Foreign News
US charges Indian national in Sikh separatist murder plot
The United States has charged a former Indian intelligence officer for allegedly directing a foiled plot to assassinate an American citizen who advocates for Khalistan – an independent Sikh state carved out of India.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said on Thursday that it had registered “murder-for-hire and money laundering charges” against Vikash Yadav for trying to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The indictment of Yadav, for the first time, implicates the Indian government directly in the attempted assassination of a dissident.
The Indian government has said that it was co-operating with the US’ ongoing investigation. It has not responded to the specific charges against Yadav yet.
Earlier this year, Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national also charged in the case, was extradited to the US from a prison in Prague.
Washington has accused Indian agents of involvement in an assassination attempt on Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen. India has labeled Pannun a terrorist, though he denies the allegation, claiming to be an activist advocating for Khalistan.
On Thursday, India’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated that the individual referred to as “CC-1” in the US Justice Department’s indictment is no longer employed by the Indian government. However, he did not provide a specific name, leaving it unclear whether he was referring to Yadav, who is widely speculated to be the same person.
According to the indictment, Yadav was the mastermind behind the plot to murder Pannun and he recruited Gupta in May 2023 to orchestrate the assassination in exchange for getting a case against him in India dismissed.
“In or about June 2023, in furtherance of the assassination plot, Yadav provided Gupta with personal information about the victim, including the victim’s home address in New York City, phone numbers associated with the victim, and details about the victim’s day-to-day conduct,” the indictment states.
Yadav’s indictment comes days after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alledged that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, setting off a new row that led to both countries expelling diplomats.
India has rejected the allegations as “preposterous”, accusing Trudeau of pandering to Canada’s large Sikh community for political gain.
The indictment describes Yadav as a “citizen and resident of India”. He has also been referred to as Vikas and Amanat.
It states that he was part of the Government of India’s cabinet secretariat, under which the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) – the country’s top intelligence agency – operates. RAW falls under the authority of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The indictment further states that Yadav had described his position as “Senior Field Officer” with responsibilities in “security management” and “intelligence”.
It adds that he has also served in India’s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and had received training in “battle craft and weapons”.
The US State Department has said that it was satisfied with India’s co-operation in the investigation of the alleged murder plot.
Meanwhile, India’s relationship with Canada continues to deteriorate with both Delhi and Ottawa firing a salvo of accusations against each other.
Mr Jaiswal said on Thursday that India had repeatedly asked Canada to extradite individuals believed to be part of jailed Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s group but had received no response.
The Canadian police have alleged that agents of the Indian government were using members of Bishnoi’s gang to carry out “homicides, extortion and violent acts” and target supporters of the pro-Khalistan movement. India has denied the allegation saying that Canada has not provided any evidence regarding them.
India’s accusations came in response to Mr Trudeau’s claims that India had made a “massive mistake” if it was behind the death of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil.
[BBC]
United States President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to demand control of the Panama Canal after accusing Panama of charging excessive rates on US ships passing through one of the busiest waterways in the world.
“Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.
He later doubled down during a speech in Arizona on Sunday, saying the US was “being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we’re being ripped off everywhere else”.
The US largely built the canal in 1914 and administrated territory surrounding the passage for decades. But Washington fully handed control of the canal to Panama in 1999 after a period of joint administration.
Trump also hinted at China’s growing influence around the canal, which connects the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.
“It was solely for Panama to manage, not China, or anyone else,” he said in the original post. “We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!”
“It was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama. If the moral and legal principles of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” Trump said.
Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino firmly responded to Trump on Sunday.
“Every square meter of the Panama canal and the surrounding area belongs to Panama and will continue belonging so,” Mulino said in a recorded message posted on social media.
He further denied that China or any other country has direct or indirect influence over the canal. He added that fees were not decided on a “whim”.
The canal is key to Panama’s economy and generates about one-fifth of the government’s annual revenue.
[Aljazeera]
At least 13 people, including four children, have been killed in two incidents in Nigeria as large crowds gathered to collect food and clothing distributed at annual Christmas events, police say.
In the capital, Abuja, at least 10 people died on Saturday and many more were injured in a scramble to receive gifts of charity being distributed by the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Maitama district.
“This unfortunate event, which took place around 6:30am [05:30 GMT], resulted in a stampede that claimed the lives of 10 individuals, including four children, and left eight others with varying degrees of injuries,” said Josephine Adeh, a police spokesperson.
In a separate incident in Okija in Anambra State in southern Nigeria, three people were killed in a crush at a charity event organised by a philanthropist, state police said.
“The event had not even started when the rush began,” police spokesman Tochukwu Ikenga said. There could be more deaths recorded as officers investigate, he said.
In both incidents, the victims were mostly women and children who were trampled as crowds tried to reach the provisions being offered.
[Aljazeera]
A nine-year-old child and four adults have been killed, and more than 200 injured after a car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, officials say.
At least 41 people were critically injured after the incident which lasted around three minutes, police said.
The arrested suspect has been named in local media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi citizen who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had worked as a doctor.
Reiner Haseloff, the premier of Saxony-Anhalt state, said a preliminary investigation suggested the alleged attacker was acting alone.
He added that he could not rule out more deaths due to the number of injured.
The suspect is currently being questioned and prosecutors expect to charge him with murder and attempted murder in due course, the head of the local prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.
Prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens added that the investigation was ongoing but suggested the background to the crime “could have been disgruntlement with the way Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany”.
The suspected attacker has no known links to Islamist extremism – social media and posts online appear to suggest he had been critical of Islam.
Footage from the scene showed numerous emergency services vehicles attending while people lay on the ground.
Further footage then emerged of armed police confronting and arresting a man who can be seen lying on the ground by a stationary vehicle.
Unverified video on social media purports to show a car ploughing into the crowd at the market.
City officials said around 100 police, medics and firefighters, as well as 50 rescue service personnel rushed to the scene.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who travelled to the city on Saturday, described the attack as a “dreadful tragedy” as “so many people were injured and killed with such brutality” in a place that is supposed to be “joyful”.
He told reporters that there were serious concerns for those who had been critically injured – which German media reports is in the dozens – and that “all resources” will be allocated to investigating the suspect behind the attack.
There would be a memorial service for the victims at the Magdeburg Cathedral later on Saturday, he added.
[BBC]
Christmas Carolat Presidential Secretariat until December 25
Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in Uva province and in Hambantota, Rathnapura and Ampara districts during the evening or night
Office of CDS likely to be scrapped; top defence changes on the cards
-
Features6 days agoThe Degree Circus
-
Sports4 days agoSri Lanka to mend fences with veterans
-
Sports2 days agoPathirana set to sling his way into Kiwi hearts
-
Opinion6 days agoHas ‘Compass’ lost direction?
-
Business6 days agoHNB General Insurance secures top honors at SLIM National Sales Awards 2024
-
Editorial6 days agoCredential inflation and semantic drift
-
Editorial5 days ago
Hobson’s choice and U-turns
-
Opinion4 days agoIs AKD following LKY?