NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India’s anti-terrorism company has filed a case in opposition to a Sikh separatist chief for warning Air India passengers that their lives have been in peril and threatening to not let the flag service function wherever on the planet.

The company stated safety forces have been on alert after the threats by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who acts as normal counsel of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a gaggle campaigning to determine an unbiased Sikh homeland known as Khalistan carved out of India.

The case in opposition to Pannun has been registered beneath provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 and sections of the Indian Penal Code, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) stated in a press release on Monday.

“Pannun threatened that Air India would not be allowed to operate in the world … in his video messages, released on Nov. 4,” it stated, including that he had urged Sikhs to not journey on Air India flights from Sunday, “claiming a threat to their lives”.

Reuters has not independently verified the video messages, which have been extensively shared on social media this month.

Pannun informed Reuters in an emailed response that his message was to “boycott Air India not bomb” and that the Indian authorities was partaking in a disinformation tactic to “crush freedom of expression”.

He added that the “government can not stop SFJ from running secessionist Khalistan referendum, which is the real motive why NIA filed frivolous terror case.”

Air India declined to touch upon the matter. The NIA didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The demand for Khalistan has resurfaced many instances, though it now has little help in India, which sees the motion as a safety menace.

A violent insurgency within the Seventies and Eighties by Sikh militants paralysed the northern state of Punjab, the place Sikhs are a majority, for greater than a decade.

India banned the SFJ as an “unlawful association” in 2019, citing that it was concerned in “anti-national and subversive” actions.

It listed Pannun as an “individual terrorist” in 2020, stating that he was issuing appeals to “Punjab-based gangsters and youth” to combat for Khalistan.

The inside ministry stated that 12 months that Pannun, initially from a village in Punjab, was residing within the United States. Media stated he has citizenship of U.S. and Canada.

Interpol has rejected two requests by India to subject a crimson nook discover in opposition to him, The Indian Express newspaper stated in October final 12 months. The SFJ says it has places of work in Britain, Canada and U.S.

The threats come as Canadian businesses examine allegations linking India’s brokers to the killing of a Sikh separatist chief there, which has frayed ties between the 2 nations. India has rejected Canada’s suspicions.

In the wake of the threats, investigations have been launched in Canada, India and another nations the place the airline owned by the Tata Group conglomerate operates, the NIA stated.

Air India has beforehand been focused by Sikh militants, who have been blamed for a bombing in 1985 of its Boeing 747 plane flying from Canada to India that killed all 329 individuals aboard off the Irish coast.

Pannun has additionally beforehand threatened to disrupt railways and thermal energy crops in India, the company stated.

(Reporting by Shivam Patel; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and David Gregorio)

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