New Delhi
‘Care needs to be taken to clear the picture on the non-involvement of any Indian government employee in Pannun case.’
A tactful handling of the ties with the US along with a taking tough stand on issues of national priority is what India needs to do at a time when its Ambassador to the US has been heckled by Khalistani supporters at a gurudwara and an Indian government employee has allegedly been linked with a foiled attempt to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who lives in New York City and leads Khalistani outfit Sikhs for Justice.
Indian national Nikhil Gupta has been booked by the US Justice Department in the case related to the alleged plot to kill Pannun. One of the key charges against Gupta is that he allegedly sent a text message: “We will hit all our targets” to an “Indian government employee”, who, claim US investigators, had directed the killing. The Indian government has called the allegations a “matter of concern” and “contrary to government policy”.
The MEA has said that inputs from the US on involvement of Indian individuals in matters related to a nexus between gangsters, drug peddlers, terrorists, and gun runners in that country are also being examined by a committee.
A former diplomat said India, in its initial reaction, has done the right thing by indicating to the US that the matter appeared to be more of a case of nexus between gangsters and terrorists and gun runners. However, considering India’s close ties with the US, care needs to be taken to clear the picture on the non-involvement of any Indian government employee, he said. India’s High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma has said that the Indian government was cooperating with the American investigation into the alleged thwarted assassination attempt and not Canada’s probe into the June killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia’s Surrey due to a disparity between the information both nations shared in their investigation.
The US authorities have shared more specific information regarding the investigation with India as compared to what Canada has given, he has said, explaining the difference in the level of cooperation from India in both the matters.
On the incident of Ambassador T.S. Sandhu being allegedly heckled, former diplomat Bhaswati Mukherjee told this newspaper the matter needed to be dismissed as a minor issue. “These things have been happening in the past also. We need not react to such an incident and should take it coolly.”
“Facing such a situation is a part of a diplomat’s job and the Ambassador has done a good job by not reacting to it,” she said.
She recalled a similar incident outside a gurudwara in Canada where a diplomat’s car tyres were flattened 40 years ago. “Such incidents have been happening earlier also, it’s just that now these incidents get relayed faster due to social media,” she said. As a big nation, India needed to be thick skinned. It did not make any difference to India if some people tried to attract attention through such acts, she added.
In Pannun’s matter, the US Justice Department accused Gupta, who is currently in a jail in Czech Republic awaiting extradition to the US, of working at the behest of an alleged Indian government employee whom he met in Delhi.
It further said that the Indian government official had variously described himself as a “Senior Field Officer” with duties in the fields of “security management” and “intelligence”.
The US agencies claimed Gupta was recruited by the Indian government employee in May and the two met in Delhi to discuss the potential assassination.
Gupta apparently admitted to being involved in trafficking drugs and weapons. US investigators claimed that for the alleged Pannun assassination plot Gupta contacted local criminals in the US but was unknowingly led to an undercover cop from the Drug Enforcement Administration, who alerted his seniors.
According to a media report, a day after Nijjar was killed in Canada, Gupta wrote to the undercover DEA agent saying Nijjar “was also the target” and “we have so many targets”.
In the US, Gupta is facing charges for murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy, each carrying a maximum of 10 years behind bars, if convicted.
Responding to questions on an alleged plot to murder Pannun, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “As regards the case against an individual that has been filed in a US court, allegedly linking him to an Indian official, this is a matter of concern. We have said that this is also contrary to government policy.”
“The nexus between organised crime, trafficking, gunrunning and extremists at an international level is a serious issue for the law enforcement agencies and organisations to consider and it is for that reason that a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted and we will be guided by its results,” he added.