NEW DELHI, Nov 29
Days after Delhi said that it was examining the inputs provided by the US on the alleged assassination plot to kill Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US, the Indian government on Wednesday said that it has constituted a high-level inquiry committee to probe it.
The Financial Times had reported last week that US authorities thwarted a plot to assassinate Pannun and issued a warning to the Indian government over concerns that it was involved in the plot.
On Wednesday, Arindam Bagchi, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said that India had constituted a high-level inquiry committee on November 18 to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter. “We have already said that during the course of discussions with the US on bilateral security cooperation, the US side shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others,” Bagchi said. “We had also indicated that India takes such inputs seriously since they impinge on our national security interests as well, and relevant departments were already examining the issue,” he said.
“In this context, it is informed that on November 18, the Government of India constituted a high-level enquiry committee to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter,” he added. Bagchi said India will take necessary follow-up action based on the findings of the committee.
India’s response to the US inputs has been very different from how it reacted to the Canadian allegations, which it had rejected as “absurd and motivated”.
