White House Meets Pro-Khalistan Sikh Activists Hours Before PM Modi's US Visit

Washington: White House has met a group of pro-Khalistan Sikh activists hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s arrival in the United States to attend the Quad Summit, hosted by President Joe Biden , in his home town Delaware in Wilmington. PM Modi is visiting US for three days during which he will attend Quad, hold bilateral with Biden, address a major diaspora event and roundtable with CEOs.

According to reports, White House has assured pro-Khalistan Sikh activists saying it is committed to ‘’protecting American Citizens” till the time they are within the US borders.

Held inside the White House complex on Thursday, the meeting was attended by Pritpal Singh of the American Sikh Caucus Committee and representatives from the Sikh Coalition and Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF).

“Yesterday we had the chance to thank senior federal government officials for saving the lives of Sikh Americans and for vigilance in protecting our community. We asked them to do more, and we will hold them to their assurances that they will,” Pritpal Singh, founder of the American Sikh Caucus Committee.

On Friday, Singh, in a social media post, thanked the US officials for their vigilance in protecting Sikh Americans. "We will hold them to their assurances to do more to safeguard our community. Freedom and justice must prevail,” he said.

This is the first time that the National Security Council has held a meeting with these Sikh activists and Sikh separatists. No other details of the meeting were available. The meeting was initiated by the White House.

Congressman Adam Schiff early this week introduced the Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024 which would require the Attorney General, in coordination with other relevant federal agencies, to report cases of transnational repression against people in the US.

“Through this bill, Congress sends a strong message to both allies and adversaries that violating the constitutional rights of Americans will not be tolerated,” SALDEF said.

With inputs from PTI