External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India-US relations will not be disturbed by the allegations of an assassination plot by Indian agents on Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Speaking to the news agency PTI, the diplomat-turned-politician said that the fundamentals of India-US ties were very robust, and the allegations have not impacted relations.
“The United States brought to our attention certain information in good faith because we also believe some of it has implications for our own system,” he said.
“We are investigating it. But I do not think the fundamental course of the upward trajectory of India-US is impacted by this at all,” the external affairs minister said.
In November last year, US federal prosecutors charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun.
Pannun, wanted in India on terror charges, holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada. He has been designated as a terrorist by the Union Home Ministry under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Earlier this month, the Washington Post also claimed that an Indian officer, Vikram Yadav, hired a hit team to target Pannun, citing sources in its report.
However, drawing out the specific contours of the India-US relationship, Jaishankar said that both countries have strategic convergence on various issues of global politics.
“I think the India-US account is a very, very solid one,” he said, citing various areas of cooperation.
In his remarks, Jaishankar also cited driving the international economy, diversifying production, creating new supply chains, ensuring peace and stability and collaboration in the domain of high-technology as shining examples of India-US ties.
He added that there was a problem in the relationship in the past, but Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government took a major leap forward in deepening the ties.
“There was a kind of left-wing ideology in this country which said let us not do too much with the US. It goes back to the Nehruvian-Krishna Menon time period. I think it went all the way till 2014,” he said.
“Maybe Atal ji’s (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) government was an exception, but otherwise pretty much there were self-imposed constraints in our dealing with the US,” he added while speaking to news agency PTI.
Jaishankar further added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not share those views.
“PM Modi doesn’t share those and we have seen actually a much more robust, much more whole-hearted relationship with the US which is actually showing results on the ground,” he added.
Source Agencies
