LONDON: Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) leader and India's most wanted man Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was also the target of a failed Indian assassination plot in Canada during a Sikh wedding, new evidence has revealed.
The US government revealed a few months ago that it had foiled a high-profile Indian government assassination plot against Pannun in New York last year (around the time Pannun's friend and SFJ Canada leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was murdered), but it was not known. until now that the Indian government had also planned to assassinate Pannun at a wedding in Canada that he was widely rumored to be attending.
Canada respected CBC News has reported that the Nov. 3, 2023, arrest of Amandeep Singh, one of four men charged in a murder directly linked by Ottawa to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, in Brampton, Ont., was made one day before a wedding in the city that brought together key figures from New Delhi's Sikh enemies list, who were pro-Khalistan Sikhs from Canada and the United States.
Amandeep was arrested with a loaded FN509 9mm pistol containing a prohibited 24-round extended magazine, while three others were arrested with loaded extended magazines. They were all believed to be looking for Pannun, who is also a New York-based attorney.
Sikh insiders expected American-Canadian citizen Pannun, considered one of India's top priority targets, to attend the wedding due to his close friendship with the groom's father and veteran Khalistani activist Santokh Singh Khela.
Initially charged with firearms, drug and rape offences, Amandeep spent six months in pre-trial detention before also being charged with first-degree murder in the Nijjar case.
According to a US federal indictment unsealed in November, Indian agents attempted to assassinate Pannun in New York City by mistakenly approaching a confidential informant for the US Drug Enforcement Administration to hire a hitman.
Pannun, who is currently under the protection of the US government, heads Sikhs for Justice, the organization behind the global referendum effort.
India has called him a wanted terrorist, but he claims his group operates solely by peaceful means.
Pannun decided that his presence at the wedding would affect his host and other guests, prompting him to call Khela and announce his decision to forgo attending the gathering, CBS News said.
Hitman Amandeep was arrested in Brampton on November 3, 2023, four and a half months after the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the gurdwara parking lot on June 18, 2023. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly said there is credible information that points to the Indian government's involvement in Nijjar's murder under the instructions of Narendra Modi.
The November 4, 2023 wedding of the son of a prominent Khalistani activist at a gurdwara in Brampton was attended by several Khalistanis who also have reason to believe their lives are in danger from the Indian government, including some who have received ” “Duty to Warn” letters from Canadian intelligence. At the last minute, Pannun called his friend and told him he would not be attending for security reasons and also because his presence would divert attention from the family.
On 10 September 2023, the Sikhs for Justice held one of a series of referendums on Punjabi independence from India at the local Gurdwara in Surrey, the electoral college was overwhelmed by high turnout and many local Sikhs were turned away without be able to vote. a ballot A public meeting was held at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara to schedule a second round of voting for October 29, 2023.
Veteran Khalistani activist Santokh Singh Khela said he realized that the second round of voting would conflict with his son's wedding, scheduled for the previous day.
“We have to postpone that because all the Sikh referendum volunteers, all the guys, the organisers, they were all coming to the wedding. So we decided there, [the] The wedding will be organized in a week. After that, the date was November 4,” Khela said. CBC News.
The new wedding date was announced publicly. Confidential sources said CBC News that there are informants within the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara who pass information to the government of India.
“I was universally supposed to be in Brampton for the wedding of the son of one of my dearest and oldest friends. This was the general perception in the community, that I would attend a religious function because it is the only function I have ever had. I attended the “Last until about a day (before), I was very sure I would go and then I decided not to go to avoid being a burden on my friend's family,” Pannun told CBS News.
Moninder Singh Bual, who was a close friend and associate of Nijjar and who also received “Duty to Warn” letters from the RCMP at the same time in 2022, arrived in Brampton from British Columbia (BC) on the afternoon of November 3, 2023. .
“It was the night before the wedding and I was there,” she said.
Bual said he overheard conversations while in British Columbia about potential dangers in Ontario.
“I heard something when I was leaving Vancouver, that I should be very careful while I'm in Toronto, as there were people here in Vancouver who could potentially be in Toronto now and who might want to harm us in some way.” he said.
“I think they would probably refer to them as Sikh leaders from around the country. A lot of people who were there that day, whether they're from Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver or Montreal, you know, are totally committed to that Khalistan movement,” he added.
On the same day Bual arrived in Ontario, Peel Regional Police made two traffic stops: the first at noon in Vaughan, Ontario, and the second almost four hours later in Brampton.
They arrested Amandeep, who was detained for possession of firearms, drugs and breach of conditions. Last month, he was also charged with first-degree murder in Nijjar's death.
The first traffic stop yielded a loaded FN509 9mm handgun containing a prohibited 24-round extended magazine. The second stop produced two more loaded extended magazines.
CBC News said he had obtained a video showing Amandeep driving a car on a highway at night with his left hand on the wheel and an earth-colored semi-automatic pistol in his right hand.
Khela said CBC News that Canadian police have contacted him several times since the wedding, encouraging him to take precautions by installing cameras in the front and back of his house, among other things.
Bual returned to British Columbia the day after the wedding unaware of the November 3 arrests.
“If we look back at that weekend, we will see the types of arrests that were made of the fourth shooter in the Hardeep case,” he said.
“Now it seems like there are a lot of dots that could be connected over that weekend. We have the American indictment coming out a couple of weeks later that says it wasn't just Hardeep. There were three or four other Khalistani Sikh leaders in Canada. [allegedly targeted by India]. “There may not have been a more opportune time than that weekend, when so many of us were gathering, for something to really happen,” she added.
Pannun, Bual and Khela, in total CBC News that the arrests of Amandeep Singh and seven other men – including three others charged with Nijjar's murder – have not ended the danger they face from the Indian government.
“Indian Prime Minister Mr Modi, his Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Defense Minister Mr Rajnath Singh have all made statements that they are actually taking credit for such killings in foreign countries. “Bual said.
On May 23, Modi appeared to take credit for foreign killings at a campaign rally in Patiala, Punjab.
Modi told the crowd that his government “has the courage to enter the homes of terrorists and kill them.”
Pannun said Indian authorities are not receiving clear enough signals from the U.S. and Canadian governments that illegal activities in North America will not be tolerated.
“(Modi) said that when he returns to power in six months, there will be no designated terrorist left,” he said.
“They're going to eliminate everyone.”
