The making of Pannun: How an American became the figurehead of Khalistani movement
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the Khalistani separatist and Indian-origin citizen of the US and Canada, is in the spotlight after the US law enforcement authorities on Wednesday announced the filing of a «murder-for-hire» charges against Indian national Nikhil Gupta in what they said was a «foiled plot to assassinate» Pannun in New York City allegedly supervised by an Indian government official.
Pannun has been the most vocal proponent of Khalistan in recent years, holding Khalistani referendums in Western countries and announcing rewards to Indian SIkhs for writing Khalistani graffiti and hoisting Khalistani flags. A designated terrorist wanted in India in nearly two dozen cases related to terror and sedition, Pannun has emerged as the biggest figurehead of the Khalistani movement, threatening India and Hindus with impunity, even threatening obliquely to blow up Air India flights recently.
Read More:'Matter of concern,' New Delhi says as US indictment names Indian on Khalistani Pannun's murder plot charges
Pannun started out as an eccentric activist, who would file cases in American courts against visiting Indian politicians for their alleged role in the 1984 Sikh riots, and has now become the most reocgnised face of the global Khalistani movement.
The beginning of Pannun
“Children often bring pride to their village or towns, but Gurpatwant has besmirched its reputation with a tag of a terrorist's village and brought us shame,” Sarjan Singh, a resident of Pannun's ancestral village Khankot, on the outskirts of Amritsar in Punjab, had told TOI three years ago.
“I came to know that he is a terrorist only today, when mediapersons came looking for his property,” he added. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had ordered
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