New Delhi: Designated terrorist and founder of the banned Sikhs for Justice (SJF) outfit Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has threatened to “shake the very foundation of Parliament” on 13 December — the anniversary of the earlier 2001 terrorist attack on the Parliament.
In a 49-second video, seen by ThePrint, Pannun talks about a “plot to assassinate him in the US” allegedly involving an Indian government official, and adds that the Parliament attack would be his response to it.
This is, however, not the first threat Pannun has issued against India. From warning Sikhs against flying Air India on 19 November — the birth anniversary of former India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — to threatening to disrupt the one-day-international cricket (ODI) World Cup (which started in Gujarat in October) and attempting to instigate an attack on the G20 summit in Delhi in September — there have been numerous incidents of the separatist leader targeting the Indian administration.
In the latest video Pannun is seen standing next to a poster of Afzal Guru — executed in February 2013 following conviction in 2001 Parliament attack case.
“The Modi government has tried to kill me for organising the Khalistan referendum and I am going to respond. My response on 13 December will be in contrast to Afzal Guru’s 2001 resistance against extra-judicial killings of Kashmiris, but still my response is going to shake the very foundations of Indian Parliament,” he says.
He adds: “Modi and India, are you ready to face my response, which is to shake the very foundations of Indian Parliament? Delhi banega Khalistan [Delhi will become Khalistan]”.
Pannun, is a Sikh separatist and American and Canadian citizen, and the SFJ outfit founded by him has repeatedly called for a “referendum” for an independent Sikh state, Khalistan. India banned the SFJ in 2019, and Pannun was designated a terrorist in 2020.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered its first case against him in 2019, on the charges of promoting and commissioning acts and activities of terrorism, spreading fear and terror in Punjab and elsewhere in the country through threats and intimidation tactics.
An NIA court had issued non-bailable warrants against Pannun in February 2021 and he was declared a “Proclaimed Offender” on 29 November last year. Earlier this year, NIA confiscated properties of Pannun in Amritsar and Chandigarh.
Last week, prosecutors in a district court in New York indicted an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta, who allegedly worked on the directions of the Indian government to hatch a plot to kill Pannun in New York. Gupta was reportedly arrested in the Czech Republic and handed over to US authorities.
Meanwhile, India has said it has constituted a “high-level” inquiry committee in connection with the alleged assassination attempt on Pannun.
Also read: India sets up high-level panel on Pannun ‘assassination’ attempt, says ‘will take necessary action’
The Pannun videos
Last month Pannun issued a video warning Sikhs against traveling Air India on 19 November, former PM Indira Gandhi’s birth anniversary. He also urged the community to boycott the airlines.
Gandhi had been assassinated in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple in 1984. The Indian Army operation had been carried out to flush out Sikh militants from their hideout inside the Golden Temple complex.
In the November video, Pannun had announced that the airport in Delhi will be named after Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, Gandhi’s assassins.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) had “taken cognisance” of the threat at the time and Sanjay Kumar Verma, India’s High Commissioner to Canada, had told ThePrint: “We have taken up the issue of SFJ’s terrorist threats against operations of Air India flights to and from Vancouver and Toronto in Canada, with the concerned Canadian authorities.”
Verma added: “We have requested the Canadian authorities to provide enhanced security safeguarding operations of Air India flights to and from Canada, while citing the related provisions in our bilateral air services agreement as well as in the Convention on International Civil Aviation, administered by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),” he added.
In September, Pannun had threatened to disrupt the ODI World Cup in Gujarat.
According to a First Information Report (FIR) registered by Gujarat Police in September, and seen by ThePrint, several people in Gujarat received phone calls from a UK number, which when answered delivered pre-recorded message purportedly from Pannun, threatening to avenge the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada earlier this year. The message further threatened to storm Ahmedabad with Kahlistan [Sikh state] flags on 5 October, when the ODI World Cup was scheduled to commence.
“Remember 5 October will not be World Cricket Cup, it will be the beginning of World Terror Cup,” Pannun had allegedly said in the purported pre-recorded message.
Pannun has also been accused of instigating farmers protesting in 2020-21 against three controversial farm laws passed by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. He had asked Sikhs to replace the Indian tricolor from Red Fort and replace it with the flag of Khalistan.
“26 January is coming and on the Red Fort, there is an Indian tricolour. Remove the tricolour on 26 January and replace it with the Khalistan flag,” he said while announcing that Sikhs for Justice will give 2.5 lakh US dollars to those who will remove the Indian tricolour.
The instigation triggered violence on Republic Day 2021, with a section of protestors clashing with police, and one man accused of placing a Sikh flag at Red Fort.
Pannun also issued a purported audio message in September, ahead of October’s G20 Summit in Delhi, urging Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir to disrupt the diplomatic event.
In August Delhi Police reportedly registered an FIR against unknown miscreants, allegedly associated with SFJ, for defacing walls of Metro Rail stations with pro-Khalistan slogans.
Ahead of the third meeting of the G20 Tourism Working Group in Srinagar, Pannun had released a video in May urging the G20 nations to boycott G20 meetings in Kashmir.
He also urged Kashmiris to come to Srinagar airport to stop delegates and expose “genocidal violence” against Kashmiris. “Kashmir is not India. India is illegally occupying Kashmir,” Pannun had said in the video.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)