India asks Canada to step up security after SFJ threat to Air India flights

Air India operates multiple weekly direct flights between the Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver to New Delhi.

India will seek enhanced security from Canada for Air India flights following secessionist group Sikhs for Justice’s warning to passengers that their lives could be in danger if they fly the airline on November 19.

“We shall take up the threat against Air India flights originating from and terminating in Canada with the concerned Canadian authorities," India’s high commissioner to the North American country Sanjay Kumar Verma was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

In a video posted on November 5, SFJ’s general-counsel Gurpatwant Pannun asked Sikhs to avoid flying Air India on November 19, warning them in Punjabi that their lives could be in danger. The threat was repeated twice in the video.

Pannun, whos hold dual citizenship of the United States and Canada, also called for a "global blockade" of Air India flights from Vancouver to London in a statement released alongside the video.

"We are asking the Sikhs not to fly Air India on 19th November. On 19th November, there will be a global blockade and Air India will not be allowed to fly anywhere worldwide.

“Sikhs, you do not travel by Air India after 19th November. It can be life-threatening. This is my warning to the government of India. The Indira Gandhi International Airport should remain closed on the 19th of November," he said.

This is not the first time that Pannun, who has been at the forefront of reviving the demand for Khalistan, a separate homeland for Sikhs, has issued such threats.

He stepped up the rhetoric following the murder of separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which blew up into a huge diplomatic row between India and Canada.

“November 19th is the same day as the World Terror Cup final match. The world will see that a genocide of the Sikhs took place in India, and India did it,” Pannun said, referring to the Men’s World Cup Cricket final to be planned in Ahmedabad.

“When we liberate Punjab, the airport will be named Shahid Beant Singh and Shahid Satwant Singh Airport," he said referring to the bodyguards who gunned down Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. November 19 is also her birthday.

"We have studied the contents of the video, which is in clear violation of Chicago Convention, which lays out a framework for international civil aviation operations. Canada and India, among many other nations, are Parties to the Convention.

“The bilateral civil aviation agreement between India and Canada has provisions to tackle such threats," Verma added.

In a video addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pannun warned of Hamas-like attack on India. “We will carry out an attack on India like the one carried out by Hamas,” he said. He also threatened to disrupt the World Cup final game, prompting the Ahmedabad police to register an FIR against him.