In a new threat, Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has released a video in which he said he would attack the Indian Parliament on or before December 13 following an alleged foiled plot to kill him.
Notably, December 13 will mark the 22nd anniversary of the Parliament attack by terrorists in 2001.
Pannun has threatened to take action that will “shake the very foundations of Parliament” on or before December 13, the anniversary of the 2001 attack. This, he said in a statement, was in response to “India’s foiled assassination” bid on him.
In the video which featured a poster of the 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru with the caption ‘Delhi Banega Khalistan’ (Delhi will turn into Khalistan), Pannun said a conspiracy to kill him by Indian agencies had failed. He asserted he would respond by attacking the Parliament on or before December 13.
Security agencies are on high alert after Pannun’s threat video surfaced. According to sources, security agencies said the K-2 (Kashmir-Khalistan) desk of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI had given directions to Pannun to further their agenda of propagating the anti-India narrative, India Today reported.
Last month, The Financial Times, citing unnamed sources, reported that US authorities foiled a plot to kill Pannun and issued a warning to the Indian government over concerns it was involved in the plot. Pannun is the chief of US-based Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which is banned in India, and is wanted by the Indian probe agencies.
US federal prosecutors also charged a 52-year-old Indian national Nikhil Gupta of working with an Indian government employee in the foiled plot to kill Pannun. US prosecutors informed a Manhattan court that authorities in the Czech Republic arrested and detained Gupta.
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A press release by the US Justice Department, quoting court documents, said that earlier this year, “an Indian government employee, working together with others, including Gupta, in India and elsewhere, directed a plot to assassinate on US soil an attorney and political activist who is a US citizen of Indian-origin residing in New York City”.
In response, India expressed concern about one of its government officials being linked to the plot, from which it dissociated itself, as being against government policy.
India said last week it would formally investigate the concerns aired by the US, and take “necessary follow-up action” on the findings of a panel set up on November 18.
Earlier on November 5, Pannun had issued a warning and said that Sikhs should not fly with Air India on November 19. This evoked the memories of Kanishka bombing in 1980s.