Tensions Strike India and Canada Once Again as Separatist Leader Warns of Threat to Air India Flights
India and Canada are once again facing diplomatic tensions after a prominent separatist leader warned Sikhs not to travel on Air India flights later this month, citing potentially life-threatening consequences.
The Canada-based Khalistani leader, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, released a video in which he repeated multiple threats of danger to those travelling by the Indian state carrier on November 19.
“We are asking the Sikh people not to fly via Air India on November 19. There will be a global blockade. Do not travel by Air India or your life will be in danger,” he said, repeating the threats in a video circulating on social media.
“It is my warning to the government of India,” said Mr. Pannun, who was earlier rumoured to have been killed in a car accident in the US.
Mr Pannun, who is designated an independent terrorist by the Indian government, claimed New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport would be shut down on November 19, calling for its name to be changed.
India is hosting the final match of the international men’s cricket World Cup on the same date.
“It is the same day on which the final match of the World Terror [sic] Cup will be played. It will be shown to the world that a genocide of Sikhs happened in India and India did it. When we liberate Punjab, the name of these airports will be Shahid Beant Singh and Shahid Satwant Singh airport,” said Mr. Pannun, referencing the two separatist leaders who assassinated former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi in October 1984.
The Independent has not verified the authenticity of the video.
On Sunday, Indian officials said they would discuss the threat with Canadian authorities.
“We shall take up the threat against Air India flights originating from and terminating in Canada with the concerned Canadian authorities,” India’s high commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, told the Indian newspaper Hindustan Times.
He added that the Indian authorities had seen the video issued by the Khalistani leader.
“We have studied the contents of the video, which is in clear violation of the Chicago Convention, which lays out a framework for international civil aviation operations. Canada and India, among many other nations, are parties to the convention,” the envoy said.
Weeks before world leaders of the most powerful economies were set to meet for the G20 Summit held in New Delhi, Canada approached its closest allies of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations to jointly raise the issue at the summit, Western officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity told The Washington Post.
