US Court Accepts Gupta’s Plea; Canada Wants Nijjar Case Evidence Withheld

US District Judge, for the Southern District of New York, Victor Marrero accepted Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta's guilty plea to the murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, in connection with the failed assassination of US citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Meanwhile, spokesperson for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tahir Abdrabi said, 'Islamabad has shared irrefutable and concrete evidence of Indian sponsorship of terrorism and terrorist groups operating in Pakistan from across our borders.' In Indian (East) Panjab, marking the anniversary of the 1921 Saka Nankana Sahib, Dal Khalsa and allied Sikh organizations held a Panthic (Sikh collective) meet at Moga and warned the Indian Union Home Ministry against attempts to destabilize Panjab. The leadership accused the security apparatus of orchestrating a dual-pronged strategy: 'transnational repression' against activists abroad and 'unconstitutional' encounters within India. Dal Khalsa demanded to know who directed the attempted hit on Pannu and the execution of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia, Canada. Concurrently, Canada’s Justice Department is trying to withhold evidence during the upcoming murder trial of four Indian men accused of gunning down Nijjar in June 2023. The case against the suspected assassins is being closely watched because of allegations that the government of India ordered the assassination as part of a campaign to silence its political opponents abroad. The Canada Evidence Act allows courts to consider such applications but the National Spokesperson for the Sikh Federation Canada, Moninder Singh issued a strong rebuke of the government’s approach. His statement said: 'The implications of such a decision are profound and have led the Government (of Canada) to actually facilitate violence in Canada by shrouding Indian operations in secrecy and creating an environment in which foreign actors can operate with impunity.' When asked about the case, the High Commissioner of India to Canada Dinesh Patnaik said, ‘India will take action depending on the outcome’. The envoy’s comments come ahead of an anticipated trip to India by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as his government seeks to re-establish ties and diversify its trading relationships in the face of US President Donald Trump’s economic threats (earlier coverage).