TORONTO: Canada and the United States should take a tougher stance on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for trying to silence dissidents on foreign soil, a controversial Sikh separatist who was the target of an alleged India-led murder plot said in an interview.
The US Department of Justice has unsealed indictments against two Indian nationals in connection with an alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen, in New York.
Among the Indian defendants is a former government official who the indictment said was working as an intelligence officer at the time and coordinated the assassination plan.
Bannon said Reuters Earlier this month, he said the Modi government should not be allowed to carry out hostile activities in foreign countries, and said India’s consulates in the United States and Canada were running a “spy network,” though he did not provide any evidence.
“The United States and Canada need to stress that regimes like the Modi regime should not be allowed to come to America or Canada and challenge their sovereignty with impunity. They need to put their foot down and close (the consulates) permanently,” he said.
Bannon did not provide details about the alleged spy network. Similar assertions have been made by Sikh activists in America and Canada.
The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to detailed questions from Reuters Regarding Bannon’s allegations. India, where Bannon was born, has designated him a terrorist since 2020. Authorities in the United States and Canada have refused to comment on Bannon’s allegations.
The United States and Canada claimed that Indian agents were involved in assassination plots in their countries last year against activists for Khalistan, a homeland that Sikhs want to carve out of the Indian state of Punjab, where Sikh militancy in the 1980s and 1990s killed thousands of people.
India has denied its involvement in any of these plots.
These allegations harmed India’s relations with Canada and tested relations between Washington and New Delhi.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused the Indian government of involvement in the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nigar, another Sikh separatist leader in Canada. In May, Canadian police arrested four Indian men and charged them with the murder. They have not yet been tried.
India said Canada had provided no evidence to support its claims, and New Delhi and Ottawa expelled six diplomats earlier this month in a growing diplomatic row.
However, India said it was investigating the murder plot against Bannon, and US officials said they wanted a quick result.
Bannon said that Vikash Yadav, the former Indian official accused by the United States of the alleged assassination attempt, was just a “middle-class soldier”, who was assigned the task of organizing the assassination by high-ranking Indian officials. He did not provide any evidence or say how he reached this conclusion.
New Delhi said Yadav was no longer a government employee, without mentioning whether he was an intelligence officer, and did not give details of when he left. Yadav’s whereabouts are unknown but his family informed him Reuters Earlier this month he was in contact and denied the accusations contained in the US indictment.
Indian security officials said they fear rising support for Khalistan abroad could lead to a return to the militancy that once paralyzed Punjab state, the cradle of Sikh nationalism, where the movement for a separate homeland now has little support.
Bannon, who is holding independent referendums in the United States, Canada and Europe on the creation of Khalistan, said in the interview that his movement calls for a peaceful resolution of the issue and will continue despite the threats to his life.