New Delhi, Apr 30 (EFE).- India’s foreign ministry on Tuesday called the report by The Washington Post on the involvement of Indian intelligence officers in the assassination plot of a Sikh separatist leader in the United States “speculative and irresponsible.”
“The report in question makes unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter,” foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
“Speculative and irresponsible comments” on the Indian government’s alleged involvement in the failed murder plot of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American citizen of Indian origin considered a terrorist by New Delhi, “are not helpful,” Jaiswal said.
On Monday, The Washington Post published an article on the involvement of a member of the Indian intelligence services, Vikram Yadav, in the plan to assassinate Pannu.
The spokesperson said that an investigation is already underway to look into the security concerns shared by the US government.
Pannun is the founder of Sikhs for Justice, a US-based organization accused by India of promoting terrorist acts and radicalizing youth in favor of an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan in Indian Punjab.
In November, US prosecutors charged an Indian citizen, Nikhil Gupta, for having tried to hire a hitman to assassinate Pannu at the request of an Indian government official who has not been charged and whose name was unknown until now.
“Yadav’s identity and affiliation, which have not previously been reported, provide the most explicit evidence to date that the assassination plan (…) was directed from within the Indian spy service,” The Washington Post reported.
Relations between the US and India have trembled since the allegations came to light, which draws startling similarities with the alleged complicity of Indian government agents in the murder of another Sikh separatist leader in Canada in June 2023.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told his parliament that he had credible allegations that the Indian government had plotted the execution of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India responded by suspending visas and withdrawing immunity from 41 of the 62 Canadian diplomats in the Asian country. EFE
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