US charges ex-Indian intelligence

18/10/2024 6:09

        The United States has
        charged a former Indian intelligence officer who allegedly
        directed a foiled plot to murder a Sikh separatist in New York
        City last year, with the FBI saying it would not tolerate
        retaliation against a U.S. resident.
        
        An indictment of Vikash Yadav was ordered to be unsealed on
        Thursday. The U.S. Justice Department indictment mentioned Yadav
        as a former officer in India's Research and Analysis Wing spy
        service. It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the
        Southern District of New York.
        
        Washington has alleged Indian agents were involved in an
        attempted assassination plot against Sikh separatist leader
        Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen.
        
        "The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other efforts
        to retaliate against those residing in the U.S. for exercising
        their constitutionally protected rights," FBI Director
        Christopher Wray said in a statement.
        
        An Indian government committee investigating Indian
        involvement in the foiled murder plot met with U.S. officials in
        Washington on Tuesday, a meeting that Washington described as
        productive.
        
        The United States had been pushing India to look into the
        U.S. Justice Department's claim that an Indian intelligence
        official directed plans to assassinate Pannun.
        
        The U.S. case is not the only instance of India's alleged
        targeting of Sikh separatists on foreign soil.
        
        Canada on Monday expelled Indian diplomats, linking them to
        the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar
        on Canadian soil. India also ordered the expulsion of Canadian
        diplomats and denies Canada's allegations.
        
        The accusations have tested Washington and Ottawa's
        relations with India, often viewed by the West as a
        counterbalance to China.
        
        India has labeled Sikh separatists as "terrorists" and
        threats to its security. Sikh separatists demand an independent
        homeland known as Khalistan to be carved out of India. An
        insurgency in India during the 1980s and 1990s killed tens of
        thousands.