The leader of the North American Khalistan movement has issued a $11,000 reward for information about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s departure flight details.
In the video on Monday, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the General Counsel for Sikhs for Justice, urged supporters to fly Air Canada instead of Air India. Sikhs for Justice has organized several symbolic referendum protests to create a new Sikh-majority nation in the Indian province of Punjab and parts of other Indian states.
Pannun helped organize a protest in Calgary on Monday, where around 50 to 100 Khalistan separatist protesters were calling to “ambush Modi.” At one point, a protester led a chant of “Kill Modi,” to which the crowd responded, “politics.”
Pannun called on Indian-Canadians who are Hindu to “move back to India,” with Modi, but warned them to take “Air Canada” and not “Air India.”
During Monday’s protest, according to independent journalist Mocha Bezirgan, Khalistan supporters chanted “Parmar’s ideology is ours to guide,” a reference to a Sikh activist accused of taking part in the Air India bombings in Montreal in 1985.
Pannun claimed that the reason he wants Modi’s flight details is so Khalistan separatists can “deliver the mortal remains” of a burnt effigy of the Indian prime minister, and the Indian flag to Modi.
Sikhs for Justice claim their protest is to hold Modi accountable for the alleged killing of Shaheed Nijjar on Canadian soil, a Khalistani separatist and for an alleged Indian “kill list” of pro-Khalistan Canadian Sikhs.
Pannun did not provide further comment.
Sikhs for Justice is a banned organization, designated as an “unlawful association” by the Indian government. Similarly, Pannun was designated as an individual terrorist by Modi’s government.
The RCMP did not respond to True North’s requests for comment.
Tuesday, Calgary told True North that they did not consider the chants at the Khalistan protest at Calgary City Hall to constitute criminal activity and that no arrests were made.