A prominent Canadian Sikh activist says he received a new “duty to warn” notification from the RCMP this week informing him of a credible threat to his life, which he calls proof that transnational repression by India of the pro-Khalistan movement is ongoing.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen and lawyer with the New York-based group Sikhs for Justice, added he also received a similar threat notification from the FBI earlier this month.
“(The RCMP) stated that since I’m a Canadian citizen … this is our duty to give you a warning that there is exactly the same thing as what the FBI stated, that there’s a credible threat to your life,” Pannun said in an interview Wednesday.
He said the RCMP would not divulge who was behind the threat or the motivation behind it.
“They stated since this threat is credible and imminent, it is still under investigation,” he said.
Pannun added that several other pro-Khalistan activists have also recently received “duty to warn” notifications from Canadian law enforcement. He said those names were included in a so-called “kill list” of over 100 Canadians who Pannun alleges are under surveillance by Indian intelligence.
He said the RCMP officials visited him in New York in June after Pannun alerted the federal government to the list, which he then gave to the RCMP. He said the “duty to warn” notifications began some time after that meeting.
The RCMP told Global News on Thursday that, while it wouldn’t confirm the identities of individuals who received notifications or details about the alleged threats in question, “we can confirm that duty to warns have been conducted by law enforcement across the country with members of the South Asian community.”
“The safety and security of Canadians, regardless of their background or beliefs, remains a top priority for the RCMP,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We will not tolerate any form of intimidation, harassment, or harmful targeting of communities or individuals in Canada.”
The FBI declined to comment on the matter.
Pannun has already faced an assassination plot that U.S. court documents last year said was led by a senior Indian intelligence officer.
The U.S. Justice Department alleged that officer had recruited Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national and businessman suspected of drugs and weapons trafficking, to conduct the killing.
Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty in February to U.S. charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is due to be sentenced in November, and could face about 20 to 24 years in prison under recommended federal sentencing guidelines.
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India has denied any involvement in the alleged plot against Pannun or any other attempts to target Sikh activists and politicians in Canada.
But Pannun says that, because of the earlier case, “there should not be any doubt who is behind these assassination plots and death threats to me or to my Khalistan referendum coordinators and organizers in Canada.”
“Since (the foiled plot), I have received multiple death threats,” he added.
“The common ground and the common between all of us who are receiving duty to warn and death threats is the Khalistan referendum.”
Pannun was a close associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C., on June 18, 2023 — a killing Canada has blamed on India.
Both victims were involved in a symbolic referendum on Khalistan, the independent state they had campaigned to establish in what is now India’s Sikh-majority Punjab.
The Indian government considers such activities as terrorism, and has banned Pannun’s group Sikhs for Justice as an unlawful organization.
The group has since organized multiple symbolic Khalistan referendums, including an upcoming ballot in Edmonton in October.
Pannun says the new threat won’t prevent him from attending the referendum in person.
“Actually, that is encouraging me,” he said. “I may not have gone, but now, now I will make sure that I attend because I’m not afraid of their bullets.
“We are responding to India’s violence with our votes, and that is our right.”
He added, however, that the new threat underscores India’s continued transnational repression and urged the Canadian government to act.
Earlier this year, ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trip to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a senior official said during a background call with reporters that the government believed India was no longer plotting attacks on Canadians.
That statement has been refuted by Liberal MPs and appeared to contradict findings by the RCMP and other Canadian security agencies.
Carney, who has sought to repair ties and strike new economic deals with India as he steers Canada away from reliance on U.S. trade, has hedged on publicly reviving the accusations against Modi’s government.
In recent months, the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which India had allegedly cooperated with to target opponents in Canada, has been tied to the extortion crisis in cities with large South Asian populations.
Pannun said he wrote to Carney this summer expressing his concerns and calling for more government action.
A written response dated July 21 and signed by assistant deputy public safety minister Richard Bilodeau, a copy of which was provided to Global News, said the government takes threats to the safety and security of Canadians seriously and has taken steps to combat foreign interference and transnational repression.
“Canada has also made it clear to senior Indian officials that there is zero tolerance for transnational repression or other illegal activities by foreign diplomats in this country,” the letter says.
“As part of the Government of Canada’s constructive engagement with the Government of India on mutual priorities, we will continue to highlight the importance of respect for the rule of law, the integrity and independence of judicial processes, and the principle of non-interference.”
Public Safety Canada confirmed the correspondence when contacted by Global News.
Pannun said Ottawa’s actions don’t match what he said the government official told him, but have rather “emboldened” the Indian government to continue its transnational repression operations.
“The Carney government would be responsible for my assassination or the assassination of my colleagues because they already know that the Indian government, through their operatives, are plotting assassinations,” he said. “And what exactly is the Carney government’s response? A duty to warn. That is the best weapon they have so far.
“What we see is that the sovereignty of Canada, the national security of Canada and the safety of the citizens, is on sale … at the price of a trade deal.”
—with files from Global’s Stewart Bell
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