Motivation exposed !!
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun appeared on Canadian broadcaster CBC News and said his organisation 'Sikhs For Justice' detailed the Canadian PMO about the "Indian spy network" and terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing, reports 'India Today'.
The Sikhs for Justice was formed in 2007 with an aim to keep the focus on those affected by the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
But it was only after 2012 that Pannun started getting media attention after SFJ began suing prominent Indian politicians and celebrities whenever they visited America, accusing them of playing a role in the riots.
He used a 1789 law called Alien Tort Statute which allows American courts to try cases related to human rights abuses committed elsewhere in the world by non-US citizens.
Pannun, whose organisation Sikhs For Justice is banned in India for promoting Khalistani terrorist activities, said, "(Canadian Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau's statement shows Canada's unwavering commitment to justice, rule of law, and national security. And Sikhs for Justice has been communicating with the Prime Minister's Office for the last 2-3 years, detailing all the spy network."
Pannun alleged his organisation informed the Canadian PMO about how Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Verma, his second-in-command and the official before him laid out the spy networks which provided "logistics and intelligence support to the Indian agents who assassinated Hardeep Singh Nijjar".
India recalled High Commissioner Sanjay Verma and some other diplomats from Canada on October 14. This came after Canada named Verma and a few other diplomats as 'persons of interest' in the investigation into Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's murder. India also expelled six Canadian diplomats from the country.
It is not without good reasons that Pannun's admission is similar to the charges made by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which claimed to have identfied "links tying agents of the Indian government to homicides and violent acts in Canada".
According to the RCMP, these violent acts are targeted at the South Asian community, "specifically targeting pro-Khalistani elements in Canada".
However, neither the RCMP nor Justin Trudeau have been able to produce any concrete evidence to back their charge.
In the CBC News interview, Pannun also accused the Indo-Canadian community of not being loyal to the Canadian Constitution.
"These Indo-Canadians, who have family ties back home in India, are they loyal to the Canadian Constitution or they still want to show their commitment to the Indian Constitution? Because since the assassination of Hardeep Nijjar, I have not seen any Indo-Canadian organisation which is supporting the Modi regime, coming out in open. This includes some of the Indo-Canadian MPs who have not supported Prime Minister Trudeau since September 18 (2023) when he came out openly," Pannun said.
In the past, Pannun has threatened Indo-Canadian Hindus to leave the country and return to India.
"Indo-Canadian Hindus, you have repudiated your allegiance to Canada and Canadian Constitution. Your destination is India. Leave Canada, go to India," he said in a video released last year.
As a backgrounder it can bestated that Sikhs - a religious minority community makes up about 2% of India's population. Pannun claims he is an "activist" who just believes in Khalistan.
India has crushed a violent armed Sikh insurgency in the 1980s and 1990s and the movement has little support in the country now although some in the Sikh diaspora continue to advocate for Khalistan.
Pannun and his SFJ are among its most vocal supporters.
Delhi has made no bones about its dislike for the Sikh separatist - Pannun.
He was designated a terrorist by Indian authorities in 2020.
He is wanted in nearly two dozen cases, including some of terrorism and sedition, and in September, his properties in Amritsar and Chandigarh cities were seized. Pannun denies all the charges and says the cases are false.
Born in the Nathu Chak village in the north-western state of Punjab, a young Pannun moved with his parents and siblings to Khankot village in Amritsar. He went to school in Ludhiana and then on to Panjab University in Chandigarh in the early 1990s to study law.
It was there that he became active in student politics, a former Punjab police official told the BBC. He said that police investigated Pannun for involvement in a brawl where he was accused of assault and raising pro-Khalistan slogans.
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