Pannun says India\u2019s \u201ctransnational terrorism\u201d is a direct challenge to US sovereignty
\nLONDON
\nGurpatwant Singh Pannun, the general counsel of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) and a pro-Khalistan Sikh leader, has responded to his assassination plot by India which was exposed in a report by the Financial Times (FT).
\nAfter reports of the United States warning India over Pannun\u2019s planned assassination made headlines worldwide, the Sikh leader responded by saying that the plot to kill him on American soil through Indian death squads \u201cdirectly challenged\u201d Washington\u2019s sovereignty and national security.
\nReacting to FT exposing that the US authorities, at the last minute, foiled an Indian state plot to kill the Khalistani leader on American soil, Pannu said he was not scared and will not be deterred by India\u2019s plots against him.
\nMeanwhile, the US government, in a statement, responded by saying that it has taken up the issue of India\u2019s attempts to kill Pannun \u201cat the senior-most levels\u201d with the Narendra Modi government.
\nPannun, who is a New York-based Attorney at Law, said: \u201cIndia\u2019s transnational terrorism has become a direct challenge to the sovereignty of the United States, so I will let the US government respond to the issue of threats to my life on American soil from the Indian operatives.
\n\u201cMy concern is that the Sikh Community is facing existential threat at the hands of successive Indian regimes from 1984 Operation Blue Star, November 1984 Genocide, decade-long (1984-97) extra-judicial killings of Sikhs to suppress the movement for right to self-determination and now the forced suicide of farmers of Punjab.
\n\u201cAt this time my focus is not threats to my life but to organise American Phase of Khalistan Referendum which is scheduled to start from San Francisco, CA on January 28, 2024, under the supervision of Punjab Referendum Commission, a panel of independent experts on direct democracy.
\n\u201cBelieving that independence from Indian occupation and establishment of Khalistan is the only solution, Sikh sovereignists have launched the global Khalistan Referendum initiative to peacefully advance the cause of liberating the Indian-held Punjab.
\n\u201cBeing General Counsel of SFJ my responsibility is to organise the secessionist Khalistan Referendum for liberation of Indian-held Punjab and to follow UN Charter and domestic laws of the countries where voting is being organised to ensure compliance with the democratic norms.
\n\u201cJust like Canadian Citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar\u2019s assassination by the Indian agents on Canadian soil was a challenge to Canada\u2019s sovereignty, the threat to an American citizen on American soil is a challenge to America\u2019s sovereignty, and I trust that the Biden Administration is more than capable to handle any such challenge.\u201d
\nIn a statement after the kill plot was exposed, the White House said it was \u201ctreating this issue with utmost seriousness\u201d.
\nAdrienne Watson, the National Security Council (NSC) spokesman, said the US had raised the issue with New Delhi \u201cat the seniormost levels\u201d.
\nWatson said: \u201cWe understand the Indian govt is further investigating this issue and will have more to say about it in the coming days. We have conveyed our expectation that anyone deemed responsible should be held accountable.\u201d
\nThe FT revealed in a report that the US authorities have thwarted an Indian conspiracy to assassinate the pro-Khalistan leader on American soil and issued a warning to India\u2019s government over concerns it was involved in the plot.
\nThe intelligence people familiar with the case, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the intelligence that prompted the warning, told FT the Indian government was behind the plot to kill Pannun who has been running a worldwide campaign called Khalistan Referendum in which over 1.3 million Sikhs have voted so far.
\nThe US sources did not tell FT whether the protest to New Delhi led the plotters to abandon their plan, or whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intervened and foiled a scheme already in motion.
\nThe US informed some allies about the plot following the murder of Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh leader killed in Vancouver in June.
\nIn September, Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were \u201ccredible allegations\u201d linking New Delhi to Nijjar\u2019s fatal shooting. The FT said that one person familiar with the situation said the US protest was issued after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a high-profile state visit to Washington in June.
\nThe FT revealed that separate from the diplomatic warning, US federal prosecutors have filed a sealed indictment against at least one alleged perpetrator of the plot in a New York district court, according to people familiar with the case.
\nThe US justice department is debating whether to unseal the indictment and make the allegations public or wait until Canada finishes its investigation into Nijjar\u2019s murder, said the paper.
\nWashington shared details of the Pannun case with a wider group of allies after Trudeau went public with details of the Vancouver killing, the combination of which sparked concern among allies about a possible pattern of behaviour.
\nThe SFJ has given a call to picket Air India flights in Toronto and Vancouver on December 1. The group has announced that the American phase of the Khalistan Referendum will be launched on January 28, 2024, from San Francisco.
\nSeveral people familiar with the debate inside the Biden administration told FT officials were aware that any public disclosure of the US plot, and Washington\u2019s protest to New Delhi, would renew questions about India\u2019s reliability as a trusted partner, said the FT.
\nThe FT previously reported that Biden raised the Canadian allegations with Modi at the G20 summit in India in September. The White House declined to say whether Biden raised the Pannun case with Modi in September.
\nUS Ambassador to Canada David Cohen also said in September that Ottawa received information about the Vancouver case from the intelligence-sharing network \u201cFive Eyes\u201d, which comprises the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
\nOnly a few months back, Nijjar \u2014 the chief coordinator of the Khalistan Referendum campaign in Canada and a close associate of Pannun \u2014 was killed on Canadian soil by Indian secret service agents. Trudeau has directly blamed India.
\nThe 45-year-old Nijjar was fatally shot outside the main Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a significant Sikh population.
\nNijjar, Pannun, UK-based Paramjeet Singh Pamma and others were designated terrorists by the Indian government in 2020.
\nNijjar was also President of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in British Columbia \u2013 Canada\u2019s biggest Gurdawara.
\nThe Khalistan Referendum voting campaign is being organised under the supervision of the independent Punjab Referendum Commission (PRC) which will announce the results when all phases are completed.
\nThe voting started on October 31, 2021, in UK\u2019s London and has so far been held in several cities across the UK.
\nThe voting has also been held in Switzerland\u2019s Geneva, Italy\u2019s Rome and Milan, Australia\u2019s Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney; and Canada\u2019s Brampton, Mississauga, Malton (Ontario), and Vancouver (British Columbia).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pannun says India\u2019s \u201ctransnational terrorism\u201d is a direct challenge to US sovereignty LONDON Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the general counsel of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) and a pro-Khalistan Sikh leader, has responded to his assassination plot by India which was exposed in a report by the Financial Times (FT). After reports of the United States warning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-370245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n