New Delhi:
Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun – whose properties in Chandigarh and Amritsar were seized last week – “wants to create many countries (by) dividing India,” sources told NDTV on Monday.
According to the National Investigation Agency’s file on Pannun, the head of the banned separatist group Sikhs for Justice “challenged the unity and integrity of India through audio messages” and “wanted to create a separate country for the people of Kashmir … a Muslim country” .
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Pannun is wanted by the NIA since 2019 for playing a major role in promoting and commissioning terrorist acts to spread fear in Punjab and the country. Investigations have also revealed that the Pannun-led Sikhs For Justice “misuses cyberspace to radicalize gullible youth…inciting them to undertake terrorist activities and fight for an independent state of Khalistan”.
In 2019, the Indian government banned Sikhs For Justice.
In July 2020, the Union Home Ministry declared Pannun a terrorist, but Interpol twice rejected the Indian government’s request to issue a Red Corner Notice on the grounds of insufficient information.
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More recently, he threatened senior Indian diplomats and government officials in Canada amid the massive diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of another Khalistani terrorist: Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has sparked an international row after claiming that “agents” of the Indian government murdered Nijjar, a Canadian citizen.
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India has firmly, unequivocally and completely denied the allegations.
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Who is Gurpatwant Singh Pannun?
Pannun – also the prime accused for the appearance of ‘Khalistan’ banners and graffiti on the walls of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly last year – came to Amritsar in 1947, during Partition.
His family is believed to be from the village of Khankot in Pakistan. Gurpatwant Pannun’s parents are dead and his brother, Magwant Singh, lives abroad. He has a law degree from Punjab University.
The dossier on Pannun also states that he wants to “seduce the Muslims (and) create a Muslim country which he wants to call the ‘Democratic Republic of Urdustan’ and radicalize the people of Jammu and Kashmir to demand the latter’s separation from the region make it possible. Indian Union.
Cases against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
According to security services, there are a total of sixteen cases against Pannun; these have been registered in Punjab, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, as well as Haryana and Uttarakhand.
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Of the sixteen cases mentioned above, nine fall under the strict Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, as appears from the file on Pannun. Four of these are in Delhi, two in Punjab (one in Amritsar and another in Sirhind), a seventh in Gurugram in Haryana and an eighth in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh.
The ninth was filed by the National Criminal Investigation Department.
Pannun faces nearly 20 other cases in Punjab alone, including three of sedition.
Pannun’s criminal activities
According to the file, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun offered a reward of $2.5 million to anyone who could raise the Khalistani flag at the India Gate.
He also reportedly offered $1 million to police personnel who prevented the Indian flag from being hoisted at the Red Fort on Independence Day 2021.
He has also tried several times to get Khalistani posters and flags installed at prominent places in Punjab, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
NIA raids on Gurpatwant Pannun
Last week, the NIA seized Pannun’s house in Chandigarh and agricultural land in Amritsar; this means that he has now lost all rights to these properties, which are now owned by the Government of India.