Inciting troopers to stop military, Manipur to secede: Why Pannun’s Sikhs for Justice is harmful to India

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the founding father of the pro-Khalistan separatist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), may greatest be described as India’s enemy number one. He and his organisation have made a number of threats in opposition to India and its authorities through the years, incomes him the tag of terrorist and banning his group from working within the nation.

And earlier this month, an Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act (UAPA) tribunal in Delhi upheld the Centre’s determination of banning the SFJ for 5 years.

However what makes Pannun’s SFJ a menace to India? Right here’s what the federal government has revealed.

Pannun a ‘terrorist’, SFJ banned in India

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who escaped to the US from India in 2007, based the SFJ in the identical yr “with the categorical intent of attaining self-determination for the Sikh individuals of their historic homeland within the area of Indian held Punjab and establishing a sovereign state, popularly referred to as
Khalistan”.

In 2018, he earned notoriety when he deliberate a large pro-Khalistan Sikh gathering in London’s Trafalgar Sq. and declared their marketing campaign, “Referendum 2020.” His actions prompted the Centre to declare him as a terrorist below Part 51A of the Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act.

Within the following yr, the Indian authorities declared the SFJ as an illegal organisation for 5 years, which was prolonged for one more 5 years in July 2024.

Pannun has made repeated
threats to India over the previous few years. In October 2020, per week earlier than former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s demise anniversary, Pannun made a video message during which he urged Indian college students to boost the Khalistan flag and slogans in assist of the nation in alternate for an iPhone 12 Mini.

He additionally wrote to Xi Jinping of China in June 2020 to “empathise with the individuals of China” following the Galwan battle. He additionally criticised “India’s violent aggression inflicting the demise of a number of troopers of China at Ladakh valley border,” in keeping with the Caravan.

When India performed host to the G20 Summit in September 2023, he launched an audio message asking Kashmiri Muslims residing within the Valley to go to Delhi and march to Pragati Maidan after Friday prayers. He additionally threatened to hoist the Khalistani flag at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Worldwide Airport.

In October 2024, Pannun went so far as issuing a public video warning urging passengers to keep away from flying on Air India flights between November 1 and 19. Pannun claimed that an assault may occur throughout this era, which coincides with the fortieth anniversary of what he known as the “Sikh genocide”. Moreover, he’s warned of attacking the
Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya.

Tribunal upholds Centre’s determination on SFJ

Earlier in January, the Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act (UAPA) Tribunal upheld the Centre’s extension of a five-year ban on SFJ, citing a slew of subversive actions carried out by the outfit.

The tribunal consisting of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta had been constituted on August 2 final yr to find out whether or not or not there was adequate trigger for extending the declaration of SFJ as an illegal affiliation.

To assist their cause, the Centre submitted a report, citing all of SFJ’s actions which have been harming the nation’s inner safety and public in addition to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.

In its submission, the Centre mentioned that the SFJ issued a number of threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Residence Minister Amit Shah, Nationwide Safety Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and, even Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Rajnath Singh’s landline acquired a recorded voice message on July 22, 2024, alleging that Sikhs have been below existential menace because of the Indian authorities, and warned Members of Parliament to “keep dwelling if they didn’t wish to expertise the Khalistan referendum”, reported the Indian Specific.

SFJ has not solely issued threats, as per the Centre’s submission but additionally filed “baseless” courtroom instances in opposition to Indians visiting European international locations, Canada and USA. Actually, final yr, a US district courtroom had issued summons to the Indian authorities, Nationwide Safety Advisor Ajit Doval and former Analysis and Evaluation Wing (R&AW) chief Samant Goel, amongst others, on a civil lawsuit filed by Pannun, in search of damages for an alleged plot to
assassinate him in 2023.

The SFJ, the Centre, submitted has additionally risked the lives of Indian diplomats. “Images of Indian diplomats — Ambassador Vikram Duraiswami, Ambassador Tranajot Singh Sandhu, Ambassador Sanjay Kumar Varma, Aseem R Mahajan, Dr Shashank Vikram, Apoorva Srivastava and Manish — have been circulated by Pannun mentioning them as ‘Killers in UK’, ‘Killers in USA’, ‘Killers in Canada’, ‘Killers in Australia’ whereas blaming them for the killing of pro-Khalistani
Hardeep Singh Nijjar (in Canada in 2023) and prominently displaying ‘Kill India’ posters, thus making Indian diplomats susceptible and placing in danger the lives of senior Indian diplomats, officers and their households posted in varied international locations,” noticed the Centre.

Moreover, to again its determination to increase the ban on SFJ, the Centre identified the quite a few instances — virtually 104 in quantity — in opposition to the group, “As many as 96 instances have been registered in opposition to SFJ in Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Assam. The remaining eight are being probed by Nationwide Investigating Company,” learn a gazette revealed by the federal government.

The Centre additional famous in its submissions that Pannun and the SFJ have provoked and instigated the Sikh troopers of the Military on social media to go away the Indian Military. The Indian authorities contended that Pannun had urged Sikh troopers to affix the SFJ motion and supplied them Rs 5,000 greater than the wage they acquired.

In its submission, the Centre mentioned that Pannun additionally tried to impress the Punjab Police officers, urging them to not cease farmers from going to Jalandhar, Pathankot and Abohar through the farmers’ stir,” the federal government’s submission to the tribunal learn.

A be aware from the Centre states that the SFJ incited Muslims, Tamils and Christians from Manipur to secede from India. The be aware learn that SFJ was “inciting the
Christian group in Manipur to boost their voices for a separate nation” and instigated the individuals of Tamil Nadu to boost flags of “Dravidstan” and “stoking Muslim sentiments by elevating the bogey of minority persecution” and pressed them to carve out a separate ‘Urduistan’.

SFJ’s threats in opposition to decide

But it surely doesn’t cease there. On Wednesday (January 29), SFJ additionally issued a menace in opposition to Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, the tribunal chief, for upholding the ban on the organisation.

The Instances of India reported that Pannun accused Justice Mendiratta of complicity in “judicial oppression” in opposition to the Khalistan motion. He referred to as Justice Mendiratta’s ruling an act of “judicial tyranny”.

The SFJ additional added that the Khalistan referendum was a reputable political referendum and never an act of terrorism. It said that those that issued “oppressive rulings” in opposition to Khalistan actions could be “held accountable”.

With inputs from businesses