Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
Washington/Ottawa: The United States has refused to make any “specific” comments on the reported fears expressed by a labelled Khalistani terrorist wanted by India, the chief of the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) outfit Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who lives in the US, of being a target of the “Indian Government”.
Pannun is reportedly facing 22 criminal cases, including three of sedition, in Punjab. Today, he also released a video where he was heard saying, “Delhi Banega Khalistan (Delhi will become Khalistan)”. Earlier today his video where Pannun was threatening Hindus to leave Canada went viral. last week, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) had detained his assets in Chandigarh and Amritsar.
Refusing to be dragged into Pannun’s allegations, last night [IST] the US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller almost recused himself from answering when the question was raised by a journalist on whether he had any comments or concerns regarding Pannun’s status and safety while he’s residing in the United States. All that he said was: “I don’t have any specific comment on that, other than to say, as the Secretary [Antony J. Blinken] noted in comments he made on Friday [September 22, 2023], transnational repression would be a concern for us anywhere in the world. That is our policy. We have made it clear over – on a number of occasions.”
Pannun’s concerns followed the allegations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had earlier created a diplomatic storm in the Canadian House of Commons on September 18, 2023, stating that the Indian Government operatives had killed Canadian resident Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Incidentally, Nijjar in India was a wanted terrorist and head of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). He was shot outside a gurdwara in Surrey, Canada on June 18, 2023.
Blinken was asked by media persons about the Canada-India diplomatic spat and also about reports of President Joe Biden bringing up the issue with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He, however, replied: “I’m not going to characterize or otherwise speak to diplomatic conversations that we have. We’ve been engaged directly with the Indian Government as well. And again, I think the most productive thing that can happen now is to see this investigation move forward, be completed. And we would hope that our Indian friends would cooperate with that investigation as well”.
If at all any high-ranking US official dropped enough hints about the evidence, it was reportedly the US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen who was quoted by CTV News Channel, Canada’s 24-hour all-news network, saying there was “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners” about a “potential” link between the government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen. (‘Five Eyes’ network is an intelligence alliance consisting of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It is both surveillance-based and signals intelligence).
However, according to a New York Times report of September 23, 2023, it was only after the killing of Nijjar that US intelligence agencies offered their Canadian counterparts context which made Canada conclude, based on its own intelligence inputs, that India was involved in the killing.
When asked about the reported Five Eyes ally that provided signals and human intelligence which formed the backbone of Trudeau’s accusations in the Canadian Parliament, what Blinken could offer was that from the US perspective, it was critical that the Canadian investigation proceeded, and it would be important that India worked with the Canadians on this investigation. “We want to see accountability, and it’s important that the investigation run its course and lead to that result…More broadly, we are extremely vigilant about any instances of alleged transnational repression, something we take very, very seriously. And I think it’s important more broadly for the international system that any country that might consider engaging in such acts not do so. So it’s something that we’re also focused on in a much broader way.”
Interestingly, the USA’s stand on the situation is being critically watched by world media, specifically after the way the US forces had killed the mastermind of the plane crash on the World Trade Centre buildings in New York, Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in a secret operation. A narrative built up by the US media is that while it was the case of a democratic country conducting targetted killings in “unstable” countries or regions, “it is unusual for a democratic country [India] to conduct a lethal covert action in another democracy [Canada]”.
What seems apparent is that the White House as well as the State Department have been cautious about commenting on Trudeau’s allegations and the investigations. “I am not going to comment on law enforcement matters,” Miller said when asked whether the US had seen the evidence about those allegations.
Earlier, even the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, when asked whether Canada informed him about the proof it had about those allegations, replied, “I’m not going to speak to either intelligence or law enforcement matters from this podium. I will let that process play out”.
When pressed further about the strained India-Canada relationship and what impact this could have on the US-India relationship, Miller said, “We are obviously quite concerned about the situation in Canada. We’ve cooperated closely with our Canadian counterparts, and we have urged India to cooperate in that investigation and we’ll continue to do so. And India remains an important partner of the United States. We work with them on a number of issues. But of course we – on this matter, we urge them to cooperate with the Canadian investigation”.
What also seemed interesting was Sullivan’s earlier observation that the Western media was making efforts to “try to drive a wedge between the United States and Canada on this issue”. Responding to such media campaigns, he said, “I firmly reject the idea that there is a wedge between the US and Canada. We have deep concerns about the allegations, and we would like to see this investigation carried forward and the perpetrators held to account”.
It may be mentioned that India has outrightly rejected Trudeau’s allegations and questioned Trudeau’s claims of providing evidence to the Indian authorities on the killing of Nijjar.
– global bihari bureau
