LONDON/WASHINGTON: Pro-Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun accused India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar of transnational terrorism against Sikhs who want the creation of an independent Khalistan state.
Sikh For Justice (SFJ) general counsel SFJ Pannun, who survived several high-profile Indian assassination attempts, said in an open letter to the US government.
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar's meetings with US officials, the SFJ raised issues of the “policy of violent transnational repression on US soil against progressives” of the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. -Khalistan Sikhs, which directly challenges the sovereignty of the United States and endangers the lives and freedom of Americans.”
The letter signed by Pannun says: “In November 2023, the United States Department of Justice filed an indictment for 'murder for hire' against Indian national Nikhil Gupta, who at the behest of Indian government officials hired assassins to murder New York. lawyer and general counsel of Sikhs For Justice due to his activism for Khalistan and the Khalistan referendum. India's transnational repression against pro-Khalistan Sikhs is not limited to the United States. Since the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023 in Surrey, Canada, the Modi government has also attacked pro-Khalistan Sikhs in the United Kingdom, Australia and Pakistan.
“Honorable Secretary, even after the Biden administration's firm decision to prosecute the Indian citizen and further investigate and bring to justice anyone involved in the 'Murder for Hire' plot, Prime Minister Modi and his lieutenants of NSA Ajit Doval and Defense Minister Rajnath have time and again reiterated and reaffirmed their intention to continue the policy of transnational repression. In June 2024, Prime Minister Modi declared on the floor of the Indian Parliament that his government will continue the policy of 'Ghar Main Ghus Ke MarenGe'; (We will enter your house and kill you). As India's Foreign Minister, Jaishankar is the international face and spokesperson of the Modi government which, through covert diplomacy, attempts to justify and alleviate the Modi government's policy of violently crushing the political opinion of American Sikhs. on American soil.
Honorable Secretary, any more quiet diplomacy with India on the issue of transnational repression will only embolden and encourage the Modi government to continue its attempt to threaten and silence American citizens on American soil. While we as Americans want America to have the best trade and economic agreements, protecting American life, liberty, and free speech from foreign governments is a core, existential American value that must not be compromised. for any economic reason. or commercial benefit with India.”
Meanwhile, pro-Khalistan Sikh activists protested outside the Carnegie Endowment Center for International Peace, where External Affairs Minister Jaishankar spoke. The activists chanted “Kill Modi politics”, “Hindutva terror”, forcing Jaishankar to leave through the back door.
Sikh activists had called for the protest saying that India's EAM is the architect of the Modi regime's violent transnational repression against pro-Khalistan Sikhs and masterminded, among others, the Pannun murder-for-hire plot.
