NEW YORK: Close on the heels of the exposure of a “meticulously planned conspiracy” by an Indian national, aimed at assassinating an American Sikh leader residing in New York City on November 29, 2023, it has surfaced that the “plot to assassinate a Sikh leader” may not be a case in isolation.
There are indications of several other US citizens or residents with roots in India having received anonymous threats in the past.
One such instance was highlighted by Raqib Hameed Naik who posted on the social media platform ‘X’ (Formerly Twitter) alleging, “Plot to assassinate a Sikh leader in New York is just the tip of an iceberg”.
“Indian govt has been running a campaign of transitional (Transnational) repression against critics & journalists abroad”, Raqib Hameed Naik, a journalist and founder of Hindutva Watch website, posted on his ‘X’ (Formerly Twitter) handle on Wednesday.
He posted, “On June 26, 2022, I received this text “You are being tracked and will prosecuted (could be persecuted)” for being a dissenter from an unknown number. He also said, “FBI is already in loop”.
Plot to assassinate a Sikh leader in New York is just the tip of the iceberg. Indian govt has been running a campaign of transitional repression against critics & journalists abroad. On June 26, 2022,
I received this text from an unknown number
FBI is already in loop!
5,553 Views
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Naik shared this nearly five hours after the Justice Department of the United States of America identified the accused Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national, and charged him with murder-for-hire in connection with the foiled plot to assassinate a US national on American soil.
Speaking to “Kashmir Times,” Raqib Hameed Naik said that he decided to post the threat sent to him from some unknown numbers on the ‘X’ after the Indian plot was revealed and US government issued an official statement in this connection. “The threats,” he said, “came from several different unknown and untraceable numbers.”
“I don’t know if others receiving similar threats will come forward or not”, he said and added, “Soon after the threats, I had informed Committee to Protect Journalists and other civil liberties groups.”
Raqib Naik did not elaborate on how the US FBI or any other intelligence or law enforcement is involved in the investigation related to threats sent to him through his phone.
Similar threats to activists, journalists
Other activists and the journalists from J&K or India, who have received similar threats have not volunteered to be identified so far. They have been similar threats or their families back home in India. But their families have been harassed or threatened with persecution after they left their home country.
Another Indian activist, based in USA, shared on conditions of anonymity with the Kashmir Times, that he had received threats multiple times. He did not elaborate on the nature of threats.
Raqib Naik is a journalist from Jammu and Kashmir, north Indian state, where Indian government has cracked down on journalists and media organisations through intimidating actions that include police summons, framing criminal cases, Income Tax and ED raids, as well as detentions.
Several Kashmiri journalists have been arrested since the reading down of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court recently granted bail to two journalists – Fahad Shah and Sajjad Gul.
Only Fahad Shah has been released from a Jammu jail on November 23, 2023, so far. There is no confirmed report whether Sajjad Gul has been released or not.
Indian govt suspends passports of journalists, academics, students
In August 2023, the Indian government suspended the passports of several Kashmiris, including journalists, academics and students. The list included those living, studying or working abroad.
The exact number of Kashmiris whose passports were revoked is not known but they received emails from the regional passport office in Srinagar, notifying them that their passports had been suspended under the Section 10(3) of The Passports Act, 1967, with the claim that the affected parties were a threat to Indian security. Those notified through emails were told to hand over their documents or face unspecified consequences.
None of the journalists who spoke about their passports being suspended, however, had any cases against them.
At least two of the Kashmiris whose passports are suspended are living outside India.
The Middle East Eye, in its report about the suspension of passports, quoted one Kashmiri student living outside India, who received an email notifying him that his passport had been revoked, said that his situation was now impossible to resolve.
“It means an end to my studies and arrest and torture if I return back this time,” the student, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said.
A lawyer speaking with the Kashmir Times said, “This is like rendering a person stateless. It is unclear what their status would be once their travel documents expired.”
Crackdown on journalists in Jammu & Kashmir
Many journalists working for different newspapers, news agencies or international news organisations were put on “no-flying” list without informing them. Pulitzer Prize winner and photo-journalist, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, last year was stopped twice from flying out for her award ceremony and prevented from displaying her work that had been selected for an international exhibition in Paris.
Most of the journalists have not been allowed to fly out of India since the reading down and abrogation of Article 370, that took away the autonomous and special status of Jammu and Kashmir and its downgrading from a state to bifurcation into two Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir after August 5, 2019.
Indian national charged with ‘murder-for-hire’
Earlier, on Wednesday morning, US government identified the accused as an Indian national Nikhil Gupta, and charged him with murder-for-hire in connection with a meticulously planned conspiracy aimed at assassinating an American Sikh leader residing in New York City. A chargesheet has been filed against him in a court in New York City.
More shockingly, Gupta was allegedly acting under the orders of an Indian government employee, referred to as CC-1, suggesting that the assassination plan was orchestrated from within India itself.
While the identity of the intended victim has not been disclosed in court documents, it is known that the target was a US citizen of Indian origin, who has been a vocal critic of the Indian government, advocating for a separate Sikh state.
The Indian government has, in response, banned both the individual and their separatist organization, Sikhs For Justice, from India.
Shockwaves among Indian diaspora
The news of this thwarted assassination attempt has sent shockwaves not only through the Sikh community but also across diplomatic circles, with the White House raising the matter with the Indian government at the highest levels.
The Indian government has expressed “surprise and concern” in response to these serious allegations.
Reacting sharply to developments on this issue, American Human Rights writer and an important activist from Indian diaspora in US, Karthik Ramanathan said, “That was for the murder in Canada I believe… looks like Indian spy agencies are trying the same in other places like New York too.”
A technology professional, Karthik expressed his surprise and said, “Under the BJP (BJP-government), India’s spy agencies are truly and openly becoming a criminal enterprise just like their masters in New Delhi. A terrible turn for a country that historically has won praise for its diplomatic and UN peacekeeping missions.”
He observed, “The bigger fear for me is that if this becomes a pattern, it could give a bad reputation to the Indian diaspora and equate us all to the actions of our mother state. Similar to the stigmatization of Chinese Americans for alleged actions of Chinese agencies in the West. Except in the case of China, it’s mostly allegations. Here it is true (In Indian case).”
Karthik said, “I mean, have you ever heard of China trying to murder a US citizen on US soil? India does.”
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