NEW YORK: A group of Sikh community members confronted Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu at a New York Gurdwara who was visiting Hicksville Gurdwara in Long Island on the occasion of Gurpurab.
In the footage, it could be seen that a number of protesters surrounded him and started shouting and accused him of plotting the assassination of Canadian national Hardeep Singh Nijjar and also conspiring to get another leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun murdered.
The video of the exchange between Sandhu and the Sikh community members has been taking rounds. The footage starts with the envoy telling the protesters that he is visiting the gurdwara for seva (service).
US authorities thwart conspiracy to kill Pannun
Financial Times reported that US authorities had thwarted a conspiracy to kill Pannun, leader of Khalistani organisation Sikhs for Justice, on American soil. Asked about the report, the White House said the US is “treating a reported plot to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil with utmost seriousness” and has raised the issue with the Indian government “at the senior-most levels”.
White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Indian authorities had “expressed surprise and concern” in the matter and “stated that activity of this nature was not their policy”.
Canada expels India’s envoy
Canada in September expelled New Delhi’s head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)— India’s foreign intelligence agency—stationed in Ottawa accusing India’s involvement in the killing of a Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.
The already strained relations between Ottawa and New Delhi took a dramatic new low.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau informed an emergency session of the parliamentary opposition that his government had credible evidence linking Indian agents to the killing of Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in June in British Columbia.
He called in the strongest possible terms for the Indian government to cooperate in clearing up the matter.
