In latest threat, Pannun says will target BSE from March 12

New Delhi, Jan 1

Continuing his incendiary provocation of violence against India, Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on Monday called for the country's “economic destruction” by targeting the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) from March 12, 2024.

The day coincides with the 31st anniversary of serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993, which began after explosives went off in the basement of the BSE building, killing over 250 people and injuring several others.

"Unlike 1993 which damaged the BSE buildings, the call to target BSE/NSE from 12th March is aimed at destroying India's economic system," Pannun said in a video message released on Monday.

The legal counsel of the banned Sikhs for Justice group, Pannun also urged people to "dump Indian stock" and "buy American Stocks" before March 12 this year.

Listed as an ‘individual terrorist’ by India in 2020, Pannun also named top Indian banks that trade internationally at the BSE/NSE as SFJ's top targets.

The Khalistan leader's fresh salvo comes just after he exhorted “Muslims of UP” to target PM Narendra Modi during his planned roadshow in Ayodhya on December 30. While the US claims to have shielded Pannun from a purported assassination by Indian agents, he is wanted in nearly two dozen cases, including some of terrorism and sedition in India.

Non-bailable arrest warrants were issued against Pannun by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court on February 3, 2021 and he was declared a ‘Proclaimed Offender' on November 29, 2022. In September 2023, his properties in Amritsar and Chandigarh cities were seized by the NIA, which also registered a case against him over a November 4 video threatening Air India.

Last month he released a video in which he said he would target the Indian Parliament on or before December 13 following an alleged foiled plot to kill him on American soil.