New Delhi: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar said Monday that India continues to investigate information that the US has provided about an alleged plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil since India’s national security interests are involved in the case. This comes a day after US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said it was an “unacceptable red line” for government employees to be involved in assassination attempts.
“In this particular case, there has been certain information, which has been provided to us, which we are investigating… It is something (that) we are investigating as we believe our own national security interests are involved in that investigation,” said Jaishankar during a press briefing at the BJP headquarters in Delhi Monday.
“As and when we have something to say on the investigation, we would be very glad to speak about it. At this point beyond the fact that there is an investigation going on, we have nothing more to say,” he added.
A day prior, the US ambassador told ANI that India and the US were working together in the investigation into the alleged assassination plot against Pannun, adding, however, that a “red line” must never be crossed.
“I think that’s absolutely critical. For any of us, just abstractly, that has to be a red line. No government or government employee can be involved in the alleged assassination of one of your own citizens. That’s just an unacceptable red line,” Garcetti said.
Last year, US federal authorities unsealed an indictment that accused an Indian national of agreeing to pay an assassin to murder Pannun, allegedly at the behest of an Indian government employee.
After the unsealing of the indictment, India constituted a high-level inquiry committee in connection with the alleged plot to assassinate Pannun, who holds both American and Canadian citizenship and is designated a terrorist by India.
In February, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in a press briefing, said the inquiry committee was working towards releasing a report on the investigation. “…the high-level committee has been constituted. It has to give a report. So, we should wait for the report. And thereafter, you’ll get more details as to where we are,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in response to a question by a journalist on 1 February.
On Sunday, Garcetti also commented on threats issued by Pannun and other Sikh separatists, saying the American system protects free speech “for better or for worse”.
He was referring to two threats of violence issued by Pannun last year. First, a warning to Sikhs against flying on an Air India flight on 19 November, the birth anniversary of former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi. Second, the threat of an attack on the Indian Parliament on 13 December, the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack.
“When people do step over the line saying something will be bombed as opposed to saying somebody shouldn’t fly. The United States freedom of speech, we want success for anybody if there’s a criminal accusation to actually reach the threshold that would have a successful outcome (sic),” he said.
“Under our law, for an American citizen to be convicted in an American court or to be deported to have a criminal case in another country, it has to meet our law, and so we’ll continue working. And if anybody ever says something that steps over that line, and I know it’s gotten very close, we will be working together on that (sic),” he added.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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