A day after India announced forming a a high-level inquiry committee into the alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the White House has said that it was glad to see Indian announcing their own efforts to investigate this.
John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters at a news conference on Thursday that the indictment charging an Indian national for the alleged attempt to murder Pannun will not impact the India-US relationship.
"The US unearthed this plot after the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US," Kirby said.
"These allegations in this investigation, (we) take it very seriously. And we're glad to see that the Indians are too by announcing their own efforts to investigate this. And we've been clear that we want to see anybody that's responsible for these alleged crimes to be held properly accountable," Kirby said.
"I want to be careful here that I don't get ahead of the Department of Justice and talk about an ongoing investigation. I would just say two things. India remains a strategic partner and we're going to continue to work to improve and strengthen that strategic partnership with India. At the same time, we take this very seriously," Kirby said in response to a question.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken too welcomed India setting up a probe into the alleged plot.
"The government announced today that it was conducting an investigation, and that's good and appropriate, and we look forward to seeing the results, Blinken told reporters travelling with him in Tel Aviv, Israel.
He added that the US have raised the matter with India. "This is an ongoing legal matter. So you'll understand I can't comment on it in detail. I can say that this is something we take very seriously. A number of us have raised this directly with the Indian Government in past weeks," Blinken said.