The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday trashed as "fake" a 'one-page communication' circulating on social media that purportedly calls for mobilising groups of Indian diaspora to allegedly confront pro-Khalistani "extremists" in Canada.

The "said government of India" communication is "fake", the External Publicity & Public Diplomacy Division of the MEA said.

The "fake" document, bearing the name of the ministry and the year 2023, mentions the name of a top diplomat of India and is addressed to a senior diplomat in Ottawa.

The surfacing of this "fake" document comes amid an escalating diplomatic row between India and Canada.

The relations between the two countries came under severe strain following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of a "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd".

Nijjar was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia in June last year.

India has been maintaining that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.

In the purported document, it is alleged that suggestions being given in it that Indian diaspora needs to be "mobilised" and that diaspora organisations, some of which have been named, could be "cultivated as vital force" to confront extremists.

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