Gunmen fired at a truck transporting a Sikh political chief close to Sacramento.
The incident is considered one of a number of focusing on Sikh separatists in North America in latest months.
Satinder Pal Singh Raju, an organizer within the Khalistan motion, which requires Sikhs to have a rustic of their very own within the Punjab area of India, survived the assault on Interstate 505 about 30 miles west of Sacramento in unincorporated Yolo County. The California Freeway Patrol was notified of the incident at 11:37 p.m. on Aug. 11, CHP spokesperson Rodney Fitzhugh mentioned.
Video posted on social media by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, lawyer and spokesperson for Sikhs for Justice, exhibits 4 bullet holes within the driver’s window of Raju’s automotive, with two extra dents on the entrance window close to the passenger’s aspect.
Raju was a passenger within the automotive, which he rode in with two associates on the way in which to a restaurant for a late-night meal.
His group, Sikhs for Justice, believes it to be an assassination try. Authorities have made no arrests and haven’t introduced a motive.
Pannun was the goal of a foiled assassination try within the U.S. in 2023, which U.S. officers have mentioned was related to the Indian authorities. The Indian authorities has denied involvement. Pannun has been charged with terrorism in India for advocating for an impartial Sikh state and clashed with the ruling authorities of Narendra Modi.
“Modi 3.0 Regime is constant with its coverage of transnational repression to violently suppress the worldwide Khalistan Referendum marketing campaign searching for liberation of Punjab from Indian occupation,” Pannun mentioned in a assertion on Aug. 19. “India’s unabated transnational violence can’t cease the voting course of began by the Referendum campaigners.”
A car window is marked by bullet holes after the assault on Satinder Pal Singh Raju whereas he was touring on Interstate 505 west of Sacramento.
(Gurpatwant Singh Pannun)
“That is another instance of India’s aggression,” Pannun added in an interview with The Instances. “However that is the life given to us as a part of this group.”
Pannun mentioned Raju and the Sikhs for Justice workforce had just lately organized an occasion in Calgary in late July in addition to occasions in San Francisco and Sacramento earlier this yr.
The gatherings had been a part of referendum votes on an impartial Sikh nation that the group has held for a number of years within the U.S. and different international locations. The voting occasions, which this yr have attracted tens of 1000’s of Sikhs in California, are nonbinding and largely symbolic.
Talking to The Instances, Raju — who works as a trucker — mentioned that the violence wouldn’t deter his political advocacy.
“The day of our dying is already written. I’m blissful to outlive. However this received’t change the work that we do,” mentioned Raju, who mentioned he was presently serving to Sikh activists manage a November referendum in New Zealand.
Raju was an in depth affiliate of Sikh chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was assassinated in 2023 in Surrey, within the Canadian province of British Columbia. The capturing reignited concern amongst Sikhs over accusations of an escalating marketing campaign of cross-border repression. In Could, three Indian males had been charged with first-degree homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide in Nijjar’s killing.
Earlier this yr, the homes of two Sikh activists had been hit by gunfire in Surrey and the Ontario metropolis of Brampton, Canada. Nobody was injured in both incident, however Sikh separatists preserve these had been additionally assassination makes an attempt.
