US calls meeting with India on foiled Sikh murder plot productive
By Daphne Psaledakis and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A meeting between the U.S. and India on a probe into a foiled plot to murder a Sikh separatist on American soil was productive, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday, adding Washington was satisfied with India’s cooperation.
Washington has alleged that Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot against Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York last year, and had indicted an Indian national working at the behest of an unnamed Indian government official.
An Indian government committee investigating Indian involvement in the foiled murder plot met with U.S. officials in Washington on Tuesday, the State Department spokesperson said.
The United States has been pushing India to look into the U.S. Justice Department’s claim that an unnamed Indian intelligence official directed plans to assassinate Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canada citizen.
“They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government,” the State Department spokesperson told reporters in a press briefing, without giving further details. He called the meeting “productive.”
“We are satisfied with (their) cooperation. It continues to be an ongoing process,” the State Department spokesperson said.
“The U.S. government broadly updated members of the (Indian) committee of inquiry about the investigation that the United States has been conducting. We’ve received an update from them on the investigation that they have been conducting,” he added.
The U.S. case is not the only instance of India’s alleged targeting of Sikh separatists on foreign soil.
Canada on Monday expelled Indian diplomats, linking them to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. India also ordered the expulsion of Canadian diplomats and denies Canada’s allegations. Washington has said that India was not cooperating with Canada.
The accusations have tested Washington and Ottawa’s relations with India, often viewed by the West as a counterbalance to China.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis; Writing by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)
