Action cannot be taken against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun due to freedom of speech : US

Eric Garcetti (Credits : LA Times)

Washington DC (USA) – Eric Garcetti, US’ Ambassador to India, shared his views in response to a question on Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun during an interview with ANI. He said, “The USA protects free speech for better and for worse, and a citizen of the USA can be convicted or deported only according to the country’s law. Once you start arresting people for what they say, that can go really extreme”. (How does USA ignore the fact that the Khalistani terrorists are threatening to kill Indian leaders and thus provoking to attack India’s sovereignty ? – Editor)

Credits : ANI News

1. Garcetti added – “People say, why don’t you just arrest people (Pannun) for what they say ? We don’t have that system. I, as Ambassador, can’t change that rule. Even it hurts us sometimes. As a Jew, I had people who stood on a freeway overpass in my city condemning Jews. And they’re not arrested. If they threaten violence, they can be”.

2. “No one should cross the red line.” He said that no country and no Government employee of any country can be involved in an assassination attempt of a foreign citizen, and also informed that India and the US are jointly investigating the conspiracy to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Garcetti said, “I was very pleased that India put together this commission of enquiry, put senior people who are experienced in law enforcement on that, and that they have been digging in on this side domestically to uncover any evidence that would show a murder for hire plot that included anybody who was from the Indian Government. Everything that has been asked of the Indian Government has been done. And I would say vice versa”.

3. Regarding India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Garcetti said, “Sometimes even disagreement requires consent. We are going to keep a close eye on how CAA is implemented”. Noting that India has criticised the US policy about CAA in the past, Garcetti said, “Religious freedom is essential for a strong Democracy and sometimes thinking about it is different. Our country (the US) too has many flaws, and we tolerate criticism”.

Editorial Perspectives

• Under the pretext of freedom of speech, how Indian leaders can be threatened, the world will now have to learn from the US !
• This clearly shows that the US is trying to pressurise India through the Khalistanis.