Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has said he is “not afraid” of any threats coming his way and will continue to campaign for the Khalistan referendum. He also has referred to India’s former High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, as a “hypocrite”.
Days after Verma was recalled after Canada said senior diplomats were “persons of interest” in the Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder probe, Pannun, in an interview with Canada-based CTV News, said he was confident that more evidence will come to light in connection with his and Nijjar’s case.
“I’m not afraid of any threats, and I’m not going to stop campaigning for the global Khalistan referendum,” Pannun told CTV News on October 21.
“Verma is less of a diplomat and more of a hypocrite. What needs to be done is to decimate and dismantle the spy network, which they have built under Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Verma,” the Khalistani separatist alleged during the interview.
“These Vancouver and Toronto Indian consulates are the hub of the spy network,” he added. “Until these two consulates are permanently closed, they will keep on assassinating and challenging Canadian sovereignty.”
After he was recalled, Sanjay Kumar Verma, also during an interview with CTV News, on October 20 said the Justin Trudeau government in Canada encourages Khalistani extremists “all the time”.
“This is my allegation, I also know that some of these Khalistani extremists and terrorists are deep assets of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), again I’m not giving any evidence,” he said.
Verma also denied any wrongdoing or involvement in Nijjar’s murder and reiterated that the Canadian government had not handed over “a shred of evidence” to the Indian government.
On being asked about the former Indian envoy’s statement, Pannun accused the diplomat of giving “deceitful and deceptive responses”, and claimed he was confident more evidence would come to light connecting his case and Nijjar’s.
Pannun, who holds dual citizenship of the US and Canada, has been designated a terrorist by the Ministry of Home Affairs since July 2020 on charges of sedition and secessionism.
The assassination bid on Pannun was foiled in June last year following the arrest of another co-conspirator in the case, Nikhil Gupta, who is presently lodged in a US prison after his extradition from the Czech Republic.
According to news agency PTI, Vikash Yadav, a former Indian government official charged by the US authorities for his alleged role in a foiled plot to assassinate Pannun on American soil, was arrested by Delhi Police in December last year in an unrelated extortion and kidnapping case.
Quoting police sources, PTI reported that the Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested Yadav (39) on December 18, 2023, for allegedly kidnapping a businessman living in Rohini and demanding money in the name of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
He was granted bail in April this year.
THE INDIA-CANADA ROW
The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar, a designated terrorist in India, who was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Canada’s Surrey on June 18, 2023.
New Delhi rejected Trudeau’s charges as “absurd”.
Following Ottawa’s fresh allegations of the Indian government’s involvement in Nijjar’s killing, New Delhi expelled Canadian Charge d’Affaires Stewart Wheeler and five other diplomats. The Canadian diplomats left New Delhi on the evening of October 18.
India also recalled its High Commissioner and five more diplomats.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government said the Indian diplomats were expelled from the country.
During his latest media briefing, Trudeau, referring to findings by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), claimed that it has “clear and compelling evidence that agents of the government of India have engaged in, and continue to engage in, activities that pose a significant threat to public safety.”
“This includes clandestine information gathering techniques, coercive behaviour targeting South Asian Canadians, and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violent acts, including murder. This is unacceptable,” he alleged.
The Canadian Prime Minister said his government’s attempts to work with India did not yield any result.
India trashed Trudeau’s charges.
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