Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Pannun issues threats ahead of Republic Day celebrations
Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on Tuesday issued fresh threats ahead of the 75th Republic Day celebrations, reported news agency ANI.
Several photos pro-Khalistani graffiti reportedly painted across New Delhi threatening to “avenge” the death of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar surfaced on social media. Nijjar was killed outside a Gurdwara in Canada’s Surrey in June 2023. Pannun has been actively exhorting gangsters and young people over social media to stand for Khalistan.
The Sikh For Justice (SFJ) founder, who was declared a ‘designated individual terrorist’ by the Centre in 2020, has issued such threats against India in the past, too. Last month, Pannun released a video in which he threatened to attack Parliament on or before December 13, the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attacks.
In November, Pannun urged the Sikh community not to fly on Air India after November 19, as their lives could be under threat. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case against him over the Air India threat video.
In September, he asked Hindu Canadians to leave Canada amid tensions over the diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of Nijjar. The government has banned the SFJ– a group campaigning to establish Khalistan carved out of India — as an “unlawful association” in 2019 citing its involvement in “anti-national and subversive” activities.
Pannun has been on NIA’s radar since 2019 when the probe agency lodged its first case against the terrorist, who has been playing a major role in promoting and commissioning terror acts and activities. Non-bailable warrants were issued against Pannun by the NIA Special Court on February 3, 2021, and he was declared a ‘Proclaimed Offender (PO)’ on November 29, 2022.
Meanwhile, the US authorities indicted an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, for his alleged involvement in a plot to kill Pannun in the US in November last year. According to US officials, Gupta had agreed to pay $100,000 to an assassin to carry out the killing. Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic on the request of US authorities.