By Sarah N. Lynch, Wa Lone and Jorge Garcia
WASHINGTON/TORONTO (Reuters) – As a doctor who specializes in treating addiction, Dr. Jasmeet Baines, the first American Sikh elected to the California Assembly, is used to dangerous situations.
Even so, Baines said she was concerned when four men came to her office last August, shortly after California passed her resolution declaring the 1984 killing of thousands of Sikhs in India a genocide. shock. Baines said the men appeared to be of Indian origin and warned they would “hunt you down at all costs.”
Threats are just the beginning.
Baines said she has received more than 100 threatening texts since last summer. She discovered that someone had taken photos of her Bakersfield home from a parked truck and that the lock on her mailbox had been broken multiple times.
Baines reported the incident at her office to local police and reported the surveillance at her home to the State House sergeant-at-arms. Reuters did not review the texts.
In late September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government had credible evidence that the Indian government was involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia, and Baines said the armed forces The sergeant conducted a safety assessment at her home and conducted a safety assessment at her home. Baines said the FBI contacted her in October about threats to her office.
Baines said she began screening phone calls and avoiding traveling alone. She occasionally calls for security when attending official events.
“My life has changed,” she told Reuters. “I no longer go anywhere by myself. I make sure my staff is with me at all times, which is hard for an independent person like me.”
Reuters interviewed 19 Sikh community leaders, including three elected U.S. officials, who said they or their organizations were targeted with threats and harassment in the United States and Canada last year even as law enforcement agencies investigated the murder. Criminal investigation into assassination of Canadian Sikh separatist leader and foiled assassination attempt on another separatist leader in the United States
Sikhs interviewed by Reuters described experiencing online harassment; surveillance of their homes and places of worship; personal details posted online or doxxed, as well as “crackdowns”, filing of false police reports to trigger Law enforcement response.
Seven Sikh activists told Reuters they were warned last year by the FBI or RCMP that their lives could be in danger, without specifying the source of the threat.
An FBI official said the bureau issues such warnings when it receives credible evidence of a threat, but declined further comment. The Canadian Federal Police declined to confirm how many people were given a duty to warn.
The FBI also warned the Sikh community more broadly about “transnational repression,” in which foreign governments intimidate or threaten political opponents in another country, and issued a public service announcement in Punjabi urging people to report threats or harassment. It also held two invitation-only meetings for Sikh advocacy groups, FBI officials and attendees said.
U.S. and Canada Survey
Meanwhile, in June 2023, Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a Sikh gurdwara, a place of worship in Surrey, British Columbia, and four others were killed. Indian citizen faces murder and conspiracy charges in Canada.
Lawyers for the four did not respond to requests for comment.
Separately, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta with trying to murder separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun at the request of Indian intelligence officials. Gupta has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial in New York. His attorney declined to comment.
India denies involvement in Nijar’s killing and the attempted assassination of Pannon. It promised to investigate the plot against Pannun but not Nijjar.
“Nijal has been designated a terrorist,” Sanjay Kumar Verma, India’s high commissioner to Canada, told Reuters in an interview in June. “I have no love lost for him. “
Many of the threats described to Reuters by Sikh activists came from anonymous accounts on X.
Reuters was unable to determine the source of the threat.
At least six activists have said they suspect the Indian government or its supporters may be behind the harassment, although they acknowledge that is difficult to prove — especially when the threats come from anonymous groups.
Kanwar Pal Singh, political secretary of the Dal Khalsa group in Punjab, which lobbies for a separate state, has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of trying to defame and isolate Sikh separatists. He did not specify whether he was referring to separatists in India or abroad.
The Indian embassy in Washington and Modi’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Verma did not respond to emails about threats from Sikh separatists and other activists or criminal cases in Canada and the United States.
Two FBI officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity did not comment directly on India’s possible role in the transnational crackdown. One person said they were “looking at a broad range of aggressive countries”.
FBI officials said it was difficult to determine whether the threat came from a foreign government or criminals using similar tactics to try to extort victims.
Like Nijjar, Pannon was a supporter of fringe demands to break away from India and establish an independent state called Khalistan. The movement led to violent rebellions in the Indian state of Punjab in the 1980s and 1990s, which were subsequently suppressed by Delhi.
It’s time to “Plan Your Murder”
Pannon said he continued to receive violent threats online even after the Justice Department disclosed the assassination plot in November.
“Wherever you run, I will go there, enter and kill you,” said a May 7 email in Hindi seen by Reuters.
In April, the X account @randomatheist_ wrote to Pannun: “Polium-210 arrives in Washington,” an apparent reference to the toxic radioactive isotope used to kill former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.
Pannu’s Sikhs for Justice has an office in Washington, D.C.
X did not respond to a request for comment.
Pannon further raised questions about threats to U.S. law enforcement.
In 2019, India declared the Sikhs for Justice illegal association on the grounds that it was involved in extremist activities. A year later, Pannu and 15 other members of the group were charged with terrorism-related crimes, including trying to encourage mutiny in the Indian army.
Pannu denies the allegations.
Pritpal Singh, a supporter of an independent Sikh state and founder of the Sikh Caucus of America, also told Reuters that threats and threats had been made since receiving an FBI warning last June. Surveillance continues.
He said a few days after the warning, a strange car pulled up and staked out his California home. He said he became aware of the second surveillance in November.
The incidents were captured on home security cameras and Reuters reviewed the footage. Prietpal said he reported the surveillance to the FBI.
On June 18, the anniversary of Nijjar’s murder, one account on X wrote in Hindi that it was time to “plan your murder.” Another X account wrote: “RIP Pritpal.” Screenshots of both messages were seen by Reuters and his family reported the information to the FBI.
“A worst-case scenario”
Nate Schenkkan, senior research director at the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Freedom House, said the movement represents “a worst-case scenario for transnational repression — a major country acting in complete violation of the law. Use it to use all the tools you need to silence dissent in another country.
He said India appeared to be ignoring the potential diplomatic, legal and political ramifications of the campaign, pointing to ongoing prosecutions in the United States and Canada.
Harjap Singh Japhi, a grocery store owner in Greenwood, Indiana, who has been charged by India with terrorism-related crimes for his previous involvement in the Sikh Tehreek-e-Insaf, told Reuters that in the fall of 2022, FBI agents came to his home to question him about his involvement in a bombing in the late 1980s.
Agents told him that India had sent the bureau some records related to the attack.
Japhi, 44, said he was just a kid at the time.
Jaffe’s wife, Rajvinder Shokar, also told Reuters about the FBI visit.
FBI officials told the news agency they could not comment on Jaffe’s case, and Reuters could not independently confirm the bombing or the visit to the couple’s home.
The FBI said false referrals are a common feature of transnational crackdowns and that the agency is working with local law enforcement agencies on how to review referrals, especially when the target is a political opponent.
A day after Nijar was killed, Jaffe said he received an anonymous call from someone claiming to be a member of an Indian organized crime group, warning him that he was next.
In December, a since-deleted X account doxed Japhi by posting his home and business addresses online along with local health department inspection records, according to screenshots shared by Reuters.
Jaffe said he reported the threatening calls and doxxing to the FBI.
Baines told Reuters she was unsure whether she had experienced transnational repression by the Indian government.
In May, the California Assembly passed a bill she sponsored that would train state law enforcement to identify and respond to transnational repression.
“If I’m going through it, more people are going through it,” she said. “This affects everyone, not just the Sikh community.”
