{"id":7213,"date":"2023-09-24T02:54:07","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T02:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/india-confiscates-properties-of-top-sikh-separatist-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2023-09-24T02:54:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T02:54:07","slug":"india-confiscates-properties-of-top-sikh-separatist-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/india-confiscates-properties-of-top-sikh-separatist-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"India confiscates properties of top Sikh separatist | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nNEW DELHI,:
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India’s top investigation agency confiscated Saturday the properties of a prominent Sikh separatist and close ally of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose killing has sparked a diplomatic row between India and Canada.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He is also the founder of the US-based group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), whose Canada chapter was headed by Nijjar before he was gunned down by masked assailants in June near Vancouver.<\/p>\n

The group, which has been banned by India, has been a vocal advocate for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan.<\/p>\n

A diplomatic firestorm erupted this week with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying there were “credible reasons to believe that agents of the government of India were involved” in Nijjar’s death.<\/p>\n

New Delhi dismissed Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd”, tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions followed, and India has stopped processing visa applications by Canadians.<\/p>\n

Pannun jumped into the raging row and issued a video telling Canadian Hindus to “go back to India”, claiming they had adopted a “jingoistic approach” by siding with New Delhi.<\/p>\n

In an interview with an Indian news channel, Pannun said Nijjar had been his “close associate” for over 20 years and was like a “younger brother” to him. He also blamed India for Nijjar’s killing.<\/p>\n

Read<\/strong>\u00a0US urges India to cooperate with Canada on Sikh leader’s killing probe<\/a><\/p>\n

Soon after his interview was aired, the Indian government issued an advisory to news networks asking them to refrain from giving a platform to people accused of “heinous crimes”.<\/p>\n

Armed with court orders, officials of India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday confiscated Pannun’s house in Chandigarh, the capital of the Sikh-majority state of Punjab, it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The NIA also confiscated agricultural land belonging to him in Amritsar, it added.<\/p>\n

It accused Pannun of “actively exhorting Punjab-based gangsters and youth” on social media “to fight for the cause of independent state of Khalistan, challenging the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country”.<\/p>\n

Sikhism is a minority religion originating in northern India that traces its roots back to the 15th century and drew influences from both Hinduism and Islam.<\/p>\n

The Khalistan campaign was largely considered a benign fringe movement until the early 1980s, when a charismatic Sikh fundamentalist launched a violent separatist insurgency.<\/p>\n

It culminated with Indian forces storming the Golden Temple, the faith’s holiest shrine in Amritsar, where separatists had barricaded themselves.<\/p>\n

India’s prime minister Indira Gandhi was subsequently assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.<\/p>\n

The insurgency was eventually brought under control and the Khalistan movement’s most vocal advocates are now among the large Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada, Britain and Australia.<\/p>\n

But memories of the violence — in which thousands died — still haunt India, which has outlawed the Khalistan movement and listed several associated groups as “terrorist organisations”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n