New Delhi : Following the killing/death of three dreaded pro-Khalistani terrorists in the past few months, the name of designated Khalistani terrorist and chief of the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, is on the top of the security agencies’ radar now.
Facing 22 criminal cases in Punjab, including three of sedition, Pannun is known to be operating from Khalistani terrorists’ safe heaven Canada.
On May 6, Khalistani leader Paramjit Singh Panjwar, the head of the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), was shot dead in Lahore. On June 15, Avtar Singh Khanda, a leading exponent of Khalistan and handler of separatist Amritpal Singh, died of cancer at a hospital in the UK.
Three days later on June 18, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and chief of the banned outfit Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), was gunned down by two unidentified gunmen outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia.
Be it the rocket-propelled grenade attack on Punjab Police’s Intelligence headquarters in Mohali last year, an audio message asking Kashmiri Muslims residing in Srinagar to go to Delhi and disrupt the G20 Summit, or assassination threats to multiple Chief Ministers and other who’s who via telephonic audio messages — they all have been linked to the proscribed terrorist organisation Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) founded by Pannun.
Just last week, Pannun declared to hold “Shaheed Nijjar kill India referendum” on the question: Is Indian High Commissioner Verma responsible for the ‘assassination’ of Hardeep Singh Nijjar?
He also announced to hold Khalistan Referendum-II on October 29 in Surrey, British Columbia.
Pro-Khalistan leader Nijjar, who was declared a ‘wanted terrorist’ by the Indian government, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen on the premises of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, of which he was the head, in the Punjabi-dominated Surrey city on June 18.
Since Nijjar’s killing, many radical activists have been questioning as three killings of Sikh separatists took place within one month. They say: Is there a pattern in the sudden killings of three Khalistani terrorists?
On Monday, Canada, in a surprise move, expelled a top Indian diplomat amid probe into the killing of Nijjar on its soil.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed ‘credible allegations of a potential link’ between agents of the Indian government and the killing of the Khalistani terrorist.
Now the question is over the role being played by Pannun of instigating a momentum on the foreign soil against the Indian government.
