When allegations were leveled against India after the killing of Khalistan supporter Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, the Indian government aggressively denied all the allegations and instead put Canada in the dock, but when the US accused India of being involved in the conspiracy to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannu of Sikhs for Justice, the Indian government formed an investigation committee in November 2023. The Home Ministry said that the committee had conducted its own investigation and also examined the leads provided by the American side. Full cooperation was received from the American authorities, after which several officials of various agencies were questioned and important documents in this regard were also examined. The Indian Home Ministry has said, ‘After a long investigation, the committee has submitted its report to the government. After investigating past criminal connections and background, legal action is recommended against an accused. The committee has recommended that the legal action be completed expeditiously. However, the name of the agent has not been revealed yet. It seems that a decision is being made to take action against Vikas Yadav, who was associated with India’s foreign intelligence agency RAW in the case of the attempted assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannu to build better relations with the administration of the new US President Donald Trump.
The issue of its double attitude towards the recommendations of the Indian government’s committee is also being raised. The question is being asked why the Indian government is taking a different stance in the case of Canada and the US. Is this not a direct surrender to the US?
The completion of the investigation report has been revealed at a time when Donald Trump is going to take office as the new US President. Earlier this month, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan came to New Delhi and last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Trump’s nominated National Security Advisor Mike Waltz. The implication of this whole exercise was that the Modi government does not want the Pannu conspiracy case to cast a shadow over its future relations with the US after the new Trump administration takes over.
With the change of power in the US, the US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, will depart. He remained in this post for more than two years and Garcetti played an important role in strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries. He has to say about the Indian report that it is a very positive report. The promise that the Indian government had made has started to be implemented. In this case, we have been demanding accountability of the accused and changes in the system and the same thing has been said in this report. A legal case is also going on in the US on this issue. Eric Garcetti says that I hope this does not start a trade war between the two countries. Whatever was stuck on trade issues between the two countries, we had resolved it two years ago. We have created a platform to take trade relations forward and now it is time for us to exploit its full potential.
Neutral circles believe that the report of the Indian government’s committee has also recommended criminal proceedings. This also shows the depth of India-US relations that the Indian government is not ready to bear the displeasure of America. It is a different matter whether US President Trump is satisfied with this report of India or not. The question is whether this report will satisfy the Khalistani factions or not. It is true to a large extent that the US judicial system works relatively independently, but in this regard, the priorities of the Trump administration will have some impact.
