India-US Security Cooperation

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Why in News?
• Events Preceding and Following US’s Warning:
• Who is Pannun and What does his Organisation SFJ do?
• How has the Indian Government Reacted to Pannun and the SFJ?
• The U.S.-India Defense and Security Relationship

Why in News?

• The US government foiled a conspiracy to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, leader of Khalistani separatist organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFG), on American soil and issued a warning to India’s government over concerns it was involved in the plot.
• The alleged plot against Pannun comes after Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist based in Canadawas gunned down in June this year.

Events Preceding and Following US’s Warning

• Earlier (in Sept 2023), Canadian PM said there were “credible allegations” linking the Indian government to Nijjar’s killing, which triggered a diplomatic stand-off between the two countries.
• The US protest was issued after the Indian PM made a high-profile state visit to Washington (in June 2023).
• It remains unclear whether the US protest led the plotters to abandon their plan, or whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intervened to foil a scheme already in motion.
• The US federal prosecutors have filed a sealed indictment against at least one alleged perpetrator of the plot in a New York district court.
• India (in its response) said that during the course of recent discussions on India-US security cooperation, the US side shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others.
  • The inputs are a cause of concern for both countries and they decided to take necessary follow up action.
  • On its part, India takes such inputs seriously since it impinges on India’s own national security interests as well.

Who is Pannun and What does his Organisation SFJ do?

• Pannun, who comes from Khankot village on the outskirts of Amritsar, is a Pro-Khalistan lawyer based in the US.
• He is best known as the founder and leader of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a pro-Khalistan advocacy organisation based in New York.
• SFJ was formed in 2007 with the express intent of achieving self-determination for the Sikh people in their historic homeland in the region of Punjab (India) and establishing a sovereign state, popularly known as Khalistan.
• SFJ was founded with the explicit understanding that the Khalistan movement's weakness had been its needless use of violence.
• As a result, Pannun had started SFJ with the motto of “ballots not bullets”. Perhaps the SFJ’s most famous activity so far has been the so-called “Referendum 2020”.
  • It was conducted among the Sikh diaspora in cities around the world, and SFJ claimed grand support for it.

How has the Indian Government Reacted to Pannun and the SFJ?

• Almost a dozen cases have been registered against Pannun and SFJ in India, including 3 sedition cases in Punjab.
• In 2019, posts on social media by SFJ asserted that the Pulwama attack cannot be termed as an act of terrorism and backed Kashmiri separatists.
• In 2021, during the farmers’ agitation, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered an FIR against Pannun and issued summons to various farmer leaders and activists to probe their source of funding.
• After his most recent video threatening a repeat of Air India 1985, the NIA booked Pannun under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 [UAPA].
• The agency and the GoI as a whole refer to him as a “terrorist”.
• The Home Ministry’s notification banning the SFJ under the UAPA held that SFJ is actually espousing secessionism and militant ideology in Punjab.

The U.S.-India Defence and Security Relationship

• It has continued to deepen, aided by robust political commitments in both countries and converging concern about growing Chinese assertiveness across the Indo-Pacific.
• The US and India have expanded their defence activities and consultations. For example, the so-called “foundational defence agreements” concluded in 2020 between the two includes -
  • General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA);
  • Logistic Support Agreement (LSA); Communications and Information Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA) and
  • Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geospatial Intelligence (BECA).
• This positive trajectory is, however, by no means guaranteed to continue apace. There are rising concerns in the US about India’s fiscal limitations, its ties with Russia, etc.

Q1) What is the Khalistan movement?

Khalistan is the name of the proposed state envisioned by some Sikhs, incorporating Punjabi-speaking areas of northern India to establish a Sikh nation. The ethno-religious liberation movement gained traction in the early 80s in India and has developed momentum among the Sikh diaspora in recent years.

Q2) What is the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act [UAPA] 1967?

The UAPA is an Indian law to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India. The most recent amendment of the law (2019) has made it possible for the Union govt to designate individuals as terrorists without following any formal judicial process.

Source: Who is Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the alleged target of a planned hit job in the US?