The Khalistan situation is now disturbing the India–American relationship. On 22nd November 2023, US authorities reported that they prevented a conspiracy to assassinate Sikh Separatist & ‘Sikhs for Justice’ – SFJ group leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in America. Pannun is a US & Canada citizen. According to the reports, the US has issued an official diplomatic warning to the Indian government after citing ‘familiar unnamed people related to the matter.’ The warning raised concern about India’s involvement in the plot but didn’t elaborate if the attempt to kill Pannun was made or not. Apart from this, the United States Attorneys have also filed a sealed indictment against the alleged assassins in New York district court. An indictment is a written paper that officially accuses someone of a crime. The US Justice Department is yet to decide if the indictment should be unsealed and made public immediately or should wait until Canada finishes investigating the murder of Sikh Extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India is also accused without evidence of killing Nijjar in Canada by the Canadian government. According to the reports, one of the people accused in the Indictment is believed to have left the US already. The US officials have publicly confirmed the report and said that the Indian government has expressed their ‘surprise & concern’ on the topic and sent a message to the US government stating that ‘the activity of this nature is not their policy.’ White House National Security Council spokesperson said “We understand the Indian government is further investigating this issue and will have more to say about it in the coming days. We have conveyed our expectation that anyone deemed responsible should be held accountable.” However, the Indian government has not issued any public or official statement on the matter but it did resume e-visa services for Canadian nationals on the same day.

Tags

• Gurpatwant Pannun
• india
• usa
• khalistan

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