India sets up high-level panel after US raises security concerns: report

New Delhi: A high-level enquiry committee, set up by the government of India, will look into the security concerns raised by the US, said the Ministry of External Affairs, The Indian Express reported.

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi added that the US side shared some inputs regarding the relation ‘between organized criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others.’

The spokesperson said that the high-level Enquiry Committee was constituted on 18 November 2023 to ‘look into all relevant aspects of the matter’.

‘Government of India will take necessary follow-up action based on the findings of the Enquiry Committee,’ his statement reportedly said.

Bagchi said as the inputs ‘impinge on our national security interests’ India takes them seriously and relevant departments are examining them.

The development gathers importance after UK daily Financial Times reported on November 23 that US had ‘thwarted a conspiracy to assassinate’ Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US.

The report further said that the US ‘issued a warning to India’s government over concerns it was involved in the plot.’

Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma told an interview in Canada that the US shared inputs to Delhi on “Indian connections” in the alleged assassination plot of Pannun.

‘Those inputs are a nexus between gangsters, drug peddlers, terrorists, and gun runners in the US, and there is a belief that some of the Indian connections – now when I say Indian connections, I don’t mean Government of India connections, there’s 1.4 billion people, so some of the Indian connections are there – they are ready to investigate. Because we have got inputs, which are legally presentable,’ he was quoted as saying.