Nearly hours after meeting with newly appointed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar said that “India expects accountability” for the attack on the Indian consulate in San Francisco in 2023 a “very serious matter” and those responsible to be held accountable.
He was in the US to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th President.
Responding to a question at a Washington D.C. press conference on Wednesday, EAM Jaishankar said, "The arson attack on our consulate in San Francisco is a very, very serious matter, and it is something for which we expect accountability. We would like to see that people who did it are held responsible."
In March 2023, a group of assailants attacked the Consulate General of India in San Francisco. The intruders had committed criminal trespass, damaged public property, and attacked officials of the Consulate.
On the same day, some attackers had also attempted to set the Consulate building on fire using some inflammable substances.
Protesters were seen bursting through the haphazardly erected security barricades while shouting pro-Khalistan slogans and even hanging two Khalistani flags inside the Consulate premises.
Three months on, again in July, militant Khalistani protesters attacked and tried to set fire to the Indian consulate in San Francisco.
Although it did not damage anything inside the premises of the diplomatic building, it was for the second time that Khalistanis targeted the SF consulate.
The attack reached the highest rung of American national security and the diplomatic apparatus in Washington D.C. at that time, which told agencies to investigate immediately and heighten security.
India had made it clear that it wanted to see action in the matter, and not just sympathy. It wanted arrests of those involved in these incidents and preemptive measures by the US authorities to stop any such attacks in the future.
The local San Francisco police department, special diplomatic security personnel, and state and federal authorities were intimated and they launched a probe into the July incident thereafter.
The US denounced the incident while labeling it as a "criminal offense".
Immediately after the ceremony for the inducting ceremony of Donald Trump into the presidency, EAM Jaishankar, the foreign secretary, had met US senator and prominent presidential nominee contender Marco Rubio.
During that time, reportedly, both of the leaders managed to discuss on the topic Bangladesh in a succinct manner. Though EAM declined elaborating much more about this by stating: "I don't think it is proper".
EAM Jaishankar had also attended the first Quad ministerial meeting of the new Donald Trump administration on Tuesday and held the first bilateral meeting with Rubio shortly after.
The EAM also brought up India's concerns over prolonged visa delays with Rubio, stating that these delays impact business, tourism, and the overall relationship.
He mentioned that it wasn't "well-served" if the system took so many days for someone to obtain a visa.
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