Khalistani separatist Pannun's threat to Indian ambassador 'serious' issue, taken up with US: MEA

New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday revealed that New Delhi has taken "seriously" the latest threat issued by the US-based Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun against India's Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra and raised it accordingly with the authorities in Washington.

In a recent video, Pannun threatened that Kwatra is on the radar of pro-Khalistani Sikhs in America for allegedly coordinating with Russian authorities, who in turn were providing inputs to Indian intelligence agencies on the Khalistani network in the United States.

"As and when such threats are issued, we take them very seriously and raise them with the US government. In this particular case also, we have raised it with the US government and it is our expectation that the United States government will take our security concerns seriously and act on it," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Friday.

A former Foreign Secretary, Kwatra took charge as India's Ambassador to the United States in August this year, succeeding Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

His appointment came at a time when Khalistani separatists continue to target Hindu community in the country and also the Indian missions.

Khalistanis have been found to be involved in incidents of defacement of temples, including in California and New York, and also in acts of arson and vandalism at the Indian embassy in San Francisco.

Several lawmakers, including Shri Thanedar - a Democrat elected to the House of Representatives from Michigan state - have raised alarm over the "substantial increase" in attacks on Hindus and their places of worship in the United States.

The lawmaker had recently expressed frustration with the investigating agency for their failure to find the culprits behind the incidents at the temples and the consulate.

"It appears to be a very coordinated effort to attack these places of worship which has created a lot of fear in the community. And often what we have seen is that the law enforcement, the local law enforcement enters into these investigations and rarely any suspects have been identified, and that investigation goes nowhere.

“What that does is that it leaves the community feeling like nobody cares about them. Nobody reports back to them on what's going on. And that means that the community continues to live in fear, the computing community continues to live in an adverse situation with essentially no help from law enforcement," he said.

The lawmaker went on to state that he and his colleagues are asking the US Department of Justice for "coordinated efforts between the local law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Department of Justice, and higher priority needs to be assigned to such hate crimes against this peaceful community".

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