Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is again in the news due to recent developments in India-Canada relations. The two countries on October 14 announced the expulsion of their top envoys along with other diplomats in a sharp escalation of the row between the two countries over last year’s killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. If you are hoping to represent India’s interests abroad as a diplomat, you would definitely like to know what diplomatic expulsion actually means.

T.P. Sreenivasan (IFS 1967), former Ambassador of India, provides his experiential narrative on life in the Indian Foreign Service involving expulsion and other challenges in an interview with Manas Srivastava of The Indian Express.

T. P. Sreenivasan: The expulsion of diplomats is a kind of ‘letting out the steam’ or an instrument of diplomacy in international relations applied in exceptional circumstances. Although it appears to be a drastic measure, it is a way of dealing with an extremely difficult situation peacefully. It would not be wrong to say that expulsions are a precaution against any deterioration of the bilateral relationship.

At times, nations use this mode as a symbol of displeasure and satisfy their population. Expulsion is also the tool to assert sovereignty (for example diplomatic expulsions ordered by a weak State to assert their sovereignty against interference by a stronger State) and defence against possible outbreaks of conflicts or any crisis. During the Cold War, a large number of diplomats were expelled by the Soviet Union and the United States (US).

Another important element of expulsion is reciprocity. You will often hear that when one country expels diplomats for a reason, the other country reciprocates the same number of diplomats even if there is no charge against them. There are occasions when reciprocal expulsions have been ordered in a friendly way. Diplomats under orders of transfer, or those who have already left the mission, have faced such friendly expulsions.

Would you believe that even the countries that are best friends, expel each others’ diplomats? Such expulsions are not announced and are kept secret.

What is often not talked about is how diplomatic expulsions are part of the exercise causing inconvenience to diplomats and their families only.

Other than that it does not alter business as usual between the two countries; unless a country closes down the mission abroad, it will not affect much. Situations will change, new diplomats will come, new ambassadors will be posted, bilateral relations like India-Canada relations cannot be destroyed. It is the diplomat and their family which has to go through problems.

T. P. Sreenivasan: The Fiji chapter in my diplomatic career was unique. I was expelled from Fiji after I continued there without India recognizing the military regime for more than two years. India imposed trade sanctions against Fiji and even got Fiji expelled from the Commonwealth. Staying as an ambassador on the Fiji land was objectionable right from the beginning, but since most of the population was supportive of my intentions and actions to restore democracy in Fiji, my presence and activities were tolerated by the military government. But when they wanted to enforce a new constitution, they found that my presence there and the existence of the mission was against their interest.

This was the first case of a formal expulsion of an Indian Head of Mission in our country’s history.

T. P. Sreenivasan: I anticipated expulsion at any moment, so we kept things packed for a quick exit.

Whenever I made a speech, my wife would pack the suitcase.

Eventually, the expulsion came, asking me to leave within 72 hours, but I left within 48 hours. Fiji is a different country; Fijians are not at all violent. My wife stayed back for two more weeks after my expulsion.

However, there can be situations in countries where diplomats have to face adverse attitudes till they leave the country. Some of the diplomats themselves develop a hostile attitude towards those countries and become arch enemies of such countries. Packing, moving, children’s education etc. definitely cause a lot of issues. But that is a part of this job.

Regarding my leaving Fiji, I remember that it was announced on All India Radio and national TV that I had been transferred from Fiji to Delhi. It created a lot of confusion and surprised many people on why such a transfer. It was only later that the report followed that I was expelled.

I remember when I left Fiji within 48 hours instead of the 72 hours given to me, I said that I wanted to come back for 24 hours on a holiday when the situation improved.

In fact, I was invited to Fiji by one of the Indian associations 15 years later after democracy was restored and elections took place. Sitiveni Rabuka, the coup leader, met me and said that we both were obeying the instructions of our masters. He also said that we had no animosity towards each other. Today, Rabuka is the elected prime minister of Fiji with the support of Fiji Indians. 

T. P. Sreenivasan: Of course not, diplomatic expulsions are okay. Imagine your official residence being attacked in a foreign country. During my posting in Nairobi (Kenya), we were attacked by three armed assailants in the middle of the night, causing grievous injuries to me and my wife. A few days earlier, the leader of the opposition had contacted me and asked me to advise the Indian community to support the opposition party and not be friendly with the incumbent President. I opposed the suggestion of giving political advise to Kenyan citizens, but conveyed the message to the Indian leaders.

While security was a concern, I was assured that our Embassy was well protected and no Indian diplomat had any unpleasant experience in this regard. However, this security challenge came to us within weeks of our arrival. Coming outside the hospital I told the press, ‘When I came to Nairobi I said that I will do anything for the India Kenya relationship. This is just blood.’

Apart from this incident, the rest of my stay in Nairobi was pleasant. But of course, you can’t compare expulsion with armed assailants’ attack.

(Stay tuned for Part 2)  

About our expert: T.P. Sreenivasan, (IFS 1967) is the former Ambassador of India and Governor for India of the IAEA. He is the Mentor and Professor of Eminence at the Department of International Relations, Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai. India Foreign  Services: Charms And Challenges (DC BOOKS) and Diplmacy Liberated (Konark) are some of his authored books.

For your queries and suggestions write at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com

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