<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">India's top investigation agency confiscated Saturday the properties of a prominent Sikh separatist and close ally of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose killing has sparked a diplomatic row between India and Canada.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer believed to be based in Canada, was designated as a terrorist by Indian authorities in 2020 and is wanted on charges of terrorism and sedition.</div><div><br></div><div>He is also the founder of the US-based group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), whose Canada chapter was headed by Nijjar before he was gunned down by masked assailants in June near Vancouver.</div><div><br></div><div>The group, which has been banned by India, has been a vocal advocate for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan.</div><div><br></div><div>A diplomatic firestorm erupted this week with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying there were "credible reasons to believe that agents of the government of India were involved" in Nijjar's death.</div><div><br></div><div>New Delhi dismissed Trudeau's allegations as "absurd", tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions followed, and India has stopped processing visa applications by Canadians.</div><div><br></div><div>Pannun jumped into the raging row and issued a video telling Canadian Hindus to "go back to India", claiming they had adopted a "jingoistic approach" by siding with New Delhi.</div><div><br></div><div>In an interview with an Indian news channel, Pannun said Nijjar had been his "close associate" for over 20 years and was like a "younger brother" to him. He also blamed India for Nijjar's killing.</div><div><br></div><div>- 'Heinous crimes' -</div><div>Soon after his interview was aired, the Indian government issued an advisory to news networks asking them to refrain from giving a platform to people accused of "heinous crimes".</div><div><br></div><div>Armed with court orders, officials of India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday confiscated Pannun's house in Chandigarh, the capital of the Sikh-majority state of Punjab, it said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>The NIA also confiscated agricultural land belonging to him in Amritsar, it added.</div><div><br></div><div>It accused Pannun of "actively exhorting Punjab-based gangsters and youth" on social media "to fight for the cause of independent state of Khalistan, challenging the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country".</div><div><br></div><div>Sikhism is a minority religion originating in northern India that traces its roots back to the 15th century and drew influences from both Hinduism and Islam.</div><div><br></div><div>The Khalistan campaign was largely considered a benign fringe movement until the early 1980s, when a charismatic Sikh fundamentalist launched a violent separatist insurgency.</div><div><br></div><div>It culminated with Indian forces storming the Golden Temple, the faith's holiest shrine in Amritsar, where separatists had barricaded themselves.</div><div><br></div><div>India's prime minister Indira Gandhi was subsequently assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.</div><div><br></div><div>The insurgency was eventually brought under control and the Khalistan movement's most vocal advocates are now among the large Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada, Britain and Australia.</div><div><br></div><div>But memories of the violence -- in which thousands died -- still haunt India, which has outlawed the Khalistan movement and listed several associated groups as "terrorist organisations". - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>