Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun made threat calls to Rajnath Singh, says Centre

A pre-recorded message in the voice of Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was sent on the landline of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in July, threatening bomb attacks on the Indian Parliament and Red Fort area, the Union government has told an Unlawful Activities Prevention Act tribunal, reported The Hindu on Thursday.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) MPs AA Rahim and V Sivadasan also received the same message on their mobile phones, according to the newspaper.

In an order dated January 27, the tribunal upheld the Centre’s ban on Pannun’s Sikhs for Justice organisation for another five years. The organisation was first banned in 2019 in five years, and the order was extended for another five years on July 10.

Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen, is a proponent of Khalistan, an independent state for Sikhs sought by some groups. He was declared an “individual terrorist” under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in 2020.

Since 2021, Sikhs for Justice has organised several unofficial “referendums” in foreign countries, including Canada, on whether a separate Sikh homeland should be carved out of India.

At least 122 cases have been registered against Sikh for Justice by several state police forces and the National Investigation Agency since 2018. A total of 105 people have been arrested in the cases so far, according…

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