After 'fresh evidence', Centre to ban 'Sikhs For Justice' for another 5 years

New Delhi: The Centre is all set to ban 'Sikhs For Justice' (SFJ) for another five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, citing "fresh evidence" from the investigation carried out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), against SFJ and its patron Gurupatwant Singh Pannun, said officials.

The NIA is investigating half a dozen cases against SFJ and Pannun, a US national. The agency last year attached his properties in Punjab and Chandigarh UT. SFJ was banned for the first time on July 10, 2019, under UAPA for five years. According to the NIA, Pannun has been playing a major role in promoting and commissioning terror acts and activities, and spreading fear and terror in Punjab and elsewhere in India through threats and intimidation tactics. "NIA investigations have further revealed that Pannun's organisation, Sikhs for Justice, was misusing cyberspace to radicalise gullible youth and to instigate them to undertake terrorist crimes and activities," according to the agency.

NIA investigations stated that Pannu was the main handler and controller of the SFJ. He has been actively exhorting Punjab-based gangsters and youth over social media to fight for the cause of an independent state of Khalistan, challenging the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. NIA probe has shown Pannun has been in the news for issuing blatant threats to senior Indian diplomats and government functionaries in public forums.

SFJ is also alleged to be involved in the Model Jail tiffin bomb case of April 2022 in Punjab which was orchestrated by Jaswinder Singh alias Multani, based in Germany. Multani, a member of the banned SFJ, was in touch with pro-Khalistan operatives based in India, Pakistan and other countries, and was using them to promote violence and terror. He was identifying, recruiting, motivating and radicalising youth of Punjab through social media, as per the NIA investigations. He was also sending/raising funds and coordinating the movement of arms & ammunition, as well as explosives from Pakistan into India, the agency stated.

An Indian national Nikhil Gupta, also known as Nick, 53, was arrested and detained in the Czech Republic and extradited to the United States on June 14 this year in an alleged plot to kill Pannun, also involving an Indian government official, according to the US Justice Department.

Earlier, in a statement issued after extradition of Gupta last month, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco of US justice department noted, "This murder-for-hire plot - allegedly orchestrated by an Indian government employee to kill a US citizen in New York City - was a brazen attempt to silence a political activist for exercising a quintessential American right: his freedom of speech."