New Delhi: While US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was in Delhi discussing the removal of trade barriers in strategic sectors with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, five influential US Senators urged Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to deliver a “strong diplomatic response” to hold the Indian government accountable for its alleged involvement in the foiled assassination attempt of a US citizen.
The visit of a senior Biden administration official, the first during the Indian Prime Minister’s third term, was already overshadowed by Monday morning’s news that Indian national Nikhil Gupta had been extradited three days ago from the Czech Republic to the United States in connection with charges to hire a hitman.
Sullivan and India’s NSA Ajit Doval jointly chaired the second meeting of the India-US initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology, which culminated in the release of a ‘Joint Factsheet’.
While it was widely expected that the intractable matter would be mentioned, both the Indian and US governments remained tight-lipped throughout the day regarding any discussions about the attempted murder of a US citizen, who, although not publicly named by prosecutors in court documents, has been widely identified as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Khalistani lawyer for ‘Sikhs for Justice,’ a group proscribed as a terror organisation by India.
Last November, US prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging Gupta with attempting to hire a hitman, who turned out to be an undercover law enforcement official, to target Pannun. Shockingly, the indictment alleged that Gupta had received instructions from an Indian government official, who was identified but remained unnamed in the public court documents.
The US indictment echoed the allegations made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September 2023 that Indian government officials were involved in the killing of a Canadian Sikh Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
In contrast to New Delhi’s angry dismissal of Canada’s accusations, India established a “high-level enquiry committee” to probe the US allegations, even before the indictment was made public. Till now, India has not revealed whether the committee has made any recommendations.
After Narendra Modi returned for a third term, albeit with a diminished mandate, the visit of the NSA Jake Sullivan was expected to not only affirm the close strategic ties with India but also look for a way out of the Pannun issue.
Coinciding with NSA Sullivan’s visit, the open letter, signed by four Democrats and one Independent senator, used strong language to push the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to hold Indian officials “accountable” for the attempted assassination.
“While we fully support the DOJ’s efforts to bring Gupta to justice and the Department of State’s prior statements, the Administration must match words with actions to hold Indian officials involved in the plot accountable, and to send a clear message that there will be consequences for such behaviour,” said the letter.
The Senators asserted that the United States must “take an unequivocal stand against such a threat to the rights of a U.S. citizen and violation of U.S. sovereignty, which are examples of India’s increasingly irresponsible efforts to silence critics of its government among its diaspora around the world”.
In addition to Democrat Senator Jeffrey Merkley, who spearheaded the initiative, the letter was signed by Senators Chris Van Hollen, Tim Kaine, Ron Wyden, and Bernie Sanders.
Incidentally, Merkley had authored a resolution passed by Senate in July 2023 which affirmed United States’ recognition of Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India.
The five lawmakers also sought a briefing from the State Department on how Washington “intends to pursue follow-up action – to press the Indian government to hold those involved criminally accountable, and to ensure the government does not repeat such acts of transnational repression”.
“India must maintain its commitment to respecting human rights at home and abroad as it aspires to global leadership. Now that India’s 2024 general election has concluded, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Modi returning to power, the United States has an opportunity to include this issue as a core agenda item with the Indian government,” the letter stated.
Meanwhile, after Sullivan’s meeting with Doval, both sides only released a ‘joint factsheet’ in which they committed to take “concrete action” to remove barriers to trade in strategic sectors like commercial and civil space sectors and ensure there is no “leakage” of sensitive technologies to third countries “of concern”.
For the last two decades, the United States and India have been increasingly deepening their strategic partnership, primarily motivated by China’s expanding presence in the region and the wider Indo-Pacific.
While no names were taken, the bilateral document stated that Doval and Sullivan “underscored the vital importance of adapting our technology protection toolkits and resolved to prevent the leakage of sensitive and dual-use technologies to countries of concern”.
Besides, they also “committed to take concrete action in the coming months to address long-standing barriers to bilateral strategic trade, technology, and industrial cooperation, including in the commercial and civil space sector”.
The NSAs also announced the launch of a new strategic semiconductor partnership between two private firms that would “co-develop semiconductor design and manufacturing for precision-guided ammunition and other national security-focused electronics platforms”.
They also agreed to invest in a lithium resource project in South America and a rare earths deposit in Africa “to responsibly and sustainably diversify critical mineral supply chains”.
