Designate Sikhs for Justice as terrorist outfit, India tells US
The SFJ was prohibited by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 10th July 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and Pannun was declared an "individual terrorist" on 1st July 2020.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has requested Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), the separatist organization in favour of Khalistan, to be labeled as a “terrorist outfit” by the US administration’s Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, sources informed The Indian Express Monday.
Singh explained SFJ‘s connections with terror groups and Pakistan‘s intelligence agency, ISI, to Gabbard in his meeting with her, according to sources.
Subsequently, Gabbard also met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi, in an X post, stated, “Glad to welcome @TulsiGabbard to India. Exchanged views on further advancing the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership. Both countries are committed to combating terrorism and enhancing maritime and cyber security cooperation.”
The talks are meaningful as Gabbard had also attended intelligence chiefs‘ Sunday conference that had been organized by NSA Ajit Doval, R&AW head Ravi Sinha and IB director Tapan Deka. It was also graced by Canada‘s CSIS head Daniel Rogers, UK National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell and New Zealand intelligence chief Andrew Hampton – all members of the Five Eyes, US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand‘s intelligence-sharing network. Australia‘s intelligence chief Andrew Shearer visited India last month, and could not attend the conference this time, but a senior Australian intelligence official attended.
That this call to label SFJ as a terror group has been made at a moment when India is still facing charges of plotting an assassination attempt against SFJ chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in a US court, and there is an ongoing probe by Canadian authorities into the murder of another Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, makes it a significant factor in Indo-US relations under the Trump 2.0 regime. Intelligence regarding the Nijjar plot was exchanged among the Five Eyes allies. India has categorically denied reports of killing Nijjar, describing them as “absurd“ and “politically motivated“.
EXPLAINED IN DETAIL
The SFJ was proscribed by the Ministry of Home Affairs on July 10, 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, and Pannun was declared an “individual terrorist“ on July 1, 2020.
Following their meeting on Monday, Singh, in an X post, stated, “It was a pleasure to have met the US Director of National Intelligence Ms @TulsiGabbard in New Delhi. We talked over a broad agenda which includes defence and information sharing with a view to further enhance the India-US partnership.”
As per an official release by the Ministry of Defence, Singh had a “productive meeting“.
Referring to the Joint Statement released following the recent summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump, the release stated “the discussions reaffirmed the growing strength of the India-US bilateral defence partnership“.
“Both… underscored that strategic security is an indispensable cornerstone of the overarching global strategic collaboration between both countries. Shri Rajnath Singh and Ms Tulsi Gabbard took stock of the considerable advances achieved in areas such as defence exercises, strategic collaboration, defense industrial supply chains integration and information-sharing cooperation, particularly in the maritime sphere, between India and US,” it said.
It stated that they “discussed opportunities for cooperation in innovative defence technology and niche technologies, demonstrating their mutual commitment to deepening strategic interests. They also discussed important areas like improving interoperability and increasing defence industrial supply chain integration to enhance resilience and innovation.”.
Singh conveyed “gratitude to the US Director of National Intelligence for her unwavering goodwill and appreciation for Indian culture and heritage, stating such feelings strengthen India-US friendship roots”.
In a conversation with ANI, Gabbard renewed Trump‘s commitment to vanquishing the “threat of Islamist terrorism“ that she said “remains directly threatening to the American people“.
Questioned about how the Trump administration views the continued terror attacks on India by Pakistan, Gabbard replied, “President Trump, through his initial administration in the Presidency, and it continues now, has been very clear about his commitment to defeating this threat of Islamist terrorism that has unfortunately plagued us, and continues to pose a direct threat to the American people.”
But we have seen how it has been affecting people here in India, in Bangladesh, as it is being waged now in Syria, Israel and other countries of the Middle East. So this is a threat which I know that Prime Minister Modi also takes very seriously and one where the leaders of our two nations will be working together to attempt to find and vanquish that threat,” she added. She conveyed her dedication to making sure the US intelligence community is “prioritized on its core mission of securing“ the country, “seeking the truth and reporting the truth“ so that President Trump “can make the best informed decisions“.
