NEW DELHI: US authorities have thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States and expressed concern over India's involvement in the same.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American and a Canadian citizen who is the leader of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a US-based group that is part of a movement pushing for separate homeland for Sikhs called “Khalistan”.
According to a report that appeared in The Financial Times, The US had issued concerns over India’s involvement in the plot to kill Pannun. There was no immediate response from India’s foreign ministry on the report.
The development comes two months after Canada said there were “credible” allegations linking Indian agents to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. India has rejected Canada’s accusations.
It may be recalled that Pannun is the same person who had warned sikhs (through a video) to not take an Air India flight to India on November 19th or face consequences. He had gone further by saying that there was a threat to New Delhi airport on November 19th which happened to be the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
"We have core security concerns on the video that has surfaced from Pannun which presents serious security concerns,’’ said Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra on November 10th, after Pannun had made threats through a video.
"We do not comment on diplomatic, law enforcement or intelligence discussions with our partners,’’ said a spokesperson of the US Embassy in response to the report.
Meanwhile, India on Wednesday resumed issuing e-visas to Canadians. It may be recalled that India and Canada got embroiled in a diplomatic row after Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, on his return from India in September after the G20 Summit, alleged in Parliament that India was involved in the killing of slain Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
After this, an Indian diplomat was expelled from Canada. In response, India expelled a Canadian diplomat and went further by stopping visa services to Canada and also asked for diplomatic parity which led to the expulsion of 41 Canadian diplomats from India.
"Our diplomats are threatened in Canada as a result of which we had to stop visa services as going to the consulates was not possible. We also wanted diplomatic parity as not just were Canadian diplomats more in number in India but were also seen interfering in our internal matters,’’ Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said earlier.
However, after receiving assurances from Canada, India resumed some visa services on October 26th, and from November 22nd e-visa services were resumed too.
