Westerners are familiar with the Russian commandos sent to their countries by Vladimir Putin to assassinate political opponents or former agents who have defected to the West. Should Narendra Modi's India be considered in the same company? On Wednesday, November 22, the United States announced that it had foiled an assassination plot against a lawyer and Sikh independence activist who holds both US and Canadian nationality and is demanding explanations from New Delhi.
"We are treating this issue with utmost seriousness," said National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson on Wednesday, "and it has been raised by the US government with the Indian government, including at the senior-most levels." The authorities in New Delhi assured them that "activity of this nature was not their policy," she added. "We have conveyed our expectation that anyone deemed responsible should be held accountable." Washington stressed that it had discussed the dangers of this state-connected threat with its closest allies, including in Europe.
The White House thus confirmed information published the previous day by the British newspaper Financial Times on the existence of an assassination plot targeting Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, known for having founded the US-based organization Sikhs for Justice, which campaigns for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland called "Khalistan." US federal prosecutors have filed an indictment against at least one alleged member of the conspiracy in a New York court. One of its members is said to have managed to leave US territory.
'Challenge to America's sovereignty'
This long-standing but marginal Sikh separatist movement has been described by the Indian government as "a threat to national security," particularly since it was blamed for the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 and for the bombing of an airliner in 1985. In 2019, Pannun's association was declared illegal by the Indian courts, which cited involvement in extremist activities as the basis for its decision. Pannun himself has also been blacklisted as a terrorist by India's National Investigation Agency since 2020 after he recorded a video urging people not to travel with Air India.
Pannun, interviewed by several US media outlets since news broke of the assassination attempt, declared that his message had been to "boycott Air India, not bomb" it. In any case, he did not provide details on how he was able to work with US security services to thwart the Indian agents, saying only: "The threat to an American citizen on American soil is a challenge to America's sovereignty, and I trust that the Biden administration is more than capable to handle any such challenge."
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