The U.S. government thwarted a plot to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on U.S. soil, and “warned” New Delhi about its alleged involvement in the plot, the Financial Times (FT) has reported. Mr. Pannun, who is a designated terrorist in India, is an American and Canadian citizen and the legal counsel for Sikhs for Justice, a body that advocates for a separate Sikh homeland of Khalistan, carved out of India.
The FT report comes some two months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the government was behind the killing of another Khalistani separatist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June this year. New Delhi has denied any involvement in Nijjar’s killing. The U.S. had worked with Canada on the investigation into Nijjar’s death with top officials in the Biden administration urging New Delhi to cooperate with the probe.
