Washington: In a video, US-based designated terrorist G. S. Pannu of the outlawed Sikh for Justice (SFJ) organization offered a reward of $ 125,000 to anyone with information about the foreign trips of Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma, Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, and Home Minister Amit Shah for their involvement in the plot to kill another Khalistan terrorist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Vancouver in June.
Pannun, a dual citizen of the US and Canada who is wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, vowed to hold the aforementioned individuals liable under international law for the murder of Nijjar, who was shot dead during gang rivalry among Sikh extremists.
The SFJ has given a call to Sikh radicals based in Canada to lay siege to Indian diplomatic premises in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver on August 15 and also declared September 10 for a so-called Sikh referendum in Vancouver.
The intelligence agencies and local law enforcement was already informed by the Indian diplomats based in Canada about the bounty on heads of Shah, Jaishankar and Verma, the inaction of India’s close ally US on Pannun is all the more intriguing as the two countries have robust cooperation on counter-terrorism.
Even though extremist Pannun has declared the reward ostensibly for picketing these top leaders and a diplomat when on foreign visit, the fact is that this is an open threat by the terror leader to target Shah, Jaishankar and Verma in the coming days. While India’s top diplomat Jaishankar travels abroad most frequently, Home Minister Amit Shah has no interest in travelling outside India till the time Indian NRIs are allowed to vote in Indian general election.