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Chandigarh, November 15
A rocket-propelled grenade attack on Punjab Police's Intelligence Wing headquarters in Mohali and installing Khalistan flags at the entrance of Himachal Pradesh assembly in Dharamsala, besides assignation threats to multiple Chief Ministers and other who's who via telephonic audio messages in recent months, all have been linked to the proscribed terrorist organisation, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) founded by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, operating out now of Canada.
On Tuesday, Pannun announced that the next round of Khalistan referendum will be held in the Australian capital of Canberra to express support for a separate Sikh nation-state.
Police in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have registered separate FIRs against Pannun, a law graduate from Panjab University in Chandigarh, over threats and attempting to disturb peace, stability and communal harmony.
Despite the SFJ being a banned organisation in India since 2019 on grounds of secessionism and Pannu being declared a terrorist, countries like Canada, the UK and the US, with a sizable Sikh diaspora, have allowed the organisation to conduct anti-India activities, including holding illegal referendums to build a campaign for secession of Punjab.
In the Canadian city of Mississauga, the Sikh diaspora voted over Khalistan referendum, a major irritant in India-Canada ties, on November 6, the second in the country, and later Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown was heckled at a temple for allowing separatist elements to conduct the so-called referendum.
Videos on social media showed Sikh men and women with saffron Khalistan flags turning up at a polling station, while the Hindu communities protesting near the referendum site by holding Indian national flags.
However, the authenticity of the videos cannot be verified by IANS.
Last month, Interpol had rejected a request by India to issue a Red Notice against Pannun, saying Indian authorities have not provided sufficient information on him.
"Since these handful Khalistanis (radicals) have no base in India, they are doing referendum and propagating the Khalistan agenda just to establish their base overseas in western countries by raising funds from Pakistan intelligence agency ISI and similar agencies in China," a senior Punjab Police official told IANS.
The western countries don't see crime to prosecute Pannun and other hardliners as they think it will be a violation of the freedom of expression, he added.
IANS
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