An Indian national, along with an alleged Indian government staffer, faces charges for conspiring to kill Pannun in June 2023…reports Asian Lite News
US President Joe Biden is unlikely to attend India’s Republic Day celebrations as the Chief Guest next month, according to media reports.
New Delhi is also considering alternative dates for the QUAD Summit scheduled for January 2024, Hindustan Times reported, citing sources. With just over a month left for the Republic Day event, India faces the challenge of finding a replacement guest.
Biden’s visit was anticipated to be a significant event, following recent visits by top US officials like Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin for the ‘2+2’ ministerial dialogue. Additionally, US Principal Deputy NSA Jonathan Finer visited India last week, and FBI Director Christopher Wray is currently on a three-day visit to New Delhi.
The timing of Biden’s potential visit is noteworthy, coming shortly after the revelation that US law enforcement thwarted a conspiracy to assassinate Sikhs for Justice founder Pannun on US soil. An Indian national, along with an alleged Indian government staffer, faces charges for conspiring to kill Pannun in June 2023.
In May of this year, Prime Minister Modi had announced India’s hosting of the Quad leaders summit in 2024, initially expected to occur around January 27 if President Biden accepted the invitation. However, current sources indicate that the summit is likely to be rescheduled for the second half of 2024.
The Quad grouping traces its genesis to 2004 when the four countries – India, US, Australia and Japan – came together to coordinate relief operations in the aftermath of the tsunami.
In 2007, the group again met on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) sidelines. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was the first to pitch the idea for the formation of Quad in 2007.
The Quad summit, which was hosted by Sydney this year in May, was cancelled after US President Biden withdrew from his visit due to ongoing debt limit talks in Washington.
However, the leaders of the alliance, later agreed that they would hold their summit in Hiroshima, alongside G7 to ensure that the four leaders could come together to mark the Quad’s progress over the past year.
Biden scrapped his planned trip to Sydney as well as a historic visit to Papua New Guinea.
The decision — which prompted Albanese to cancel the scheduled Quad summit — was seen as a self-inflicted blow to hopes of a more visible US presence in the Indo-Pacific amid its competition with China in the region.
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