Inciting soldiers to quit army, Manipur to secede: Why Pannun’s Sikhs for Justice is dangerous to India

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the founder of the pro-Khalistan separatist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), could best be described as India’s enemy number 1. He and his organisation have made multiple threats against India and its government over the years, earning him the tag of terrorist and banning his group from operating in the country.

And earlier this month, an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) tribunal in Delhi upheld the Centre’s decision of banning the SFJ for five years.

But what makes Pannun’s SFJ a threat to India? Here’s what the government has revealed.

Pannun a ‘terrorist’, SFJ banned in India

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun , who escaped to the US from India in 2007, founded the SFJ in the same year “with the express intent of achieving self-determination for the Sikh people in their historic homeland in the region of Indian held Punjab and establishing a sovereign state, popularly known as Khalistan ”.

In 2018, he earned notoriety when he planned a sizable pro-Khalistan Sikh gathering in London’s Trafalgar Square and declared their campaign, “Referendum 2020.” His actions prompted the Centre to declare him as a terrorist under Section 51A of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

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In the following year, the Indian government declared the SFJ as an unlawful organisation for five years, which was extended for another five years in July 2024.

Pannun has made repeated threats to India over the past few years. In October 2020, a week before former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary, Pannun made a video message in which he urged Indian students to raise the Khalistan flag and slogans in support of the country in exchange for an iPhone 12 Mini.

He also wrote to Xi Jinping of China in June 2020 to “empathise with the people of China” following the Galwan conflict. He also criticised “India’s violent aggression causing the death of several soldiers of China at Ladakh valley border,” according to the Caravan.

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

In October 2024, Pannun went as far as issuing a public video warning urging passengers to avoid flying on Air India flights between November 1 and 19. Pannun claimed that an attack could happen during this period, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of what he referred to as the “Sikh genocide”. Additionally, he’s warned of attacking the Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya.

Tribunal upholds Centre’s decision on SFJ

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

The tribunal consisting of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta had been constituted on August 2 last year to determine whether or not there was sufficient cause for extending the declaration of SFJ as an unlawful association.

To support their reason, the Centre submitted a report, citing all of SFJ’s activities which were harming the country’s internal security and public as well as the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.

In its submission, the Centre said that the SFJ issued multiple threats to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and, even Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Rajnath Singh’s landline received a recorded voice message on July 22, 2024, alleging that Sikhs were under existential threat due to the Indian government, and warned Members of Parliament to “stay home if they did not want to experience the Khalistan referendum”, reported the Indian Express.

SFJ has not only issued threats, as per the Centre’s submission but also filed “baseless” court cases against Indians visiting European countries, Canada and USA. In fact, last year, a US district court had issued summons to the Indian government, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Samant Goel, among others, on a civil lawsuit filed by Pannun, seeking damages for an alleged plot to assassinate him in 2023 .

The SFJ, the Centre, submitted has also risked the lives of Indian diplomats. “Photographs 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’ while 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 vulnerable and putting at risk the lives of senior Indian diplomats, officials and their families posted in various countries,” observed the Centre.

Furthermore, to back its decision to extend the ban on SFJ, the Centre pointed out the numerous cases — almost 104 in number — against the group, “As many as 96 cases have been registered against SFJ in Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Assam. The remaining eight are being probed by National Investigating Agency,” read a gazette published by the government.

The Centre further noted in its submissions that Pannun and the SFJ have provoked and instigated the Sikh soldiers of the Army on social media to leave the Indian Army. The Indian government contended that Pannun had urged Sikh soldiers to join the SFJ movement and offered them Rs 5,000 more than the salary they received.

In its submission, the Centre said that Pannun also tried to provoke the Punjab Police officials, urging them not to stop farmers from going to Jalandhar, Pathankot and Abohar during the farmers’ stir,” the government’s submission to the tribunal read.

A note from the Centre states that the SFJ incited Muslims, Tamils and Christians from Manipur to secede from India. The note read that SFJ was “inciting the Christian community in Manipur to raise their voices for a separate country” and instigated the people of Tamil Nadu to raise flags of “Dravidstan” and “stoking Muslim sentiments by raising the bogey of minority persecution” and pressed them to carve out a separate ‘Urduistan’.

SFJ’s threats against judge

But it doesn’t stop there. On Wednesday (January 29), SFJ also issued a threat against Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, the tribunal chief, for upholding the ban on the organisation.

The Times of India reported that Pannun accused Justice Mendiratta of complicity in “judicial oppression” against the Khalistan movement. He called Justice Mendiratta’s ruling an act of “judicial tyranny”.

The SFJ further added that the Khalistan referendum was a legitimate political referendum and not an act of terrorism. It stated that those who issued “oppressive rulings” against Khalistan activities would be “held accountable”.

With inputs from agencies