The US-India Officials Meet; Pannun Continues his Tactics

On 4 Dec, the US Principal Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA) Jonathan Finer met Indian External Affairs (EA) Minister S. Jaishankar and Indian NSA Ajit Doval. A readout from the EA Ministry described the consultations as a follow-up to US NSA Jake Sullivan’s visit to India in June and Indian NSA Doval’s trip to the US in January. This was the first publicly acknowledged contact between a senior US security official and the Indian leadership since US prosecutors filed a case against Indian national Nikhil Gupta for conspiring to kill Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. On 5 Dec, Australian Greens MP David Shoebridge said the Australian government needs to give ‘a clear and direct assurance’ that proactive measures are being taken to ensure the safety of Sikhs in the country. On 6 Dec, a bipartisan group of influential American senators criticized India when they met at a Congressional hearing on Transnational Repression: A Global Threat to Rights and Security organized by the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee under chairman Ben Cardin. Meanwhile, on 7 Dec, Pannun released a video threatening to attack the Indian Parliament on or before 13 Dec. The video featured a poster of the 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru with the caption Delhi Banega Khalistan (Delhi will turn into Khalistan). The Parliament is holding its Winter Session until 22 Dec. The threat comes a day after the US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti announced on 6 Dec the FBI Director Christopher Wray will visit India soon. The dominant response to the video is that Pannu is weakening his own case.