Saturday, May 29, 2010

Why the shit hit the fan in India

The now revealed and so called visa row, in India has been going on for a couple years. 

At least  twelve retired officers from the Indian military, police forces and security services have come forward to the Indian press. That had been denied visas to either immigrate to or visit Canada on the grounds that they have been engaging in terrorism, committing acts of espionage or being a former member of an organization that engages in such acts and therefore a danger to the security of Canada and its people.

Some of these retired officers have visited Canada more than once in the past and have children living in the country.

India has a population of over a billion people and I would assume that they have a lot of retired military and security officers, so it was not on the front burner with India’s Minister of State or their press until a week ago when our so called overworked Canadian immigration officers caused the shit to hit the fan,


They refused entry to an Indian security officer who was being sent by the Indian government to review security for the forthcoming G20 meetings or possibly was being sent to see what a billion dollars worth of security would buy. In either case, at that point, the Indian Minister of State stepped in and the Indian media started digging into the stories of others who have been refused in the past.

The Indian Minister of State with as much bluster as is diplomatically acceptable between nations who are trying to work out a trade agreement, called in our High Commissioner in India and gave Canada one week to fix the mess or India would take retaliatory action.


As embarrassing as this is in diplomatic circles, (Harper was just in India trying to work a trade deal), it is quite possibly just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the new rules that have been instituted around the world by this conservative government and its incompetent Minister of Immigration.

This incident, at the least, should result in a parliamentary review, as we as Canadian citizens have not been informed of the changes that are being made, around the world, in our name. It certainly would with our past governments.

Unfortunately, with the Harper Conservatives in charge, our representatives in parliament, or at least the one’s representing the majority of Canadians, will not be able to review those changes, or call in the officials who could reveal the new rules and instructions that they are now working under. 

Oh, the Minister of Immigration might show up, but as we all now know, if he is willing to tell lies to Canadians on national television, you would really have to take anything he said with a grain of salt.




References from PTI and the only media article I can find in Canadian media, The Globe and Mail.


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