Conversation with India on Pannun assassination plot has been respectful and effective, says US NSA
India regarding the allegations of a plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist in the US that involved an Indian government official has been «respectful» and «effective» because it's being held behind closed doors, according to Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor to the US president. In November last year, US federal prosecutors charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York. Gupta, who was arrested in the Czech Republic in June last year, was extradited to the US on June 14.
«We have had a constructive dialogue with India on this issue. And we have made it very clear where we stand on it and what we would like to see. And it's been respectful, and it has been effective, in my view, mostly because it is taking place behind closed doors,» Sullivan said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado on Friday responding to a question on allegations related to the assassination attempt on Pannun.
India has denied the allegations but has constituted an internal investigations team to look into it.
«About a year ago, CIA Director Bill Burns and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines went to India and raised concerns with the Indian government about suspicions that the Indian government may have been involved in the assassination of a Sikh activist in Vancouver and what turned out to be a thwarted assassination plot in New York, also against a Sikh activist. Have you received satisfactory explanations from India
