Who Is Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Khalistani Terrorist Whose "Assassination Plot" Was Foiled

India said it is examining inputs on security matters from the US amid reports that the US foiled an attempt to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.

The Ministry of External Affairs said that India takes such inputs seriously and they are being examined by relevant departments.

"India takes such inputs seriously since it impinges on our own national security interests as well. Issues in the context of US inputs are already being examined by relevant departments," foreign ministry spokesman Aridam Bagchi said after the British daily Financial Times said that the US had foiled an attempt to assassinate Pannun.

The report comes months after Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani terrorist, was killed in Canada's Surrey. In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that there was "credible evidence" linking India to the killing. The allegations, denied by India, triggered a diplomatic standoff between the two countries.

Pannun, like Nijjar, is a proponent of a decades-long but now fringe demand to carve out an independent Sikh homeland from India called Khalistan.

Pannun, a lawyer, is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. He is often seen at pro-Khalistan functions and gatherings.

He is the general counsel of Sikhs for Justice, which India labelled an "unlawful association" in 2019, citing its involvement in extremist activities. Pannun was listed as an "individual terrorist" by India in 2020.

The Sikhs For Justice organisation was formed in 2007 and claims to fight to establish a sovereign state for Sikhs which will be carved out of India. "Sikhs for Justice was formed 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," the organisation says on its website.

Pannun is a key organiser of non-binding referendums calling for a separate Sikh state that has been held in countries with large Indian diasporas, including Canada, the UK, and Australia. An American phase of the voting will begin on January 28 in San Francisco, according to a report in Bloomberg.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had registered a terrorism case against Pannu earlier this week after he threatened to not let Air India operate anywhere in the world.

This wasn't the first time that Pannun had issued a threat. In September, he urged Hindu-Canadians to leave Canada amid the diplomatic row. In a video that circulated on social media, he said pro-Khalistan Sikhs have consistently shown loyalty to Canada and went on to threaten Indo-Canadian Hindus, urging them to leave the country.