US-based Khalistani extremist and founder of the terror outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has released a video threatening to plunge India into darkness on August 15. Pannun is seen urging the Sikhs to disrupt the coal supply of thermal power plants in major Indian cities, including Delhi.
The Khalistani terror outfit was founded in October 2007. In 2018, the SFJ announced, “Referendum 2020”, for creating a separate Sikh nation Khalistan carved out of India. The SFJ was banned in India in 2019 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. In April 2022, SFJ announced to hoist Khalistan flags all over Punjab and Haryana to commemorate Khalistan Declaration Day.
The SFJ has carried out multiple terror attacks in the recent past. The terror outfit took the responsibility for the attack on the Intelligence Wing of Punjab Police in Mohali, in May 2022.
Last month, Haryana Police booked the SFJ for sabotaging the railway track near Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant in Khedar of Hisar district. Khalistani terrorists had removed 65 fish plates and pandrol clips from the railway track. This was done as part of the SFJ’s “plunging India into darkness” campaign. Along with this, the SFJ had also written Khalistan Zindabad slogans in Punjabi on the railway bridge of the Hisar – Chandigarh highway.
In March 2022, the intelligence agencies issued an alert that Pannun had issued a warning to the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, stating that flags of Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and Khalistan would be hoisted in the state capital Shimla.
