The linking of an Indian official to the plot to assassinate Khalistani separatists in a U.S. case is a “matter of concern”, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday, in its first such reaction to the charges filed in a New York court a day earlier.
The government said it would investigate the American indictment of Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who allegedly hired a hitman to kill Sikhs for Justice founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun earlier this year; however, this case does not change India’s position on similar allegations levelled by Canada in connection with the killing of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June. After Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the U.S. indictment should make India take Canada’s allegations “seriously”, the MEA responded that the space given by Canada to “anti-India extremists” remains at the “heart of the issue”.
