‘Appropriate move’: Blinken on India setting up probe into alleged murder attempt on Sikh separatist

Soon after New Delhi announced an investigation into allegations by the United States that an Indian official was involved in a foiled plot to assassinate a Khalistani terrorist in the US, Secretary of State Antony Blinken hailed the move as “good and appropriate”. “The Indian government announced today that it was conducting an investigation, and that’s good and appropriate, and we look forward to seeing the results,” Blinken told reporters travelling with him in Tel Aviv, Israel. Blinken was responding to a question on the appearance of an unnamed Indian official in an indictment filed by federal US prosecutors in a Manhattan court on Wednesday along with an Indian national, who the Department of Justice alleges hired someone in the US to assassinate Pannun, a vocal critic of India and one espousing the cause of a separate Khalistan.

VIDEO | "This is an ongoing legal matter and it is something we take very seriously. A number of us have raised this directly with the Indian government in past weeks. The government has announced that it is conducting an investigation and that's good and appropriate. We look… pic.twitter.com/GUPBauXf1o

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 1, 2023

“This is an ongoing legal matter and it is something we take very seriously. A number of us have raised this directly with the Indian government in the past weeks. The government has announced that it is conducting an investigation and that’s good and appropriate. We look forward to seeing the results,” the US State Department Secretary said soon after India launched an investigation into the allegations. Earlier in the week, the US had alleged that an Indian national was found involved in a plan to assassinate a Sikh separatist on American soil.