MAN WITH A LONG SHADOW

India has strong evidence about Gurpatwant Singh Pannun's network in Canada

- NAMRATA BIJI AHUJA

At 5ft 9in, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is hardly tall by Punjabi standards. Nor does he have any stature in Punjab-the people there, including Sikh hardliners, rejected his call for a Khalistan referendum in 2020. He drew attention when he stood on a Canadian street threatening all and sundry during the G20 summit in New Delhi in September.

Pannun, 55, was not a recognisable face anywhere until a few years ago. In the late 1990s, his parents found his name on a proclaimed criminal offenders list, and the law graduate from Panjab University was packed off to the US to pursue a master's in law in New York.

In the US, he found support of a criminal-terror nexus that stretched beyond New York and Washington and into Canada. As per National Investigation Agency records, his rise as a terror ideologue came about during his travels from the Empire State Building in New York, where he runs a law firm on the 59th floor, to the streets of Surrey and Ottawa. India declared him a terrorist in 2020.

Pannun has allegedly been building a pro-Khalistan network using dual passports to remain safe. He has chanted separatist slogans and incited attacks on Indian consulates in Canada and the US, desecrating the Indian flag.

Top security brass in New Delhi and Punjab, who have been tracking his trajectory for two decades, are frustrated and upset. They had sent piles of intelligence records, technical evidence, recordings and call intercepts to US and Canadian security agencies. These lay unattended, and crisis blew up with India accusing Canada of harbouring terrorists.