'Riots' after killing of Sikh separatist affect India-US relations

New Delhi, India - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not given any media interviews. In late December, he made an exception and gave an interview to the Financial Times in London, where he reported for the first time that the US government had foiled a plot by Indian agents to kill Sikh separatists on American soil. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen living in New York, has been labeled a "terrorist" by India for threatening violence against New Delhi and calling for a separate Sikh homeland called Khalistan. In the interview, PM Modi slammed US allegations that India was involved in extraterritoriality and extrajudicial killings, saying they had damaged bilateral ties between the world's two largest democracies. "I don't think it's right to link more incidents to diplomatic relations between our two countries," he said and pledged to conduct an internal investigation in India, as the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has done in the past. But the key decision to avoid a series of visits and trips points to strained relations between the two countries ahead of the election, which limits political space for their leaders to take steps that could damage domestic politics. Criticism, reduction.

On December 11, FBI Director Christopher Wray visited New Delhi to discuss the Pannun case, the first visit by an FBI director to India in 12 years. The religious freedom watchdog appointed by the US Congress also released its annual report earlier than scheduled, asking the Biden administration to declare India a "country of special interest". The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has linked the alleged Panun attack to broader concerns about attacks against religious minorities in India. He said India was "alarmed" by the rise in "transnational targeting of religious minorities and those who support them".

US President Joe Biden then declined Modi's invitation to attend India's Republic Day celebrations on January 26 as the chief guest. Although no official reason was given, Biden's refusal to visit New Delhi prompted India to postpone a meeting of four nations, including Australia and Japan, that it had hoped to hold during the US leader's visit.

Sushant Singh, a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Studies in New Delhi, said this was one of the "signs" of a strained relationship. "June was the peak of India-US relations and it has cooled since then," he told Urdu Voice, noting that Prime Minister Modi visited Washington that month and was the rare leader to address for the second time US Congress. . . "The plot to assassinate Pannun played a role here."

That doesn't mean India's relationship with the United States has worsened, said Christopher Clary, an assistant professor of political science at the University at Albany and a non-resident fellow in Stimson, Washington. Apart from the Pannun episode, he told Urdu Voice that relations between the two countries are good.

"It's like a commercial airliner in turbulence," he said. "It may be unpleasant for passengers, but it poses no threat to the aircraft. Even if sometimes we encounter rough air, we will continue to fly.''

"The shared concerns of the United States and India about the rise of China could mask many of the potential differences between the United States and India," Clary said.

But a chorus has emerged in India, from influential voices in the strategic community to voices on the streets, who say that if New Delhi wanted to kill Pannun, it would not have harmed him. "If the United States can kill Osama bin Laden abroad, what's stopping us," asked one analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity. This is due to concerns that his explicit comments could affect his ability to manage relations between the two countries. "Why are the standards different?" But India also had a mixed response to dramatic US allegations and claims that New Delhi may have been behind the killing of another Sikh separatist, Hardeep Singh Nijhar, in Surrey, Canada, near Vancouver.

New Delhi retaliated strongly after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized India in parliament last October. He halted trade negotiations, accusing Canada of protecting and supporting individuals and organizations he described as "terrorists."

New Delhi has asked the Canadian High Commission to reduce staff and temporarily suspend visas for people wishing to visit India. India responded more cautiously to the US claims. There was no public outcry and New Delhi instead promised to conduct its investigation into the allegations. The Modi government has explained this difference as a response to the nature of Washington's approach. Canada has not provided specific evidence linking New Delhi to Nizar's killing, but India says it has uncovered much of what the US investigation uncovered. The indictment against Indian businessman Nikhil Gupta, currently in a Prague prison at Washington's request, alleges he had contact with an Indian intelligence agent identified in legal documents as "C1." According to the indictment, C1 paid Gupta $15,000 and promised him a total of $100,000 for Pannun's murder. However, the assassin who tried to recruit Gupta turned out to be a US government informant who covered up the plot. The Indian government tried to show that it knew nothing about the alleged plot to kill Pannun, but AS Dulat, the former head of India's foreign intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), said that such a plot was possible. Known to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Whatever the truth, other reports suggest that India has withdrawn many RAW personnel from North America in recent months. Meanwhile, progress on defense contracts to buy Predator drones from India and the transfer of jet engine technology between the two countries appears to be slowing, Singh said.

In the power center of New Delhi, expectations are growing that the means of communication used by Indian officials will be controlled, a precursor to the Pannun incident. "If US officials were to monitor the Indian government's secure communications in Delhi, they would know more than they have disclosed so far," Singh said.

"How and when they use this information has yet to be seen."