US officials said they wanted a swift outcome and greater accountability from the Indian side after an investigation into Indian involvement in a foiled plot to kill a Sikh activist in the US, according to Reuters.
An Indian Enquiry Committee visited Washington last week to discuss India’s investigations. The move came after the Justice Department said an Indian intelligence official masterminded plans to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who held dual US-Canadian citizenship last year.
We’ve communicated really clearly that the US government isn’t going to feel fully satisfied until we see that meaningful accountability takes place. We have been emphasising that we hope that India will move as quickly as possible through their investigative process.
Last week, the United States indicted Vikash Yadav, a former officer of India’s spy service Research and Analysis Wing, for leading a plot against the separatist Sikh in New York. According to the indictment, Yadav, who was then an employee of the Indian government, collaborated with others in India and abroad to mastermind a plot against Pannun beginning in May 2023.
India labelled Sikh separatists as “terrorists” and a threat to its security. The Sikh separatists, in turn, demand the secession of the homeland, known as Khalistan, from India. The insurgency in India in the 1980s and 1990s killed tens of thousands of people.
Pannun claimed Yadav was a “mid-tier soldier” tasked with organising the killing by senior Indian officials. Since India announced in November 2023 that it would conduct a formal investigation into the allegations, it said almost nothing publicly.
New Delhi separately continued its diplomatic dispute with Canada over the June 2023 assassination of another Sikh leader. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in September that his country was investigating allegations that the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was behind the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh separatist.
