Jaishankar’s comment on US envoy’s “red line” remarks on Khalistan terror cases

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New Delhi:

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday claimed that India’s national security interests are involved in the investigation into the alleged involvement of a government official in an assassination plot against Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu.

“This is something we are investigating because we believe our own national security interests are involved in this investigation,” he said in response to a question about US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti’s statement about the involvement of a government official in the assassination. Tell reporters when you have questions. Being a citizen of another country is an “unacceptable red line”.

Jaishankar said the US ambassador will say what he thinks the government thinks or stands.

“It is our government’s position that in this particular case we are investigating certain information,” he said, adding that it involved India’s own security interests.

“So when we have something to say about the investigation, we will be happy to talk about it. At this point, we have nothing more to say other than the fact that there is an investigation underway,” the external affairs minister said.

Asked about the involvement of Indians in the Ukraine conflict after being brought to Russia on job commitments, he said India had raised the matter “very, very strongly” with the Russian government.

“We are working hard to bring all these people back to India safely,” he said.

Last month, MEA spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said several Indians were “deceived” to cooperate with Russian troops and New Delhi had strongly raised the matter with Moscow, demanding their early release. He appealed to Indian nationals not to be “swayed” by the operatives’ offer of support for the Russian Army, saying it was fraught with danger and risk to lives.

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