Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a 56-year-old dual US-Canadian citizen, speaks during an interview in New York.Credit: Reuters File Photo
Credit: Reuters File Photo
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Khalistani terrorist, on Monday warned passengers not to fly Air India flights from Nov 1 to 19, claiming that there is a possibility of an attack during those days.
He also said that there could be a possibility of a threat to their lives if passengers opted for the airline, as these dates coincide with the "40th anniversary of the Sikh genocide", India Today reported.
The self-proclaimed general counsel of "unlawful association" Sikhs For Justice, Pannun, had released a similar video last year on November 4 wherein he had asked Sikhs not to travel on Air India planes on and after Nov 19, claiming a similar threat and saying that the airline would not be allowed to operate globally.
He has been under the lens of the NIA since 2019, when the anti-terror agency registered its first case against him, and was declared a "Proclaimed Offender" on November 29, 2022.
In a recent development, the US indictment linking a former Indian agent to a foiled bid to assassinate Khalistani separatist Pannun paints a "compelling and detailed portrait" of "a single plot" emanating from Delhi to kill multiple targets across North America, especially in Canada and the US, Canada's most recent envoy to India Cameron MacKay has alleged.
Canada's ex-envoy MacKay, who left India in August, said both Canada and the US are probing the matter, adding it was 'a fiasco on the part of the Indian government' to think that it could carry out crimes in Canada and the US and get away with it.
Pannun's organisation, Sikhs For Justice, is banned in India for promoting Khalistani terrorist activities, and the Modi government has also come under fire after an alleged failed assassination plot on the designated terrorist on US soil.
Pannun has earlier threatened to attack the Indian Parliament, and had also issued threats to kill Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Director General of State Police Gaurav Yadav.
(With PTI and DHNS inputs)