U.S. reportedly thwarted assassination of Sikh separatist on American soil
'We are treating this issue with utmost seriousness,' says White House rep.
There's a surprising twist in the diplomatic tensions between Canada and India, and it involves a previously unreported event in the United States.
A British newspaper reports that American authorities thwarted a conspiracy to assassinate, on American soil, a Sikh separatist and they believe the Indian government was involved.
The report in the Financial Times says U.S. prosecutors have filed a sealed indictment in the case and are debating whether or not to make it public amid Canada's own ongoing investigation into the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C.
The White House is not denying the report. In a statement to CBC News, the White House acknowledged that there have been U.S.-Indian discussions on this reported case.
"We are treating this issue with utmost seriousness," said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.
"It has been raised by the U.S. government with the Indian government, including at the senior-most levels."
These allegations threaten to rattle India-U.S. relations at a sensitive geopolitical moment: Washington, embroiled in a rivalry with China, is keen to cultivate ties with India.
Watson said Indian officials expressed surprise and concern when the issue was raised with them, and they insisted this activity is not Indian policy.
The White House said it believes the Indian government will have more to say in the coming days as it investigates further.
The U.S. has conveyed its expectation to New Delhi that anyone deemed responsible should be held accountable, Watson said.
Unreported earlier plot
Canada said the Indian government may have been involved in killing Nijjar in B.C. last June, and sources tell CBC News that Ottawa had significant evidence including the intercepted communications of Indian diplomats.
The scandal poisoned India-Canada relations and led to the expulsion of scores of diplomats.
Now the Financial Times reports on an unreported earlier plot. It said the target was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen who is general counsel for the separatist group Sikhs for Justice.
The paper reports that the U.S. began informing allies about the thwarted plot to kill Pannum after the assassination in Canada, of Nijjar, in June.
It says the U.S. shared details of the case with a wider group of allies after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went public with his concerns in September.
Now the U.S. Justice Department is weighing whether to share more with the public about sealed criminal charges in New York State; the paper says that's been complicated by the fact that one person charged in the New York case is believed to have left the U.S.
Trudeau tight-lipped
Trudeau was asked about the report Wednesday but remained tight-lipped.
"We have been working closely with our allies, including the Americans, since the middle of the summer," the prime minister replied.
"Obviously, we continue to engage with India in hopefully constructive ways, and we hope that India will continue to take these real concerns seriously."
Pannum, the reported target, spoke to the Financial Times. He called the threat against an American citizen, on American soil, a challenge to U.S. sovereignty.
He told the newspaper: "I trust that the Biden administration is more than capable to handle any such challenge."
The paper said Pannum further angered Indian officials this month by issuing a video in which he warned Sikhs not to fly on Air India because it would be "life threatening".
That warning kindled memories of the Air India bombing by Sikh separatists, which killed 329 people in 1985.
Pannum told the Financial Times he was not making a violent threat against the airline.
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