High-Level Enquiry Committee To Probe US Inputs On Nexus Between Criminals, Terrorists: MEA

The Ministry of External Affairs said it has constituted a high-level enquiry committee to probe nexus between organized criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others

The Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday said that the Government of India has constituted a high-level enquiry committee to probe into the nexus between organised criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the MEA said that the United States has shared inputs pertaining to nexus based on which the enquiry committee has been constituted. 

"We have already said that during the course of discussions with the US on bilateral security cooperation, the US side shared some inputs pertaining to nexus between organized criminals, gun runners, terrorists and others," the statement read. 

"It is informed that on 18 November 2023, the Government of India constituted a high-level Enquiry Committee to look into all the relevant aspects of the matter. Government of India will take necessary follow-up action based on the findings of the Enquiry Committee," said the MEA. 

The statement by MEA came days after Financial Times published a report stating that the US government thwarted a plot to kill Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on U.S. soil and "warned" New Delhi about its alleged involvement in the plot. 

Pannun, an American-Canadian citizen who is the legal counsel for proscribed organisation Sikh For Justice, has been designated a terrorist by the Ministry of Home Affairs in India. 

The FT report came amid an ongoing diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of another Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June this year.