WASHINGTON/TORONTO (Reuters) – As a health care provider who focuses on treating dependancy, Dr. Jasmeet Baines, the primary American Sikh elected to the California Meeting, is used to harmful conditions.
Even so, Baines mentioned she was involved when 4 males got here to her workplace final August, shortly after California handed her decision declaring the 1984 killing of hundreds of Sikhs in India a genocide. shock. Baines mentioned the lads gave the impression to be of Indian origin and warned they’d “hunt you down in any respect prices.”
Threats are just the start.
Baines mentioned she has obtained greater than 100 threatening texts since final summer season. She found that somebody had taken pictures of her Bakersfield dwelling from a parked truck and that the lock on her mailbox had been damaged a number of instances.
Baines reported the incident at her workplace to native police and reported the surveillance of her dwelling to the State Home sergeant-at-arms. Reuters didn’t overview the texts.
In late September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned his authorities had credible proof that the Indian authorities was concerned within the killing of a Sikh separatist chief in British Columbia, and Bains mentioned the armed forces The sergeant carried out a security evaluation at her dwelling and carried out a security evaluation at her dwelling. Baines mentioned the FBI contacted her in October about threats to her workplace.
Baines mentioned she started screening telephone calls and avoiding touring alone. She often requires safety when attending official occasions.
“My life has modified,” she advised Reuters. “I now not go anyplace on my own. I ensure that my workers is with me always, which is tough for an unbiased particular person like me.”
Reuters interviewed 19 Sikh group leaders, together with three elected U.S. officers, who mentioned they or their organizations have been focused with threats and harassment in the US and Canada final yr at the same time as regulation enforcement businesses investigated the homicide. Prison investigation into assassination of Canadian Sikh separatist chief and foiled assassination try on one other separatist chief in the US
Sikhs interviewed by Reuters described experiencing on-line harassment; surveillance of their properties and locations of worship; private particulars posted on-line or doxxed, in addition to “crackdowns”, submitting of false police studies to set off Regulation enforcement response.
Seven Sikh activists advised Reuters they have been warned final yr by the FBI or RCMP that their lives could possibly be at risk, with out specifying the supply of the menace.
An FBI official mentioned the bureau points such warnings when it receives credible proof of a menace, however declined additional remark. The Canadian Federal Police declined to substantiate how many individuals got an obligation to warn.
The FBI additionally warned the Sikh group extra broadly about “transnational repression,” by which international governments intimidate or threaten political opponents in a foreign country, and issued a public service announcement in Punjabi urging individuals to report threats or harassment. It additionally held two invitation-only conferences for Sikh advocacy teams, FBI officers and attendees mentioned.
U.S. and Canada Survey
In the meantime, in June 2023, Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot lifeless exterior a Sikh gurdwara, a spot of worship in Surrey, British Columbia, and 4 others have been killed. Indian citizen faces homicide and conspiracy costs in Canada.
Attorneys for the 4 didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Individually, the U.S. Division of Justice charged Indian nationwide Nikhil Gupta with making an attempt to homicide separatist chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on the request of Indian intelligence officers. Gupta has pleaded not responsible and is awaiting trial in New York. His legal professional declined to remark.
India denies involvement in Nijar’s killing and the tried assassination of Pannon. It promised to analyze the plot towards Pannun however not Nijjar.
“Nijal has been designated a terrorist,” Sanjay Kumar Verma, India’s excessive commissioner to Canada, advised Reuters in an interview in June. “I’ve no love misplaced for him. “
Most of the threats described to Reuters by Sikh activists got here from nameless accounts on X.
Reuters was unable to find out the supply of the menace.
A minimum of six activists have mentioned they think the Indian authorities or its supporters could also be behind the harassment, though they acknowledge that’s tough to show — particularly when the threats come from nameless teams.
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 authorities of making an attempt to defame and isolate Sikh separatists. He didn’t specify whether or not he was referring to separatists in India or overseas.
The Indian embassy in Washington and Modi’s workplace didn’t reply to repeated requests for remark. Verma didn’t reply to emails citing threats towards Sikh separatists and different activists or prison circumstances in Canada and the US.
Two FBI officers who spoke to Reuters on situation of anonymity didn’t remark instantly on India’s doable position within the transnational crackdown. One particular person mentioned they have been ” a broad vary of aggressive international locations”.
