MEA institutes enquiry committee to look into report of Indian involvement in plot to target Khalistani leader in U.S.

Govt sets up high-level enquiry to investigate US govt's inputs on alleged Indian involvement in plot to target Khalistani leader in US. MEA confirms security-related discussion between India and US. Pannun, a designated terrorist in India, is an American and Canadian citizen and legal counsel for Sikhs for Justice. FT's sources did not say if plot was abandoned due to US warning or FBI foiling it.

The Central Government has instituted a “high-level enquiry committee” to look into inputs from the U.S. government on reports of the alleged involvement of Indians in a plot to target a Khalistani leader in the U.S., according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

On November 22, The Financial Times reported that 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 Ministry of External Affairs had said then that a security-related discussion took place between India and the U.S.

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’s anonymous sources did not say whether the alleged plot to kill Mr. Pannun was abandoned because Washington had warned New Delhi about the matter or whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had foiled it.