India-Canada Ties In "Deep Crisis, Its Worst Ever": Experts

Relations between India and Canada have strained after Ottawa claimed that Indian agents may have been involved in the murder of a Khalistani terrorist.

Mending frayed diplomatic relations between India and Canada will be a long process after each side adopted maximalist positions, despite New Delhi's surprise move to ease some visa curbs on Canadians, officials and experts say. India recently decided to partially restore visa services, weeks after suspending them in anger at Ottawa's claim that Indian agents may have been involved in the murder of a Khalistani terrorist from Punjab.

Mutual recriminations since that accusation, which India strongly denies, have strained ties between the two countries - close for almost a century and with extensive links through the Sikh community - to their worst in memory.

And while India's relaxation on visas may have raised some expectations of improved relations, it was not a breakthrough, as neither side has much incentive to hasten a return to normalcy, officials and experts in both countries said.