New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has denied a US media report that claimed the Indian government issued a “secret memo” in April to launch a crackdown on Sikh diaspora organisations in Western countries. It alleged that The Intercept, the American news outlet that published the report, propagates fake news peddled by Pakistani intelligence.
“We strongly assert that such reports are fake and completely fabricated. There is no such memo,” said the MEA in a statement Sunday night.
“This is part of a sustained disinformation campaign against India. The outlet in question is known for propagating fake narratives peddled by Pakistani intelligence. The posts of the authors confirm this linkage,” it added.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from The Intercept told ThePrint that: “We stand by our reporting and our reporters. We will not be releasing the document in order to protect our sources.”
The move came hours after The Intercept published a report claiming that in April, the Indian government issued a “secret memo” instructing its consulates in the US and Canada to launch a crackdown against Sikh diaspora organisations in Western countries.
The memo, allegedly signed by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, includes a list of names under investigation by India’s intelligence agencies, said the report.
It added that Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose death is at the centre of an ongoing diplomatic spat between India and Canada, was allegedly named in the memo.
The media report comes on the heels of the US Justice Department’s indictment of an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, in an alleged foiled assassination plot against Sikh extremist Gurwatpant Singh Pannun.
The indictment claims an Indian government employee (named CC-1) recruited Gupta to hire a hitman to allegedly carry out the assassination, which was foiled by the US authorities.
Since the unsealing of the indictment earlier this month, the Indian government has set up an enquiry committee to look into these claims and has vowed to take necessary follow-up action on the findings of the report.
Further, FBI Director Christopher Wray is expected to visit India next week under the shadow of the Pannun affair.
Wray, who will be the first FBI chief to visit India in over a decade, is expected to hold meetings with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval as well as with the NIA chief and the director of the Intelligence Bureau in India.
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What does the report say about a ‘secret memo’?
On Sunday, The Intercept published a report titled — “Secret Indian Memo Ordered ‘Concrete Measures’ Against Hardeep Singh Nijjar Two Months Before His Assassination in Canada.”
It claimed it had obtained and seen a “secret memo” issued by the Indian government in April, which lists several Sikh dissidents under investigation by India’s intelligence agencies. The report alleged Nijjar was murdered in Vancouver two months after being named as a target in the document.
“Concrete measures shall be adopted to hold the suspects accountable,” the memo says, according to the report.
The “secret memo”, the report claimed, “instructs officials at its consulates to cooperate with Indian intelligence agencies to confront the groups Sikhs for Justice, Babbar Khalsa International, Sikh Youth of America, Sikh Coordination Committee East Coast, World Sikh Parliament, and Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar America”.
“The leaked April memo from India’s Ministry of External Affairs does not explicitly order the killings of Sikh activists,” the report added.
Furthermore, it claimed a section in the memo, labeled “Khalistan Extremism,” allegedly blamed Sikh diaspora organisations for “defaming Indian government” and expressed concern about how certain elements have penetrated mainstream politics in the US and Canada.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)