In a move that further exacerbates diplomatic tensions between India and Canada, authorities in India have seized the assets, including properties and arable land, belonging to Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a prominent pro-Khalistan leader and a close associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose murder had ignited a diplomatic row between the two nations.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer believed to be based in Canada, was designated as a terrorist by Indian authorities in 2020 and is wanted on charges of terrorism and sedition. Pannun is also the founder of the US-based group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), which has been banned in India and has advocated for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan.
The diplomatic turmoil began when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that there were “credible reasons to believe that agents of the government of India were involved” in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the former head of SFJ’s Canada chapter. India promptly dismissed Trudeau’s allegations, leading to reciprocal diplomatic expulsions, and India halted the processing of visa applications from Canadian citizens.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun intensified the dispute by issuing a video statement in which he urged Canadian Hindus to “go back to India” and accused them of adopting a “jingoistic approach” by aligning with New Delhi. Pannun also claimed that Nijjar had been his “close associate” for over two decades and blamed India for Nijjar’s murder.
In response to Pannun’s media presence, the Indian government issued an advisory to news networks, asking them to refrain from providing a platform to individuals accused of “heinous crimes.”
Over the weekend, armed with court orders, officials from India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) confiscated Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s residence in Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab, a Sikh-majority state. The NIA also seized agricultural land belonging to him in Amritsar. The NIA accused Pannun of “actively exhorting Punjab-based gangsters and youth” on social media to “fight for the cause of an independent state of Khalistan, challenging the sovereignty, integrity, and security of the country.”
Sikhism, a minority religion originating in northern India, traces its roots back to the 15th century and incorporates influences from both Hinduism and Islam. The Khalistan movement gained prominence in the early 1980s when a charismatic Sikh fundamentalist launched a violent separatist insurgency. The insurgency culminated in Indian forces storming the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of Sikhism in Amritsar, where separatists had taken refuge. The turmoil resulted in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards. While the insurgency was eventually brought under control, the Khalistan movement continues to have vocal advocates among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada, Britain, and Australia.
