The first Modi-Trump bilateral meeting after the new US President took office concluded with a number of key issues discussed and resolved between the two nations. The joint statement released by the two nations following the bilateral meeting emphasises on the need to address the cooperation between the two countries in the area of law enforcement.
“The leaders also committed to strengthen law enforcement cooperation to take decisive action against illegal immigration networks, organized crime syndicates, including narco-terrorists human and arms traffickers, as well as other elements who threaten public and diplomatic safety and security, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of both nations“, the joint statement read.
Ecosystem of human trafficking has to be ended: PM Modi
PM Modi has stated that the ecosystem of human trafficking that is the main player behind the illegal immigration of Indians into the USA must be dealt with.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India is willing to take back its nationals if they live illegally in the United States and laid emphasis on the need to finish the “ecosystem” of human trafficking.
PM Modi also expressed confidence that President Donald Trump will fully cooperate with India in finishing this ecosystem.
“Those who stay in other countries illegally do not have any legal right to be there. As far as India and the US are concerned, we have always said that those who are verified and are truly the citizens of India – if they live in the US illegally, India is ready to take them back,” PM Modi said, answering a query at the joint press conference with President Trump after their bilateral talks.
He said most of the people staying illegally are from ordinary families and are misguided by human traffickers.
“But it doesn’t stop just there for us. These are people from ordinary families. They are shown big dreams and most of them are such who are misled and brought here. So, we should attack this entire system of human trafficking. Together, it should be the effort of the US and India to destroy such an ecosystem from its roots so that human trafficking ends…Our bigger fight is against that entire ecosystem, and we are confident that President Trump will fully cooperate with India in finishing this ecosystem,” he added.
Joint statement mentions ‘elements that threaten diplomatic safety and territorial integrity, a hint at Khalistanis in USA
The joint statement mentions not only organised crime networks, human trafficking and narco-terrorists but ‘elements that threaten public and diplomatic safety’, an indirect mention of Khalistanis in the USA who have bene threatening Indian diplomats. The additional mention of elements that threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity is a further emphasis on the Khalistani elements, without using the Khalistani word.
For years, Khalistanis in Canada and the USA have been threatening Indian diplomats and citizens, and openly campaigning for the territorial division of India to carve out the alleged ‘Khalistan’. Multiple so-called referendums have been held in these two countries, with their leaders using the free speech rights granted by the governments of USA and Canada to openly declare death threats against Indian leaders and diplomats, even civilians. Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Pannun, who lives in the USA and frequently travels to Canada to meet other Khalistani leaders, have been issuing terrorist threats to India from US soil, an issue that has been raised multiple times by the Indian government.
‘Inappropriate things were done under Biden administration’: Donald Trump
During the press conference, US President Trump was asked the Khalistan question. He was asked if the USA is going to extradite Khalistani terrorists the same way they agreed to extradite Tahawwur Rana, and whether he is going to relook into the Khalistan issue raised by India and reconsider the allegations brought by the Biden administration against Indian agencies.
#WATCH | Washington, DC: On elements in the US working against India, including Khalistani separatists, President Donald Trump says, "I don't think India had a good relationship with the Biden administration…A lot of things happened that weren't very appropriate between India… pic.twitter.com/ASKUt15iv4
— ANI (@ANI) February 13, 2025
The journalist here was referring to the allegations against Indian nationals and indirectly against Indian government of plotting the murder of Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Pannun.
In November 2023, the US Justice Department unsealed an indictment against an Indian national for his alleged involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate a US-based leader of the Sikh Separatist Movement and a citizen in New York (Gurpatwant Pannun). US Justice Department officials announced charges against Nikhil Gupta after he was arrested in June 2023 in the Czech Republic. They said Gupta would face extradition to New York.
The Justice Department claimed that an Indian government employee (named CC-1), who was not identified in the indictment filed in a federal court in Manhattan, recruited an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta to hire a hitman to carry out the assassination, which was foiled by US authorities, according to prosecutors.
In June 2024, Gupta was extradited to USA from the Czech Republic.
The allegations by USA had followed similar allegations by Justin Trudeau’s government in Canada that Indian agencies have been involved in the murder of another Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, despite reports that the murder may have been the result of a gang war between Sikh crime gangs in Canada. The Canadian government could not provide any details or evidence to back their allegations and Trudeau was left red-faced, and with the burden of creating a deep discord between India-Canada relations.
Gurpatwant Pannun is an absconding terrorist wanted by Indian law enforcement under serious UAPA charges for multiple crimes. Nijjar was also a wanted criminal who had escaped to Canada under questionable circumstances and had managed to find citizenship despite his criminal record in India.
In this light, Trump’s statement that the Biden administration did ‘inappropriate things’ is important because it is an indirect admission that the whole affair was shady. The new Trump administration has come to power with a strong campaign to stop wasteful government expenditure and needless conflicts globally. DOGE is already working to stop money flow into questionable secret operations run by the US agencies for decades that have fuelled conflict around the world. The new DNI Tulsi Gabbard has also been vocal about stopping the US deep state that works to stir conflict and runs secret operations to destabilise countries and carries out ‘endless wars’.
There is reasonable ground to hope that the US government under Trump may realise hosting wanted Indian terrorists on their soil and allowing them to issue threats to India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and call for violence against Indian diplomats is not going to do any good to their promise of a peaceful, prosperous USA. in Canada, separatist Khalistani elements are already politically powerful enough to control the political and even diplomatic narrative. Allowing these elements to grow on US soil is against everything Trump has promised to his people.
With Trump indirectly admitting inappropriate things done by the Biden administration and promising to ‘make it good’ for India, there is room to hope that the US government support for Khalistani terrorists may soon come to an end.
