India and Canada are in renewed diplomatic tension after a prominent separatist leader warned Sikhs not to board an Air India flight later this month due to potentially life-threatening risks. facing.
Gurpatwant Singh Panun, a Canada-based Khalistani leader, released a video on November 19 repeating multiple dangerous threats against people traveling on India’s national airline. .
“We are asking Sikhs not to fly on Air India on November 19th. There will be a global lockdown. Do not travel on Air India or your life will be at risk. You will be in danger,” he repeated his threat in a video that went viral on social media.
“This is my warning to the Indian government,” said Panun, who was earlier rumored to have died in a car accident in the US.
Panun, who has been designated as an independent terrorist by the Indian government, claimed that New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport will be shut down on November 19 and called for the airport to be renamed.
India will host the final of the International Men’s Cricket World Cup on the same day.
“It’s the day the World Terror final was held.” [sic] A cup match will be held. The genocide of the Sikhs will happen in India and the world will know that India did it. When we liberate Punjab, the names of these airports will be Shaheed Beant Singh Airport and Shaheed Satwant Singh Airport,” Panun said in October 1984, when India’s former Prime Minister Indira he said, referring to the two separatist leaders who assassinated Gandhi.
independent person We have not verified the authenticity of the video.
Indian officials said Sunday they would discuss the threat with Canadian authorities.
“We will work with Canadian authorities to address any threats to Air India flights to and from Canada,” Sanjay Kumar Verma, India’s high commissioner to Canada, told The Indian newspaper. Hindustan Times.
He added that Indian authorities had seen the videos issued by Khalistani leaders.
“We have investigated the content of the video, which clearly violates the Chicago Convention, which sets the framework for international civil aviation activities. Many countries, including Canada and India, are party to the convention. “, the envoy said.
He said India and Canada are expected to address such threats in accordance with bilateral civil aviation agreements.
The threats targeting aircraft and India’s largest airport are similar to the June 1985 terrorist attack orchestrated by Khalistan leaders that killed 329 people on Air India Flight 182.
This comes after Verma said a Canadian police investigation into the killing of a Sikh separatist leader this year was undermined by public statements from senior Canadian officials.
“I would go a step further and say the investigation is already tainted,” Verma said. gloves and mail. He did not name the officials, but said: “There were instructions from high-level individuals that India or Indian operatives were behind it.”
In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested that India was involved in the murder of Canadian national and Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in a Vancouver suburb, raising concerns about bilateral relations. led to a stalemate.
The two countries have been embroiled in a diplomatic spat that resulted in Canada taking 41 diplomats from India after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in September following Canada’s claims about Nijjar’s killing. This resulted in the withdrawal of the
Verma said that even though the US envoy said the Five Eyes alliance was aware of India’s intervention, India has yet to be presented with any concrete evidence of India’s involvement from Canada or Canada’s allies. He said no.
Weeks before the leaders of the most powerful economies gather for the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi, Canada will ask its closest allies, the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations, to jointly discuss the issue at the summit. A Western official said that he had lobbied for the issue to be raised.Conditions of anonymity are discussed. washington post.
independent person has contacted India’s Ministry of External Affairs for comment.
