Trump worried over persecution of minorities in Bangladesh, says Gabbard; India wants action against Khalistanis in the US

President President Donald Trump’s administration is committed to defeating the menace of global terrorism spread by Islamists, United States Director General of Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on Monday, even as New Delhi conveyed to her its expectation that Washington, DC, would also crack down on Khalistani Sikh extremists in America.

Gabbard, the first top official of the Trump administration to visit New Delhi, said that the rise of extremism and the persecution of religious minority communities—such as Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians—in Bangladesh was an area of concern for the US government in its engagements with Muhammad Yunus’s interim government in Dhaka.

She called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi shortly after a meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who conveyed to her New Delhi’s expectation that the Trump administration would declare Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) a terrorist entity and act against its extremist leaders, including Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in view of the organization’s campaign in the United States and other Western countries for the secession of Khalistan from India.

The US intelligence chief had earlier received the same request from the prime minister’s National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, during a meeting on Sunday.

In October 2024, the US indicted Vikas Yadav, a former officer of India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), for directing a foiled plot to murder Pannun in New York in June 2023. US prosecutors had earlier, in November 2023, accused Indian businessman Nikhil Gupta—who had been arrested in the Czech Republic months earlier—of trying to hire a hitman to kill Pannun in New York at Yadav’s behest. The move by then-President Joe Biden’s administration in Washington, DC, became an irritant in India-US relations. It also came amid Canada’s allegations of Indian officials' involvement in the killing of Khalistani Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the North American country.

Officials from both governments refrained from commenting on the US intelligence chief’s response to the requests from India’s top brass for action against Khalistani Sikh extremists. However, she took note of India’s concerns over its eastern neighbor, Bangladesh, being overtaken by radical Islamists in the past few months following the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government in August 2024.

“The long-standing, unfortunate persecution, killing, and abuse of religious minorities like Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians have been a major area of concern for the US government, as well as for President Trump and his administration,” Gabbard told NDTV. “The talks are just beginning between President Trump’s new cabinet and the government of Bangladesh, but this continues to remain a central focus area of concern.”

New Delhi’s relations with the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus in Dhaka have come under stress, as India has repeatedly aired concerns over the persecution of religious minorities in Bangladesh in recent months.

“The threat of Islamist terrorists and the global efforts of different terror groups are rooted in the same ideology and objective—to rule or govern with an Islamist Caliphate,” Gabbard said in her interview with NDTV. “President Trump remains committed to identifying the ideology that drives Islamist terrorism and working to defeat it.”

Gabbard, who was raised as a Hindu, gifted Modi a set of rudraksha beads. In return, the prime minister gifted her holy water collected from the Triveni Sangam during the recent Maha Kumbh.