's most wanted terrorists. There was a Rs 10 lakh reward for his capture or information leading to his arrest.
India-Canada ties were already tense after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's conversation with Canada's Justin Trudeau at the G20 Summit in Delhi this month. The PM expressed India's "strong concerns about continuing anti-India activities" in that country.