We have now learned that India’s terror campaign of killing freedom seeking Sikhs across the world includes targets in the world’s most powerful country, the United States of America. The Financial Times, a newspaper in the United Kingdom, reported on 21 November 2023 that an assassination attempt on Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, General Counsel of Sikhs For Justice, a group advocating an independent Sikh state called Khalistan. With this revelation of this assassination attempt of a Sikh propagating his freedom of speech for the Sikh homeland of an independent Khalistan, India’s RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) intelligence has now been accused of targeted Sikh assassinations across three continents over the last three years. If you are a prominent Sikh leader in any Western country, you may well now be on a target list for assassination by Indian intelligence. As this alarming situation of global Sikh assassinations by local hit men hired by India; and possible threats to Sikhs and other Indian minority communities – primarily Kashmiri leaders, residing in the United States and other Western countries becomes more and more visible to the world, the only thing the US seems to be able to do is lodge weak diplomatic pressure. And, in the meantime, India continues its string of assassinations of Sikhs around the world – as it has now been reported by the Financial Times and The New York Times (23 Nov 2023) that the US initially lodged the complaint about the Pannun assassination attempt back in June of 2023.
India, not only did not much listen to the US complaint but proceeded to assassinate Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in June 2023.
Over the last one year, prominent Sikh leaders have been killed in broad daylight in Canada and the United Kingdom – Ripudaman Singh Malik (in Surrey, BC, Canada on July 14, 2022), Avtar Singh Khanda (on June 15, 2023 in Birmingham, UK), and Hardeep Singh Nijjar (on June 18, 2023 in Surrey, BC). And over the two years prior, Harmeet Singh and Parmjit Singh Panjwar, were assassinated in Pakistan in January 2020 and May 2023, respectively.
The latest revelation of the targeting of a Sikh proponent of Khalistan in the United States, has put the Sikh community in a moment of disbelief about these events – and there may be more revelations about India’s targeting of Sikhs around the world.
There does not appear to be an end – as the assassination of Bhai Nijjar after Pannun’s attempted assassination clearly shows and as several Sikhs around the US have now publicly stated that they have been informed by US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that their life may be in danger.
In retrospect, it is now quite ironic that as the White House and US Congress prepare to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India for a state visit in June of 2023, India and its intelligence agencies were busy attempting assassinations of Sikhs in the same United States. At that time Sikh activists in the US had provided a different perspective and shared their significant concerns with their fellow American Congressional leadership regarding the suppression of religious freedom, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, and even the manipulation of the judicial system in India, little did Sikh activists know that one or some of them were being targeted for assassination by India.
While Sikh activists in the US were informing the Congress and the White House that India is not the shining democracy it portrays itself but rather a well-organized machine operation, led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Singh (RSS) – an arm of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the implementation of the right-wing Hindu fundamentalism across the country and suppressing minority rights – little did those same Sikh activists know that one or some of them could be on the target hit list for assassination by even more organized agents of India’s operation – targets of RAW! Now, one does not have to wonder if there may Sikhs on such lists in Australia or other countries – it is now clear that Sikh proponents of Khalistan are on targeted hit lists for assassination by agents of RAW around the world!
With the revelation that the US launched an official diplomatic complaint to India regarding the attempted assassination of Pannun in the US and the courageous public statements by Prime Minister Trudeau leveling charges of assassination on Canadian soil of a Canadian citizen, Sikhs remain wary if anything can be done to stop India in this global Sikh assassination campaign. Avtar Singh Khanda in the UK, Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US – either assassinated or assassination attempt thwarted, it is not yet known who and where other Sikh proponents of freedom and Khalistan might have been or may well be targets around the world. Which country will the next revelation come from, which Sikh will be identified as the next possible target – the revelations continue, the diplomatic face-offs continue, but unfortunately so does the campaign of the killing of Sikhs by Indian agents continue around the world.
* Views expressed are personal. Author may be reached at jaikaur@protonmail.com