India is facing questions over another reported foreign assassination plot
For the second time in recent months, the Indian government is facing questions over whether it was involved in an assassination plot on Western soil, as US officials said they raised concerns in New Delhi about a foiled plan to to murder dual US-Canadian citizens. .
US officials have not publicly accused India of orchestrating the killing of the dual citizen, who news media say is Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an outspoken advocate of the cause of Sikh separatism.
But the revelation of a foiled plot comes just months after Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of involvement in the killing of another Sikh separatist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on Canadian soil. And in the case of Mr. Pannun, news media, led by The Financial Timesreported on Wednesday that the Biden administration had told the Indian government that it had information potentially linking New Delhi to the plot against him.
In response to these reports, which quoted unnamed US officials, India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a vaguely worded statement acknowledging discussions with the United States on the issue.
“The US side shared a number of inputs regarding the relationship between organized criminals, arms smugglers, terrorists and others. The input is of concern to both countries and they have decided to take necessary follow-up measures,” the statement said.
In its own statement, the White House National Security Council said on Wednesday: “We are treating this matter with the utmost seriousness, and the US government has raised this issue with the Indian government, including at the highest levels. Indian colleagues expressed their surprise and concern. They stated that this type of activity was not their policy.”
When Trudeau, the Canadian leader, made his accusation in September, it took the already testy relations between India and Canada to a new low and prompted a series of retaliatory actions, including the expulsion of diplomats.
U.S. officials, on the other hand, privately expressed concern about the Pannun case and emphasized the importance the Biden administration places on its growing relations with India.
The two countries have expanded defense and trade ties, with a steady stream of senior US officials visiting the Indian capital in recent months as the United States seeks to counter China’s influence in the region.
But if India were involved in a plot within the United States, it would represent a bold breach of a powerful democratic ally and would raise questions about New Delhi’s reliability as a partner that emerged after Mr. Trudeau’s accusation. came, intensified.
India’s response to US concerns about the plot, as described by the National Security Council, appeared broadly in line with New Delhi’s earlier defense against Canada’s accusation of involvement in an extrajudicial killing on foreign soil.
India’s then top diplomat publicly rejected the claim that such actions were not the policy of the Indian government. Privately, officials said they were wrongly involved in what were essentially turf wars and intergroup rivalries between Sikh separatist elements.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing supporters, as well as the highly sympathetic Indian broadcast media, took a two-pronged approach. They expressed outrage at the Canadian accusation, while insinuating that Mr Nijjar, the slain Sikh, deserved to be killed and that his death showed the long arm of a strengthened India under Mr Modi.
Relations between India and Canada remain frosty, and Canadian officials have yet to provide any evidence to back up their claims of Indian involvement in Mr Nijjar’s death. But some retaliatory measures have been reversed, with Indian officials saying on Wednesday that e-visa services for Canadian citizens have resumed.
Mr. Pannun, a lawyer involved with the organization Sikhs for Justice, which is banned in India, has a history of violent statements against Indian officials. In recent weeks he made a veiled threat against Air India, prompting flashbacks to a terrorist attack by Sikh separatists that killed more than 300 people on one of the airline’s flights.
India, which issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Pannun last year, has filed several lawsuits accusing him of terrorism. This week, a new case was filed against him following his comments about Air India.
“Pannun’s claims and threats have triggered high alert and investigations by security forces in Canada, India and certain other countries where Air India flies,” India’s National Bureau of Investigation said in a statement after filing the case.