The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray is expected to visit India next week, the US Ambassador to India confirmed.

NIA May Take Up Khalistani Terrorist Pannun Issue During FBI Chief’s Visit

The visit comes amid the controversy over a bid to assassinate Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil, for which the US administration levelled allegations against an Indian national and an Indian agency official. The FBI Director’s visit, aimed at strengthening cooperation between the US and India on a range of law enforcement issues, comes days after US Principal Deputy NSA, Jonathan Finer, was in Delhi to meet with Vikram Misri, India’s Deputy National Security Adviser.

According to a statement issued by the White House, “Finer acknowledged India’s establishment of a Committee of Enquiry to investigate lethal plotting in the United States and the importance of holding accountable anyone found responsible.” Last month, the United States charged an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire charges for allegedly plotting to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City. As per the Court documents filed by the US Justice Department, an unnamed Indian government official colluded with Gupta in the plot to kill Pannun.

NIA Books Terrorist Pannu Under UAPA

NIA has booked designated ‘individual terrorist’ Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, founder of the banned outfit Sikhs for Justice, under UAPA, 1967 for allegedly threatening passengers flying via Air India and the airlines itself with a global blockade and closure of operations from Nov 19.

Khalistan Shadow

•The Khalistan movement is a fight for a separate, sovereign Sikh state in present day Punjab (both India and Pakistan).

•The demand has resurfaced many times, most prominently during a violent insurgency in the 1970s and 1980s which paralysed Punjab for over a decade.

The movement was crushed in India following Operation Blue Star (1984) and Operation Black Thunder (1986 and 1988), but it continues to evoke sympathy and support among sections of the Sikh population, especially in the Sikh diaspora in countries such as Canada, the UK, and Australia.