Pannun’s Threat: Trouble for Air India
Pannun's video threat raises security concerns for Air India and recalls historical tensions.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is the chief leader of the US-based ‘Sikhs for Justice’ – SFJ group which is demanding for a separate Khalistan country. You all know that. ISH News had released a video about him earlier. You can check it out here. On 5th November 2023 Pannun released a video asking Sikhs around the world not to travel by Air India flights on & after 19th November 2023 as their ‘lives would be in danger.’ In his threatening video, Gurpatwant Singh claimed that there will be a global blockade of Air India on 19th November and its flights won’t be allowed to fly anywhere across the world. He urged his Sikh brothers & sisters not to travel by Air India flights after 19th November as it can be ‘life-threatening’ for them. Gurpatwant Singh has issued this video as a direct warning to the Indian government and claimed that Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport will be closed from 19th November. 19th November is the day India hosts the final match of the ICC Men’s World Cup. Playing with words, Gurpatwant Singh said that on 19th November, there will be the final of the ‘World Terror Cup’ too. He claims to show the world that the genocide of Sikhs happened in India on that day. He went on to say that when Punjab is liberated as Khalistan, the airports will be renamed Shaheed Beant Singh & Shaheed Satwant Singh airports. Gurpatwant Singh has announced that he & his group will fight for the freedom of Punjab and that the liberation war of Punjab has now started. He declared that no tanks would be able to stop this fight because ‘their God’ has created one Sikh capable of fighting lakhs of people. Gurpatwant Singh has claimed to break the backbone of the Indian economic system & shock us with his actions.
Ironically, 19th November also marks the birth anniversary of India’s late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Indira was assassinated as a protest to her Operation BlueStar in Golden Temple in 1984. This current threat is being considered similar to the 1985’s Air India flight 182 bombing. This model of the aircraft was popularly known as Emperor Kanishka. The bombing of that flight was done by the Babbar Khalsa Khalistan Militant Organization & it killed all 329 people on board. The incident is popularly remembered as the Kanishka bombing. The Canada government has not taken any action or issued any statement against Pannun’s video yet. According to Hindustan Times, the Indian High Commissioner to Canada, Mr. Sanjay Kumar Verma has taken up this threat with the concerned Canadian authorities and asked Canada to increase the security for Air India flights. There is no official statement has been made by the MEA as yet.
