Did US foil bid to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun? Was India involved?

Even as India-Canada ties continue to be strained over the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, comes news that has the potential to heighten tensions between India and the United States. According to a Financial Times report, Washington has issued a “diplomatic warning” to New Delhi over an “assassination attempt” on Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil and its concerns that India was involved in the plot. Pannun himself on Wednesday, reacting to the report, accused India of “transnational terrorism”, telling The Guardian, “The foiled attempt on my life on American soil by the Indian agents is transnational terrorism which is a threat to the US sovereignty, freedom of speech and democracy, so I will let the US government respond to this threat.” But what do we know about this alleged ‘assassination attempt’? What did the US tell India? And how has India reacted to this situation? We bring you the answers. ‘Assassination attempt’ on Gurpatwant Singh Pannun The Financial Times in a report published on Wednesday stated that US authorities had foiled a conspiracy to assassinate the leader of Sikhs for Justice group, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun . For the unaware, Pannun, who originally hails from Khankot village on the outskirts of Amritsar, is now an American-Canadian citizen and is best known as the founder and leader of Sikhs for Justice, a pro-Khalistan advocacy organisation based in New York. New Delhi has designated Pannun as an “individual terrorist” since 1 July 2020 and his group, Sikhs for Justice that advocates for Khalistan, has been banned in India since 10 July 2019. Moreover, earlier this week, Pannun had been booked by the NIA him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). In recent times, Pannun has gained more notoriety as he has issued several warnings to India – including one before the G20 Summit in the Capital and even issued a threat of bombing an Air India plane on 19 November. It was unclear when or how US officials became aware of the plot or how the alleged assassination was thwarted, but the White House, according to reports, has taken the allegations seriously. The British daily reported that the US initially registered their protest with New Delhi over the Pannun plot after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s high-profile state visit to Washington in June. And it was raised by US president Joe Biden in a discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a G20 Summit in New Delhi. The newspaper has further reported that apart from the 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 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. Washington, New Delhi reacts The US administration has confirmed the Financial Times report with Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, saying that the issue was being treated with utmost seriousness. “It has been raised by the US government with the Indian government, including at the senior-most levels,” she was quoted as saying. She added that when informed, Indian officials “expressed surprise and concern” and are investigating the issue. “We have conveyed our expectation that anyone deemed responsible should be held accountable,” she said. She further added that when informed, the Indian officials stated that ““activity of this nature was not their policy” – similar to India’s remarks on Canada’s accusations about its involvement in the Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing . On Wednesday night, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the US had “shared some inputs pertaining to the nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others”. “India takes such inputs seriously since it impinges on our own national security interests as well,” spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement. Notably, the statement made no reference or mention of Pannun. **Also read: Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing: Does spat with Canada threaten India-US bonhomie?** First Nijjar, now Pannun The Financial Times report on the ‘assassination bid’ comes just two months after Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau alleged that security agencies were probing “credible allegations” about a potential link between Indian government agents and the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver in June. The Indian government had rejected Canada’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”. The matter then snowballed into a larger diplomatic standoff , with Washington urging India to help the Canadian investigation. In the Pannun matter, it is reported that the US did share details of the case with a wider group of allies after Canada cast its allegations. However, a key difference between the two matters is that while Ottawa made public the allegations, the US administration has kept them private, sharing it with only top officials. But experts believe that the matter could dent ties between India and the US. Only time will tell if Washington and New Delhi are able to move forward. With inputs from agencies