TORONTO: Canada will undertake a review of its immigration rules after a diplomatic row with India over denial of visas to people on grounds that their service in army, police and intelligence units made them complicit in human-rights violations.
Canada announced this as Immigration Minister Jason Kenney issued an apology, observing that Canadian immigration officials should not have cast aspersions on India's institutions.
The incidents, he said, showed visa officers have too much latitude.
The Canadian High Commission, over the last few years, has denied visas to a number of senior serving and retired officials of the Indian armed forces and intelligence establishment, claiming that their organisations or they themselves have served in sensitive areas like Jammu and Kashmir and engaged in violence and human rights violations.
The incidents, some of which were recently highlighted in the media, sparked outrage in India with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna terming them unacceptable.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/travel/visa-power/Canada-promises-to-review-immigration-policy-after-visa-row/articleshow/5989758.cms
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