New Delhi/Ottawa/IBNS: Indian envoy to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, has sent out a strong message on the ongoing India-Canada friction over the Khalistani row affirming New Delhi's independence in deciding the "fate of India".

Speaking at an event at the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, Verma termed the Khalistanis as "foreigners".

Verma said as quoted by NDTV, "The foreigners having an evil eye on the territorial integrity of India. That is a big red line for India. Indians will decide the fate of India, not foreigners. If those Indians that are living abroad want to decide the fate of India, then they better go back and participate in the election process in India."

The remark comes in the backdrop of three Indian nationals by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Edmonton in connection with the killing of separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Photo courtesy: khalsavox.com

Speaking to the media, India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said he had seen news of the arrests and said the suspects "apparently are Indians of some kind of gang background... we'll have to wait for the police to tell us."

"But, as I said, one of our concerns which we have been telling them is that, you know, they have allowed organized crime from India, specifically from Punjab, to operate in Canada," Jaishankar said.

Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June last year outside a gurdwara in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population.

A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Indian government involvement, triggering a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.