Conspiracy to murder terrorist Pannu... India to form an investigation committee

The Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement saying- The Government of India constituted a high-level inquiry committee on 18 November 2023 to investigate all aspects of this matter. The Government of India will take action based on the findings of the inquiry committee.

In fact, the US government had accused India of being involved in the conspiracy to murder Pannu. America said that it had foiled the conspiracy to murder Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu. This was revealed in the report of Financial Times.

On November 24, the Foreign Ministry had said – America's allegations are serious. India takes such inputs very seriously, as they can also jeopardize our security interests. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi had said- We are taking this matter seriously. We are investigating the link between organized criminals, terrorists and others.

India is cooperating with America in the investigation
Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma had said in an interview to Canadian media CTV on November 26 - The Indian government is cooperating with the US government in the investigation of the conspiracy to murder Pannu. After this statement of Sanjay Kumar Verma, today i.e. on 29th November, the Ministry of External Affairs informed about the formation of a high level committee.

Two big things from the Financial Times report

• Officials associated with the case told the Financial Times that US authorities had foiled a plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist on American soil. Allegedly, this conspiracy was being hatched by India and Pannu was to be targeted through this.
• According to the report, after the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in Vancouver in June, America had informed some allies about the conspiracy to murder Pannu. According to the Financial Times, America had opposed it after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington in June.

Sealed case filed in New York
In this case, a sealed case has been filed in the New York District Court against an alleged accused, but who is the accused and what are the charges, it will be known when the envelope is opened.
According to the Financial Times, America had given diplomatic warning to India. Apart from this, a sealed case has been filed in the New York District Court against an alleged accused in the case.

The US Justice Department is currently debating whether this sealed case should be opened now and the charges should be made public or after the investigation into the murder of terrorist Nijjar is completed.

In fact, in June this year, Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered in Canada. Canada has accused India of his murder. India has rejected this allegation.

Pannu said- this is a challenge to American sovereignty
Pannu said- I would like the American government to answer for the conspiracy to kill me on American soil. A threat to an American citizen on American soil is a challenge to America's sovereignty and I am confident that the Biden administration can deal with any such challenge. Pannu has citizenship of America and Canada.

India has been accused by both America and Canada. However, a big difference is that America has not yet made the allegations public. Also, he has raised the matter with the Government of India before going public. However, according to Reuters, the White House has said that it will share more information in this matter in the coming time.

Pannu declared terrorist in 2020
In 2019, the Government of India banned Pannu's organization SFJ under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act i.e. UAPA on charges of carrying out terrorist activities. The Home Ministry had said in its notification that under the guise of referendum for Sikhs, SFJ is supporting separatism and extremist ideology in Punjab.

In the year 2020, Pannu was accused of promoting separatism and encouraging Punjabi Sikh youth to take up arms. After this, on July 1, 2020, the Central Government declared Pannu a terrorist under UAPA. In 2020, the government banned more than 40 web pages and YouTube channels related to SFJ.