The US is pressing India for swift accountability in the Sikh separatist assassination plot

• The US wants a quick result in the failed assassination plot investigation.
• He hopes India will move as quickly as possible through the investigation.
• Yadav assigned the task of organizing the murder, Pannun alleges.

WASHINGTON: US officials have told their Indian counterparts they want a quick outcome and more accountability after their investigation into Indian involvement in a botched assassination plot against a Sikh activist in the United States, a US official said.

An Indian commission of inquiry visited Washington last week to discuss India’s own investigations after the Justice Department alleged that an Indian intelligence official directed plans to kill dual US-Canadian citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist , last year.

“We’ve made it very clear that the US government is not going to feel fully satisfied until we see meaningful accountability taking place,” said a US official who declined to be identified. “We have emphasized that we hope India will move as quickly as possible through its investigative process.”

The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Washington’s message to Indian officials has not been reported before.

Last week, an unsealed indictment showed that the United States had charged Vikas Yadav, described as a former spy agency officer in India’s Research and Analysis Wing, with masterminding the plot against a Sikh separatist in New York.

The indictment alleged that beginning in May 2023, Yadav, who was described as an Indian government employee at the time, worked with others in India and abroad to direct a conspiracy against Pannun.

The accusations have tested Washington’s relations with India, which the Biden administration sees as a potential counterweight to China’s Indo-Pacific ambitions.

“India remains an incredibly important and valuable strategic partner,” the US official said. “We also need to have the confidence and ability to deal with very difficult issues like this with transparency.”

India has branded Sikh separatists as “terrorists” and threats to its security. Sikh separatists demand an independent homeland known as Khalistan, carved out of India. An insurgency in India during the 1980s and 1990s killed tens of thousands.

Pannun, the Sikh separatist, has claimed that Yadav was a “middle-ranking soldier” who was tasked with organizing the assassination by high-ranking Indian officials.

India has said little publicly since announcing in November 2023 that it would formally investigate the allegations and has separately continued a diplomatic row with Canada over the June 2023 killing of another Sikh leader.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September that his country’s intelligence agency was pursuing credible allegations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was behind the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijar, a Canadian Sikh separatist.

India has denied involvement in both incidents.