US was asked why it has not considered sanctions against India; here’s what it said

The US was asked about its relations with India and why it has not considered sanctions against the latter over reports of killings in Canada and Pakistan. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US would not like to get in the middle of India’s issues with Pakistan, and also that they don’t discuss sanctions openly.

Miller was asked why the US has not considered sanctions against India over the matter of the murder plot of Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York, the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and the reported killings in Pakistan. “I am never going to preview any sanctions actions, which is not to say that there are any coming. But when you ask me to talk about sanctions, it's something that we don't discuss openly,” said Miller at a news conference on Tuesday.

When the spokesperson was asked about the statements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on crossing borders to kill terrorists in Pakistan, Miller encouraged India and Pakistan to resolve the matter through dialogues.  When asked if Modi and Singh’s comments can be seen as “confessions” on the alleged “assassination of Nijjar in Canada, Pannun's murder-for-hire plot in New York, and killings in Pakistan”, Miller said, “So as I have said before, the United States is not going to get in the – into the middle of this, but we do encourage both India and Pakistan to avoid escalation and find a resolution through dialogue.”

Singh, earlier this month, responding to a report by British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ that claimed that Indian intelligence agencies carried out 20 targeted killings of terrorists in Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 that killed 40 Indian soldiers, said if terrorists try to disturb the peace in India or carry out terror activities, a befitting response will be given. 

"If any terrorist tries to disturb the country's peace, we will give a befitting reply. If they run back to Pakistan, toh Pakistan mein ghus ke maarenge (we will enter Pakistan and kill them),"  Singh had said, highlighting that India has never attacked its neighbours and will not do so, unless provoked.