Roving Periscope: In the Pannun case, India forces the US to ‘backtrack’
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: America’s recent efforts to corner India in the Khalistani extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun case may have boomeranged, and Washington is now trying to control the potential damage amid indications that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s NDA government is set to return to power in June for a third straight term—while the fate of the incumbent US President Joe Biden, fighting for a second term against Doland Trump, is a matter of speculation.
Pannun, enjoying dual citizenship of the US and Canada, has for long been threatening India, working as an agent of the anti-India lobby in the West. The US and Canada have both ignored India’s pleas against him and, on the contrary, lectured the victim on the rights of the ‘asset’ they are safeguarding.
Last week, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti, indirectly, lectured India in the same vein. The government-backed assassination of a foreign country’s citizen is an “unacceptable red line for any country,” he said, riding a high horse.
His statement came in the wake of US prosecutors accusing an Indian government agent last year of directing a plot to assassinate Pannun in New York. The alleged plot, which US officials claimed was thwarted, was revealed after an associate of Pannun was killed in Canada in June 2023.
After that, Pannun released scores of threatening messages and videos against India and tried to fan the Khalistani movement. India set up a high-level committee to investigate the allegations.
Reacting to Garcetti’s statement, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Monday asserted that India’s national security interests are involved in its investigation into the alleged involvement of any government official in the assassination plot.
“It is something we are investigating as we believe our national security interests are also involved in that investigation,” he told reporters, replying to a question about Garcetti’s statement about the “unacceptable red line”.
Dr. Jaishankar said the US ambassador will say whatever he feels is the thinking or position of his government.
“The position of my government is that in this particular case, there has been certain information provided to us which we are investigating,” he said, adding that India’s security interest is involved in this.
“So, when we have something to say on the investigation, we would be very glad to speak about it. At this point, beyond the fact that there is an investigation going on, we have nothing more to say.”
Realizing the potential damage after India’s tough stance, Garcetti hurried to say the US-India ties would not be damaged by the probe.
He said he was pleased with India’s progress on its investigation, adding the issue wouldn’t hamper relations between the two countries.
“India and the US are showing their resilience and that we want this relationship for the long haul,” Garcetti was quoted as saying in a media report.
“We’ve been satisfied with the coordination on this particular issue and it hasn’t slowed a single thing down” regarding US-India engagement, he said.
“I was very pleased that India put together this commission of inquiry, put senior people who are experienced in law enforcement on that, and that they have been digging in on this side domestically to uncover any evidence that would show a murder-for-hire plot that included anybody who was from the Indian government,” Garcetti said.
