U.S. President Joe Biden and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi talk during a meeting with senior officials and CEOs of American and Indian companies in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
NANTUCKET, Mass./NEW DELHI, Nov 22 (Reuters) – United States authorities thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the United States and issued a warning to India over concerns the government in New Delhi was involved, a senior Biden administration official said.
The U.S. is treating the plot with utmost seriousness and has raised the issue with the Indian government “at the senior-most levels,” the White House said on Wednesday.
The Financial Times first reported the plot.
White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Indian officials expressed “surprise and concern” when they were informed about the incident.
“We are treating this issue with utmost seriousness, and it has been raised by the U.S. government with the Indian government, including at the senior-most levels,” Watson said.
“They stated that activity of this nature was not their policy … 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,” she said.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who says he is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, was the target of the foiled plot, according to the senior administration official.
News of the incident comes two months after Canada said there were “credible” allegations linking Indian agents to the June murder of a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a Vancouver suburb, something India has rejected.
To read the original article, please click here.