Sikh activist says he received new RCMP ‘duty to warn’ of threat to life

A prominent Canadian Sikh activist says he received a new “duty to warn” notification from the RCMP this week informing him of a credible threat to his life, which he calls proof that transnational repression by India of the pro-Khalistan movement is ongoing.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen and lawyer with the New York-based group Sikhs for Justice, added he also received a similar threat notification from the FBI earlier this month.

“(The RCMP) stated that since I’m a Canadian citizen … this is our duty to give you a warning that there is exactly the same thing as what the FBI stated, that there’s a credible threat to your life,” Pannun said in an interview Wednesday.

He said the RCMP would not divulge who was behind the threat or the motivation behind it.

“They stated since this threat is credible and imminent, it is still under investigation,” he said.

Pannun added that several other pro-Khalistan activists have also recently received “duty to warn” notifications from Canadian law enforcement. He said those names were included in a so-called “kill list” of over 100 Canadians who Pannun alleges are under surveillance by Indian intelligence.

He said the RCMP officials visited him in New York in June after Pannun alerted the federal government to the list, which he then gave to the RCMP. He said the “duty to warn” notifications began some time after that meeting.

Global News has reached out to the RCMP for comment, and has not otherwise independently verified Pannun’s claims.

Pannun has already faced an assassination plot that U.S. court documents last year said was led by a senior Indian intelligence officer.

The U.S. Justice Department alleged that officer had recruited Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national and businessman suspected of drugs and weapons trafficking, to conduct the killing.

Gupta, 54, pleaded guilty in February to U.S. charges of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is due to be sentenced in November, and could face about 20 to 24 years in prison under recommended federal sentencing guidelines.

India has denied any involvement in the alleged plot against Pannun or any other attempts to target Sikh activists and politicians in Canada.

But Pannun says that, because of the earlier case, “there should not be any doubt who is behind these assassination plots and death threats to me or to my Khalistan referendum coordinators and organizers in Canada.”

“Since (the foiled plot), I have received multiple death threats,” he added.