New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Monday registered a case against Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun for his alleged attempt to “target and disrupt the transportation sector in India” by urging Sikhs not to fly Air India on and after 19 November, citing a “threat to their lives”.
In a video message earlier this month, Pannun also threatened that Air India would not be “allowed to operate in the world”. He also also demanded that the IGI airport be renamed after Beant Singh and Satwant Singh — assassins of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
As ThePrint reported earlier, 19 November 2023 marks the 106th birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi. The threat by Pannun also served as a reminder of the bombing of Air India Flight 182 by Canada-based Sikh separatists in 1985.
According to a statement by the NIA, the agency has booked Pannun under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act besides sections of criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity between different groups and criminal intimidation.
“In his video messages, released on 4 November, Pannun had urged Sikhs to stop flying on Air India planes on and after the said date, citing a potential threat to their lives. He also issued a warning to the Government of India that ‘The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) would remain closed on the 19th of November’. IGIA, located in New Delhi, is one of the world’s busiest airports,” the NIA statement said.
It further said: “As part of his concerted plan to promote terror acts in India to revive terrorism in India, Pannun has been creating a false narrative around the issues prevailing in the state of Punjab, especially with regard to Sikh religion, by promoting enmity between the Sikhs in the country and other communities.”
According to the NIA, the latest threat is in line with the same narrative, which Pannun has “actively promoted in the past by threatening and attempting to disrupt essential transportation network systems, including the Railways, as well as thermal power plants in India”.
NIA said Pannun’s assertions and threats have triggered a high alert as well as investigations by security forces in Canada, India and certain other countries where Air India flies.
India banned the US-based separatist group SFJ as an “unlawful association” in July 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. On 1 July 2020, Pannun was listed as an “individual terrorist” by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Pannun has been under the NIA lens since 2019, when the anti-terror agency registered its first case against him. In September this year, the NIA confiscated his properties in Amritsar and Chandigarh.
The statement also said non-bailable warrants were issued against Pannun by the NIA Special Court on 3 February 2021 and that he was declared a “proclaimed offender” on 29 November 2022.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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