US thwarted assassination plot to kill Khalistani separatist leader, issued warning to India, claims report; India reacts

A possible assassination attempt on a Sikh separatist leader on the soil of America has been thwarted by US authorities, claim a UK-based daily Financial Times attributing their report to multiple sources “familiar with the case”. The report has claimed that US authorities fear the involvement of India and have “issued a warning to India’s government”.  The report identified the potential threat was against Khalistan separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who was recently booked by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) for threatening passengers flying Air India and the airlines itself with a global blockade from November 19. He has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and designated as “individual terrorist”.

The Financial Times report comes two months after Canada alleged Indian agents were linked to the murder of another Sikh separatist leader named Nijjar on the soil of Canada. That had sparked a showdown between two countries to an extent the visa services for Canadian nationals were suspended by India for two months and resumed earlier this November.

“Washington shared details of the Pannun case with a wider group of allies after Trudeau went public with details of the Vancouver killing, the combination of which sparked concern among allies about a possible pattern of behavior,” Financial Times claimed to have learned from the unnamed sources. The FT report said the US protest was issued after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington in June this year. However the report added that it wasn’t clear “whether the protest to New Delhi led the plotters to abandon their plan, or whether the FBI intervened and foiled a scheme already in motion,”.

Apart from issuing a diplomatic warning, US federal prosecutors have filed a “sealed indictment” against at least one alleged perpetrator of the plot in a New York district court, the FT report claimed quoting sources. “The US justice department is debating whether to unseal the indictment and make the allegations public or wait until Canada finishes its investigation into Nijjar’s murder. Further complicating the case, one person charged in the indictment is believed to have left the US,” it said.

While India had rejected the claims of Canada calling them “absurd” and “motivated”, this time the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has issued a measured statement claiming India takes the US inputs on security “seriously”.

“During the course of recent discussions on India-US security cooperation, the US side shared some inputs pertaining to the nexus between organized criminals, gun-runners, terrorists, and others. The inputs are a cause of concern for both countries and they decided to take necessary follow-up action. On its part, India takes such inputs seriously since it impinges on our own national security interests as well. Issues in the context of US inputs are already being examined by relevant departments,” said Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson MEA while responding to queries on the FT report.

The FT report has also quoted a reaction from the separatist leader Pannun where he had refused to comment on India directly. The report said that Pannun had “declined to say whether US authorities had warned him about the plot, saying he would ‘let the US government respond to the issue of threats to my life on American soil from the Indian operatives”.

“The threat to an American citizen on American soil is a challenge to America’s sovereignty, and I trust that the Biden administration is more than capable of handling any such challenge,” FT report quoted Pannun reacting to the development.​