Want US to take Kwatra’s security seriously: MEA on Pannun threat

The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said New Delhi had taken “seriously” the latest threat issued by US-based Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun to India’s Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra and raised it accordingly with the authorities in Washington.

Government: Canada gave no proof of charges

• Canada has presented ‘no evidence’ in support of the charges (involvement of Indians in serious crimes) it levelled, the Centre told the LS
• Union minister Kirti Vardhan Singh said its public narrative on the issue appeared to be in service of an anti-India separatist agenda

“We take such threats seriously. In this case also, we have raised it with the US government and we expect it to take our security concerns seriously and act on it,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in New Delhi on Friday.

Pannun, who heads the banned Sikh for Justice (SFJ), recently issued a threat against Ambassador Kwatra, saying that he was on the radar of pro-Khalistan Sikhs in America. The pro-Khalistan activist holds dual American and Canadian citizenship. A former Foreign Secretary, Kwatra took charge as India’s Ambassador to the United States in August this year, succeeding Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

Khalistani supporters have been found to be involved in several incidents of defacement of temples in California and New York, and also in acts of arson and vandalism at the Indian embassy in San Francisco.