NEW DELHI: Visiting director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the US was concerned about the persecution of minorities in Bangladesh and the Trump admin was committed to defeating “Islamist terrorism” globally. She told NDTV World that PM Modi also took this threat seriously and added that the two leaders would work together to identify and defeat the threat.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh, in his meeting with Gabbard, asked US to designate SFJ, which is banned in India for promoting pro-Khalistan activities, a foreign terrorist organisation.
Brand Sikhs For Justice a terrorist outfit, Rajnath tells US intel chief
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Monday asked the Trump administration to take strong action against Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), which is banned in India for promoting secessionist and pro-Khalistani activities, during his meeting with visiting US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Singh told Gabbard that the US should designate SFJ, which was “linked” to Pakistan and other terrorist/secessionist outfits and undertakes anti-India activities on American soil, a foreign terrorist organisation under its own domestic laws, sources said.
“SFJ, run in the US by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who himself is a designated terrorist here, regularly threatens Indian political leaders and diplomats, advocates secessionism and violence for the creation of Khalistan, and even tries to incite Sikhs in the Indian Army and police forces to mutiny,” a source said.
Banned for the first time in India in 2019, SFJ was again declared an “unlawful association” in July under the UAPA by the home ministry for another five years.
In media interviews later, Gabbard said the US was deeply concerned about the persecution of minorities in Bangladesh and the Trump administration was committed to defeat “Islamist terrorism” globally. She noted that PM Modi also took this threat seriously and added that the two leaders would work together to identify and defeat the threat.
“The long-time unfortunate persecution, killing and abuse of religious minorities like Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and others has been a major area of concern for the US govt and President Trump and his administration,” Gabbard told NDTV World.
She spoke about the ideology of an “Islamic Caliphate” and how extremist elements and terror groups globally aimed for such an outcome. “The threat of Islamist terrorists and the global effort of different terror groups are routed in the same ideology and objective – which is to rule or govern with an Islamist Caliphate,” she said, adding, “This obviously affects people of any other religion, other than the one that they find acceptable, and they choose to carry this out with terror and very violent ways and means.”
Her remarks mark a strong indictment of Mohammad Yunus-led interim dispensation in Dhaka which had enjoyed support from the Biden administration. In her meeting with Singh, Gabbard reaffirmed the growing strength of the India-US bilateral defence partnership, drawing from the joint statement issued after the recent Modi-Trump meeting in DC, while laying emphasis on intelligence-sharing.
The two stressed that strategic security remained a vital pillar of the comprehensive global strategic cooperation between India and the US. “They reviewed significant strides made in areas of military exercises, strategic cooperation, integration of defence industrial supply chains and information-sharing cooperation, especially in the maritime domain, between the two countries,” an MoD official added.
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