NEW YORK – Canada and the US must get tougher on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for trying to silence dissidents on foreign soil, a controversial Sikh separatist who was the target of an alleged assassination plot said in an interview. led by India.

The US Department of Justice has filed charges against two Indian nationals in connection with an alleged plot to kill Mr. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American-Canadian citizen, in New York.

The two Indian defendants include a former government official who, according to the indictment, was working as an intelligence officer at the time and orchestrated the assassination plot.

Mr Pannun told Reuters in early October that the Modi government should not be allowed to carry out hostile activities in foreign countries and said India’s consulates in the US and Canada had a “spy network”, although he did not provide any proof.

The US and Canada “need to put their foot down so that regimes like Modi’s … are not allowed to come to America or Canada, challenge their sovereignty and get away with it. They need to put their foot down and close (the consulates) permanently,” he said.

Mr. Pannun did not elaborate on the alleged spy ring. Similar claims have been made by Sikh activists in America and Canada.

India’s foreign ministry did not respond to detailed questions from Reuters about Mr. Pannun’s allegations. India, where Mr. Pannun was born, has labeled him a terrorist since 2020.

Authorities in the US and Canada declined to comment on Mr Pannun’s allegations.

The US and Canada have alleged that Indian agents were involved in assassination plots in their countries in 2023 against militants for Khalistan, a Sikh homeland they want carved out of India’s Punjab state, where Sikh militancy in the 1980s and 1990s killed thousands of people.

India has denied involvement in either plot.

The allegations have damaged India’s ties with Canada and tested relations between Washington and New Delhi.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused the Indian government of involvement in the 2023 killing of Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, another Canadian Sikh separatist leader. In May, Canadian police arrested and charged four Indians with the murder. They have yet to be tried.

India said Canada had not provided any evidence to support its allegations and New Delhi and Ottawa each expelled six diplomats earlier in October in a widening diplomatic row.

However, India has said it is investigating the murder plot against Mr Pannun, and US officials have said they want a quick outcome.

Mr Pannun said Vikash Yadav, the former Indian official indicted by the US for the alleged attempt on his lifehe was just a “mid-level soldier” tasked with organizing the assassination by senior Indian officials. He offered no evidence or said how he reached his conclusion.

New Delhi said Yadav was no longer a government employee, without saying whether he had been an intelligence officer and without elaborating on when he left. Yadav’s whereabouts are unknown, but his family told Reuters in early October that he had been in contact and denied the allegations in the US indictment.

Indian security officials have said they fear a surge in support for Khalistan abroad could lead to a resurgence of militancy that had previously crippled Punjab state, the birthplace of Sikh nationalism, where the movement for a separate homeland now has little support.

Mr. Pannun, who has organized independent referendums in the US, Canada and Europe on the creation of Khalistan, said in the interview that his movement advocates a peaceful solution to the issue and will continue despite threats to his life. Reuters