White House officials meet Sikh activists before PM Modi's US visit
Washington (PTI): White House officials have met a group of Sikh activists to assure them that the US government is committed to protecting Americans from any acts of transnational aggression on its soil, a community leader has said.
The meeting comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three-day visit to the US during which he will attend the Quad summit in Delaware and address the 'Summit of the Future' at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Held inside the White House complex on Thursday, the meeting was attended by Pritpal Singh of the American Sikh Caucus Committee and representatives from the Sikh Coalition and Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF).
“Yesterday we had the chance to thank senior federal government officials for saving the lives of Sikh Americans and for vigilance in protecting our community. We asked them to do more, and we will hold them to their assurances that they will,” Pritpal Singh, founder of the American Sikh Caucus Committee told PTI on Friday.
In a social media post on X on Friday, Singh thanked the US officials for their vigilance in protecting Sikh Americans. “
"We will hold them to their assurances to do more to safeguard our community. Freedom and justice must prevail,” he said.
This is the first time that the National Security Council has held a meeting with these Sikh activists and Sikh separatists. No other details of the meeting were available.
The meeting was initiated by the White House.
Congressman Adam Schiff early this week introduced the Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024 which would require the Attorney General, in coordination with other relevant federal agencies, to report cases of transnational repression against people in the US.
“Through this bill, Congress sends a strong message to both allies and adversaries that violating the constitutional rights of Americans will not be tolerated,” SALDEF said.
Earlier this week, Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun filed a civil lawsuit against the Government of India and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval after which the US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued summons in the case.
The lawsuit has been filed against the Government of India and Doval and Nikhil Gupta, who has been charged by federal prosecutors in an indictment unsealed in November last year with working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun.
Pannun holds dual US and Canadian citizenship, on American soil.
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Main accused in Delhi Police constable murder shot dead in Sangam Vihar
New Delhi (PTI): A day after the fatal stabbing of a Delhi Police constable, the main accused in the case was shot dead in an encounter with the personnel of the force in south Delhi's Sangam Vihar area, officials said on Sunday.
Constable Kiran Pal was stabbed to death by three people on Saturday while on night patrolling duty in southeast Delhi's Govindpuri area. Two accused -- Deepak Max and Krish Gupta -- were arrested later in that day.
The third accused, Raghav -- who stabbed Pal with a knife -- was hiding in Sangam Vihar, a senior police officer of Special Cell said.
Acting on specific information, teams of NDR of Special Cell and Narcotics Cell of South East District, went to the area connecting Sangam Vihar and Surajkund Road late on Saturday night, the officer said.
The accused was identified and asked to surrender. He, however, opened fire at the police personnel who retaliated in self-defence and injured the accused.
"He was immediately taken to the ESIC Hospital, Okhla, where he died," the officer said.
A pistol with two cartridges have been seized, the police officer said, adding no police official was injured in the encounter.
Constable Kiran Pal, posted at Govindpuri Police Station, was on night patrolling duty when he stopped three people riding a scooty in the early hours of Saturday.
The accused threw stones at the constable to evade arrest but he managed to waylay them by putting his bike in front of their vehicle, the officer said.
The constable also took away the keys of the scooty and started questioning the trio during which the accused stabbed him, the officer added.
