The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has raised concerns with the United States regarding threats issued against Indian Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra. The threats were reportedly made by US-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, speaking at the weekly press briefing in New Delhi, stated that India addresses such matters with urgency. “Whenever such threats are issued, we bring them to the notice of the US government,” Jaiswal said. He expressed India’s expectation that its security concerns would be duly addressed.
Pannun, designated as a terrorist by India, is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. This issue follows an earlier MEA confirmation regarding a US Justice Department indictment involving a failed plot to assassinate Pannun.
In October, the MEA confirmed that an individual named in the US Justice Department’s indictment in the case was no longer employed by the Indian government. “The US State Department informed us that the person in the indictment is no longer associated with the Government of India,” Jaiswal said during a prior briefing.
The US Justice Department’s indictment alleged that an Indian government employee had recruited Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national, to hire a hitman to assassinate Pannun. US authorities claim to have foiled the plot.
(ani)