Senior US official discusses alleged foiled plot to kill Pannun during visit to India

White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer on Monday (Dec 4) led a US delegation to India’s capital New Delhi where he discussed forming an investigative panel in order to probe an alleged foiled plot to assassinate Khalistani separatist and leader of the banned Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) outfit Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

“Mr Finer acknowledged India’s establishment of a Committee of Enquiry to investigate lethal plotting in the United States and the importance of holding accountable anyone found responsible,” the White House said in a statement.

This comes after New Delhi last week reiterated that it will be guided by the results of a high-level panel set up to probe the alleged assassination attempt.

During a press conference, Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), called the situation a “matter of concern”.  

“The nexus between organised crime, trafficking, gunrunning and extremists at an international level is a serious issue for the law enforcement agencies and organisations to consider and it is for that reason that a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted and we will be guided by its results,” said the MEA spokesperson, in response to the question about the case. 

The United States, last week, had charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with murder-for-hire over a conspiracy to assassinate Pannun, who is a dual citizen of America and Canada, the US attorney’s office in Manhattan said in a statement.

US Attorney Damian Williams announced charges against Gupta, who was arrested by Czech authorities in the month of June this year in conformance to the bilateral extradition treaty between the United States and the Czech Republic.

“The defendant conspired from India to assassinate, right here in New York City, a US citizen of Indian origin who has publicly advocated for the establishment of a sovereign state for Sikhs,” Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said in a statement.

‘We oppose transnational oppression’, says Miller

State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller on Monday said that Washington opposes any ‘transnational oppression’ across the world while that his remarks were not specifically made for India amid the indictment of Gupta.

“We oppose transnational oppression no matter where it occurs or, who might be conducting it. That’s not a comment specific to India. That’s a comment specific to any country in the world. With respect to this specific case, there’s an ongoing law enforcement matter at issue here and we don’t talk about those from this podium,” Miller said at a media briefing in Washington DC on Monday.

“But I would say that, when this alleged incident was brought to our attention, we made very clear at the most senior levels of our government, the most senior levels of the Indian government, how seriously we would treat something like this. They have opened an investigation into the matter and we look forward to seeing the results of that investigation,” the State Department spokesperson added.

The charges come after a senior Biden administration official earlier released a statement saying that the US had thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh separatist.

These accusations also come in the backdrop of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleging that the Indian government was involved in the killing of Canada-based Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. 

Indian External Affairs Ministry also released a statement on Wednesday saying that it was looking into US reports on the alleged “nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others”.

(With inputs from agencies)