FBI officers mentioned it was tough to find out whether or not the menace got here from a international authorities or criminals utilizing related techniques to attempt to extort victims.
Like Nijjar, Pannon was a supporter of fringe calls for to interrupt away from India and set up an unbiased state referred to as Khalistan. The motion led to violent rebellions within the Indian state of Punjab within the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, which have been subsequently suppressed by Delhi.
It is time to “Plan Your Homicide”
Pannon mentioned he continued to obtain violent threats on-line even after the Justice Division disclosed the assassination plot in November.
“Wherever you run, I’ll go there, enter and kill you,” mentioned a Might 7 e mail in Hindi seen by Reuters.
In April, the X account @randomatheist_ wrote to Pannun: “Polium-210 arrives in Washington,” an obvious reference to the poisonous radioactive isotope used to kill former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.
Pannu’s Sikhs for Justice has an workplace in Washington, D.C.
X didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Pannon additional raised questions on threats to U.S. regulation enforcement.
In 2019, India declared the Sikhs for Justice unlawful affiliation on the grounds that it was concerned in extremist actions. A yr later, Pannu and 15 different members of the group have been charged with terrorism-related crimes, together with making an attempt to encourage mutiny within the Indian military.
Pannu denies the allegations.
Pritpal Singh, founding father of the American Sikh Caucus, a pro-secession advocacy group, additionally advised Reuters that threats and surveillance had continued since receiving an FBI warning final June.
He mentioned just a few days after the warning, an odd automobile pulled up and staked out his California dwelling. He mentioned he turned conscious of the second surveillance in November.
The incidents have been captured on dwelling safety cameras and Reuters reviewed the footage. Prietpal mentioned he reported the surveillance to the FBI.
On June 18, the anniversary of Nijjar’s homicide, one account on X wrote in Hindi that it was time to “plan your homicide.” One other X account wrote: “RIP Pritpal.” Screenshots of each messages have been seen by Reuters and his household reported the data to the FBI.
“A worst-case situation”
Nate Schenkkan, senior analysis director on the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Freedom Home, mentioned the motion represents “a worst-case situation for transnational repression — a serious nation appearing in full violation of the regulation. Use it to make use of all of the instruments to silence dissent in a foreign country.
He mentioned India gave the impression to be ignoring the potential diplomatic, authorized and political ramifications of the marketing campaign, pointing to ongoing prosecutions in the US and Canada.
Harjap Singh Japhi, a grocery retailer proprietor in Greenwood, Indiana, who has been charged by India with terrorism-related crimes for his earlier involvement within the Sikh Tehreek-e-Insaf, advised Reuters that within the fall of 2022, FBI brokers got here to his dwelling to query him about his involvement in a bombing within the late Nineteen Eighties.
Brokers advised him that India had despatched the bureau some data associated to the assault.
Japhi, 44, mentioned he was only a child on the time.
Jaffe’s spouse, Rajvinder Shokar, additionally advised Reuters in regards to the FBI go to.
FBI officers advised information organizations they may not touch upon Jaffe’s case, and Reuters couldn’t independently affirm the bombing or the go to to the couple’s dwelling.
The FBI mentioned false referrals are a typical function of cross-border crackdowns and that the company is working with native regulation enforcement businesses on the right way to overview referrals, particularly if the goal is a political opponent.
A day after Nijar was killed, Jaffe mentioned he obtained an nameless name from somebody claiming to be a member of an Indian organized crime group, warning him that he was subsequent.
In December, a since-deleted X account doxed Japhi by posting his dwelling and enterprise addresses on-line together with native well being division inspection data, in response to screenshots shared by Reuters.
Jaffe mentioned he reported the threatening calls and doxxing to the FBI.
Baines advised Reuters she was not sure whether or not she had skilled transnational repression by the Indian authorities.
In Might, the California Meeting handed a invoice she sponsored that may practice state regulation enforcement to determine and reply to transnational repression.
“If I am going via it, extra individuals are going via it,” she mentioned. “This impacts everybody, not simply the Sikh group.”
(This story has been corrected to make clear particulars about Preetpal Singh and to amend the outline of the Sikh Caucus of America in paragraph 35)
