India

WASHINGTON: United States is treating a reported plot to kill a Sikh separatist — listed as a terrorist by India — on American soil with utmost seriousness and has raised the issue with the Indian government “at the senior-most levels”, the White House said on Wednesday, hours after The Financial Times published a report on the matter.The paper identified Gurpatwant Singh Pannun as the target of the foiled plot, against whom NIA filed a case on Monday for warning people not to fly Air India.NIA raids premises of suspects in Punjab, Haryana linked to banned terror group Sikhs for Justice“Indian counterparts expressed surprise and concern.

They stated that activity of this nature was not their policy,” White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.The London-based paper, citing “multiple people familiar with the case”, said Washington issued a warning to New Delhi over concerns it was involved in the plot, without elaborating if an attempt had been made on Pannun’s life or how far along the purported plot had gone.Separate from the diplomatic warning, US federal prosecutors have also filed a sealed indictment against at least one alleged perpetrator of the plot in a New York district court, the paper said, citing “people familiar with the case”.The US justice department is debating whether to unseal the indictment and make the allegations public or wait until Canada finishes its investigation into the murder of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which is also attributed, without evidence, to New Delhi.Further complicating the case, one person charged in the indictment is believed to have left the US, the paper said.“We understand the Indian government is further investigating this issue and will have more to say about it in the coming days.

We have conveyed our expectation that anyone deemed responsible should be held accountable,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.The US warning apparently came after PM Modi’s visit to Washington in June, which was hailed as a grand success, marking a further upswing in US-India ties.

Allegations of New Delhi’s hand in the Nijjar murder surfaced after the visit.Pannun, who is said to be an American and Canadian citizen, is the general counsel for Sikhs for Justice, a US-based group advocating an independent “Khalistan” that has barely any support among Sikhs in India, US, or anywhere else in the world.

India has outlawed SFJ.The FT report said Washington also informed some allies about the plot following the Nijjar murder.

Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau implicity alleged India’s role in the killing, saying there were “credible allegations” linking New Delhi to the shooting, again without providing any evidence.

Initial information about the plot is said to have come from US intelligence agencies.





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