Gurpatwant Singh Pannu

Gurpatwant Singh Pannu
Born	Gurpatwant Singh Pannun Khankot, Amritsar
Nationality	American
Other names	Pannun
Known for	Anti-Indian activities

Gurpatwant Singh Pannu

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Lawyer, is the founder and leader of the New York based pro-Khalistan group “Sikh for Justice-(SFJ)” an organization founded in 2007 that supports the secession of Punjab from India as Khalistan. He is spearheading a campaign “Referendum 2020” which seeks to liberate Punjab from India.

SFJ was banned in India in 2019 as an unlawful association. Pannun runs a law firm in USA and has offices in New York and California and currently resides there.

Pannun is campaigning for a Punjab independence referendum to carve out a separate Khalistan as a part of its separatist agenda. Reportedly, Pak ISI has been funding Khalistan groups, including Sikhs for Justice. On July 1, 2020, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was declared as a "terrorist" by the Indian Government under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for promoting secessionism and encouraging Punjabi Sikh youth to take up arms. The NIA has filed (Dec 09, 2020) a charge sheet against 16 foreign-based Khalistani supporters including Pannun for the 2020 referendum by SFJ.

Pannun is under investigation in multiple cases for radicalizing Sikh youth for the purpose of reviving militancy in Punjab and the creation of Khalistan under the banner ‘Punjab Referendum 2020 for Khalistan’ apart from organizing demonstrations and on-ground campaigns outside India’s diplomatic missions in the UK, Canada, US, Germany and other countries.

He has issued an appeal to Punjab based gangsters and youth to fight for the cause of independent state of Khalistan. He has demanded a separate Sikh state on the pattern of Catalonia, Spain. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and his SFJ have been filling court cases against Indian political leaders during their visit to USA/Canada. Pannun is very active close on social media.

Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) has been inciting Indian farmers against recently legislated farm laws and have organized protests outside Indian Missions in US, Canada, UK and Europe. In a bid to repeat the Republic Day violence this year, Pannun led SFJ had asked the farmers (Jul. 21, 2021) to besiege the Parliament on June 22 protest rally.

He has also been instigating Indian soldiers belonging to Punjab, West Bengal, and Maharashtra to desert and fight against Indian state. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has launched a probe against anti-India activities of  Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Earlier Pannun had also penned a letter (Jun 17, 2020) to Chinese premier Xi Jinping seeking help 'against' India.

Background:

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s spent his earlier life in Punjab (India) and belongs to a rich family.  Since his early days, his thoughts were radicalised. Before leaving for USA (in mid 90s), Pannun was declared a Proclaimed Offender by Chandigarh Court for a case registered against him under unlawful activities.

Pannun did his law graduation from New York in 2003 and started practicing law there. In USA, he came in contact of many pro-Khalistan operatives including Dr. Amarjit Singh, Chief Khalistan Affairs, USA and Dr. Paramjit Singh chief of anti-defamation Sikh Council for freedom of Khalistan, USA. His last known visit to India is June-July 2015.

Leading a banned organisation :

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is a founder and legal advisor of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), an US-based pro-Khalistan organisation, formed in 2007. SFJ has been banned by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India in July 2019 under UAP Act for its secessionist and terror related activities. He is actively involved in promoting Sikh militancy with the help of Pakistan ISI and is closely associated with prominent Sikh radical operatives including known terrorists like Jagtar Singh Tara (now arrested in India), Canada-based Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Hong Kong-based Ramanjit Singh Romi (now arrested in Hong Kong) and UK-based Paramjit Singh Pamma among others. In March 2018, Pannun travelled to Hong Kong in the wake of the arrest of Ramanjit Singh Romi in connection with robbery charges in Hong Kong on February 21, 2018. Objective of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s visit to Hong Kong was to defend Ramanjit Singh Romi in the local court and also contesting India’s extradition request for Romi. Ramanjit Singh Romi was instrumental in providing funds and other logistical support which resulted in the escape of noted gangster Vicky Gounder and Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief, Harminder Singh Mintoo from Nabha Jail in November 2016.

He is spearheading the campaign for ‘Sikh Referendum 2020’ in USA, Canada and Europe. The campaign aims to bring the concept of Sikh Nation on a common platform to present their case to the UN for an Independent Punjab aka Khalistan. The movement is actually concepted by few pro-Khalistani leaders fulfilling their own agenda by making pseudo allegations that Sikhs are neither safe nor have religious freedom in India.

Contacts with Pakistan:

Analysis of Sikhs for Justice Facebook Page and their Propaganda website www.yesfor2020.net indicates that they are being operated from Pakistan. It had earlier been observed that data for SFJ run websites were fed from suspected Pak-run servers.   

