At Khankot, Pannun’s native village, residents say have never met him

Khankot: No one has met the designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal adviser of the Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), at his native village Khankot, situated on the outskirts of Amritsar. Even farmer Bikramjit Singh, who works on Pannun family’s fields, which will now be attached by the NIA, claims he was not in touch with them. The residents feel that US-based Pannun had brought disgrace to the village.

“Children often bring pride to their village or towns, but Gurpatwant has besmirched its reputation with a tag of a terrorists village and brought us shame,” said Sarjan Singh, a local resident. “I came to know that he is a terrorist only today, when mediapersons came looking for his property,” he added.

On Tuesday, NIA had ordered to attach Pannun’s 46-kanal land in Khankot and 11 kanal 13.5 marla land in Sultanwind under Section 51 A of the Unlawful (Prevention) Activities Act (UAPA), 1967.

Bikramjit said he had earlier been dealing with Pannun’s mother Amarjit Kaur and was in touch with Gurpatwant’s brother Magwant Singh after her death. “I deposit annual contract money in the bank account,” he said

“Earlier, some people from different agencies came to inquire about Pannun, but I didn’t know he was a terrorist until mediapersons told me,” he said.

Recalling his conversation with Gurpatwant’s mother, he said she once told him that her son was an ‘attorney’ in America and enjoyed good influence. He said Gurpatwant’s father had retired from Mandi Board and later shifted to Ludhiana.

When asked whether anyone asked him to stop tiling the fields, he replied, “Till now, no one has. But if the government does, I will request them to at least allow me to harvest the standing crop,” he said.

Sukhdev Singh, husband of the village sarpanch, refused to comment on Pannun’s terrorist tag, saying: “If government has declared him a terrorist, then there must be a reason for it.”