The United States emphasized the need for an Indian high-level panel to “quickly and transparently” investigate allegations that agents of the Indian government orchestrated an assassination attempt on a Sikh US citizen, ensuring that justice is served.
In November, US prosecutors alleged that an Indian citizen named Nikhil Gupta tried to hire a hitman to kill a man who is believed to be Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil at the behest of an Indian government official.
At a public hearing on Wednesday of the US congressional committee on foreign affairs on the Pakistan elections, Democrat congressman from Minnesota Dean Phillips quizzed a senior state department official about the accusation made by US prosecutors, asking if the department has considered placing sanctions on Indian officials.
“The administration of course recently placed sanctions on more than 500 individuals relating to the killing of Alexei Navalny in Russia on Russian soil. So my question is, are any similar sanctions on or travel bans being considered for those who we believe may be responsible for the attempted murder of Mr Pannun?”, asked Phillips.
The US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu, stated that the Biden administration took the allegations “incredibly seriously and have raised it at the highest levels with India”.
“This is a serious issue, a serious issue between the United States and India. The Department of Justice has alleged that an Indian citizen at the behest of someone working in the Indian government has attempted to kill an American citizen on American soil. We take this and the administration incredibly seriously and have raised it at the highest levels with India,” Lu said.
“We are at the moment working with India to encourage India to hold accountable those responsible for this terrible crime. What we can see is that India itself has announced that they have created a committee of inquiry to look into this matter and we ask them to work quickly and transparently to make sure justice is done,” he added.
