A controversial Sikh separatist who was the target of an Indian-led murder plot said in an interview that Canada and the United States should act tougher on the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as it seeks to silence dissenters on foreign soil.

The US Department of Justice has announced indictments against two Indian citizens in connection with an alleged conspiracy to kill US-Canadian dual citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York. Among the two Indian defendants was a former government official who, according to the indictment, was working as an intelligence officer at the time and was said to have organized the assassination plot.

Pannun told Reuters earlier this month that the Modi government should not be allowed to conduct hostile activities in foreign countries and said India’s consulates in the United States and Canada were operating a “spy network”, although he did not provide any evidence.

He said the US and Canada “need to put their foot down so that regimes like Modi are not allowed to come to America or Canada, challenge their sovereignty and get away with it. They need to put their foot down and close (consulates) permanently,” he said.

Pannun did not provide detailed information about the alleged spy network. Similar claims were made by Sikh activists in America and Canada.

India’s foreign ministry did not respond to Reuters’ detailed questions about Pannun’s allegations. India, where Pannun was born, has labeled him a terrorist since 2020.

Officials in the United States and Canada declined to comment on Pannun’s allegations.

The US and Canada alleged last year that Indian agents were involved in assassination plots against those in their country campaigning for ‘Khalistan’, a Sikh homeland they want to be carved out of India’s Punjab state, where Sikh militants killed thousands of people in the 1980s and 1990s.

India has denied involvement in any conspiracy.

The allegations have damaged India’s ties with Canada and tested relations between Washington and New Delhi.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused the Indian government of involvement in the 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, another Sikh separatist leader in Canada. In May, Canadian police arrested and charged four Indian men in connection with the murder. They have yet to be tried.

India has said Canada has not provided any evidence to support its claims, and New Delhi and Ottawa expelled six diplomats earlier this month amid a growing diplomatic row.

But India said it was investigating the murder plot against Pannun and US officials wanted a quick outcome.

Pannun said Vikash Yadav, the former Indian official accused by the US of his alleged assassination, was merely a “mid-level soldier” who was given the task of organizing the assassination by senior Indian officials. He did not provide any evidence and did not say how he came to this conclusion.

New Delhi said Yadav was no longer a government employee, did not say whether he was an intelligence officer and did not detail when he left. Yadav’s whereabouts are unknown, but his family told Reuters earlier this month that they had been in contact with Yadav and denied the allegations in the US indictment.

Indian security officials have said they fear growing support for Khalistan abroad could lead to a resurgence of militancy that previously paralyzed Punjab province, the birthplace of Sikh nationalism and where the movement for a separate homeland now enjoys little support.

Pannun, who organized independent referendums in the USA, Canada and Europe on the establishment of Khalistan, said in the interview that his movement advocates a peaceful solution to the issue and will continue despite threats against his life.