Pannun on behalf of SFJ Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) has filed a 100 million dollar lawsuit in a Houston Court on 19th September 2019 for alleged torture in Kashmir. The lawsuit is accepted and is assigned to Judge Andrew S Hanen . The lawsuit was filed under the newly erected banner “Kashmir Khalsitan Referendum Front’ by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who is spokesperson of Kashmir Khalsitan Referendum Front as well as Sikhs for Justice.

Under an operation namely ‘Operation Express 2020’, ISI planned to motivate Sikh community to propagate/ channelize their demand of self-determination under UNO charter. ISI planned to arrange a Referendum for forwarding Sikhs demand of Self-determination to UNO. Under this programme, SFJ is arranging a non-binding plebiscite in August 2021 (Earlier it was scheduled in November 2020) for establishing Khalistan state.  

Support to China :

Pannun on behalf of SFJ reacted (June 17, 2020) on the June 15th clash between Indo-Chinese armies in Galwan Valley and condemned India’s ‘Violent Aggression’ causing death of several soldiers of China. He empathized with the people of China by writing a letter to Chinese President.  Separately, in an earlier media flash, Pannun was trying to woo Chinese officials by supporting Chinese military in the ongoing conflict at Indo-China border.

Involvement in terror related activities :

Punjab Police busted a Sikh terror module in May 2018 by arresting local Sikh youth Dharminder Singh and Kirpal Singh and recovered weapons from them, bought for terror related activities. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was in direct contact with the module members and instigating them for violence. During investigation, the accused confessed that they were being funded by foreign-based handlers including Pannun.

Two more separate terror modules of Shabnamdeep Singh and Sukhraj Singh were busted (Oct 2018) by Punjab Police. Shabhnamdeep was in contact with Pak-based Gopal Singh Chawla, a known SFJ activist and associate of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The other module was in communication with UK-based SFJ activist Dupinderjit Singh. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun supported the module members and appealed for all possible help to them.

In addition to above, Pannun has written to Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party, Canada urging him to condemn the Anti Sikh violence of 1984 and respect Canadian Sikhs right to peacefully advocate for Khalistan. This is in response to comments made by Andrew Scher on 10th October 2018 during his visit to Golden Temple, Amritsar in which he said that the conservative party stands for a United India and does not engage with anyone who choose violence to achieve as political agenda.

Fund Collection :

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun collects funds on behalf of SFJ on regular basis from various channels including Pak-Intelligence agency ISI. During the SFJ organized event ‘London Declaration’ on Aug 12, 2018 at London, it is assessed that ISI had given huge amount for the success of the event. Although no definite evidence could be procured yet in this connection, many pro-Khalistan elements based in Canada and European countries have raised queries regarding the details of funding and doubted that ISI was behind the show.

Separately, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun visited UK (he reached from Portugal on 31st December 2018 and left for the US on 2nd January 2019) and held a meeting with UK based Sikh radicals on 1st January 2019 at Hayes (in London) in connection with ‘Referendum 2020’ and collected funds. An amount of around £35,500/- (shared by Gurpreet Singh £ 10,000/-, Gurchait Singh Bhullar £ 10,000/-, Gurminder Singh £ 5,000/-, Dalwinder Singh £ 5,000/- and Inderjit Singh Dhillon £ 5,500/-) was handed over to Pannun for expenditure during his upcoming visit to Pakistan for further discussion on the proposed events, with Pak authorities/ISI.also spell as Pannun is a US-based individual terrorist, founder and self-styled chief of the banned pro-Khalistan outfit Sikhs for Justice. On July 1, 2020, he was declared as an "individual terrorist" under the UAPA for promoting secessionism and allegedly encouraging Punjabi Sikh youth to take up arms. In October 2020, just a week before the death anniversary of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, Pannu released a video message through his TV channel urging Indian students to raise pro-Khalistan slogans and hoisting the Khalistan flag in return for iPhone 12 Mini with pre-installed Punjab Referendum apps and VPN to safely connect with SJF's Voter Registration database circumventing the Ministry of Home Affairs’ ban. In 2020, the Indian government had attached Pannun's properties under the section 51A of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). After the infamous flag hoisting incident on Indian republic day, India's National Investigating Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against six people including Pannun, under various sections of IPC and the UAPA act. It has alleged that Pannun financed the incident and sent money illegally to fuel riots on the Indian republic day in 2021.

The organization earlier issued a cash reward of up to $500,000 just before India’s Independence Day if someone hoisted the Khalistan flag from the Red Fort and small cash rewards of up to ₹50,000 were also offered if Khalistan sympathisers managed to hoist Khalistani flags at administration blocks in Punjab, with money being transferred via Western Union Money Transfer facility.

Charges

• FIR No. 149, Dt. 6/7/17, u/s 124- A, 153-A & B and 120-B IPC, PS Sohana, Distt. SAS Nagar.
• FIR No. 46 dated 31.05.2018 u/s 307, 438, 427, 148, 149, IPC 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, 25, 54, 59 Arms Act and PS Ranghar Nangal Distt. Batala