NEW YORK (AP) — A prominent Sikh separatist said Tuesday that the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have warned him that he faces a new credible threat to his life even as a man from India faces sentencing later this year for a 2023 death plot against him.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, general counsel for Sikhs For Justice, said he was warned by FBI agents who visited him last Thursday that he should not travel until the threat is resolved, and, if he does, the agency should be notified in advance of his plans.
He said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police warned him by telephone on Tuesday, though neither law enforcement agency gave any details about the plot that was uncovered. Messages seeking comment from both law enforcement agencies were not immediately returned.
Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen, said he was warned according to the terms of a “Duty to Warn” law in the United States that obligates U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies to notify individuals when they discover credible and specific threats of murder, severe bodily harm or kidnapping.
The new threat comes as Nikhil Gupta, a man from India who pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in February, awaits a Nov. 20 sentencing in Manhattan federal court for plotting in 2023 with others to assassinate Pannun.
The FBI has said Gupta was directed by an Indian government employee to carry out the killing. When Gupta tried, he unwittingly communicated with an undercover law enforcement officer posing as a hitman. Federal sentencing guidelines call for Gupta to spend at least two decades in prison.
Pannun, who advocates for the creation of the sovereign Sikh state and is considered a terrorist by the Indian government, said in a phone interview Tuesday that he was “unfazed and undaunted” by the attempts to silence him.
“I’m not afraid of their death threats,” he said, though he added that he hoped that the administrations of President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney would confront Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over threats to U.S. and Canadian sovereignty.
“The Modi government is proceeding under the Trump administration without fear of any consequences,” he said.
Pannun has described himself as a Sikh human rights lawyer who is campaigning to turn Punjab into a place where “all religions will have equal rights.”
He said “Duty to Warn” advisories were issued by Canadian law enforcement officials to Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the ex-head of the Canadian chapter of the Khalistan Referendum, in the weeks before he was assassinated on June 18, 2023 in Surrey, British Columbia.
Pannun said the continued threats give him courage and confidence that his campaign and outspokenness is working.
“I'm going to continue, even at the cost of a bullet,” he said.
FILE - Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun stands in his office in New York on Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
Justice Department attorneys argued that if President Donald Trump's name does not appear somewhere on the Kennedy Center, then the money from donors for renovations would shrivel up and the “decrepit, dilapidated” cultural center may be “required to be taken down.”
That came from a court filing late Monday on the long-running saga over whether the president's name can be added to the cultural institution and venue meant to honor John F. Kennedy after his assassination. The original attempt to add “Donald J. Trump” on the building's facade was halted by the court in May following a lawsuit from Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, an ex officio member of the Kennedy Center.
The center's Trump-aligned board of trustees then voted again this month to get the president's name back on the cultural institution in a different way: by appending “Renovated and Restored By President Donald J. Trump” under the title on the building’s facade. Another phrase, “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund” would be a possible addition, as well as renaming the plaza in front of the Kennedy Center to honor the president.
In response, Beatty again asked the federal court to block those stylings, arguing that they were “clear violations of the Kennedy Center statute” that barred the board from making the center into a memorial to anyone else. A federal judge will hear arguments on that request on Thursday.
Justice Department attorneys replied in Monday's filing with a grim picture of the state of the Kennedy Center: “a financially insolvent facility, housed in a decrepit, dilapidated, crumbling building” that “continues to race toward physical and financial ruin.”
Renovations were required, they argued, but “an order blocking the Board from appropriately recognizing President Trump will cause donors to flee, financial contributions to dry up, and structural rehabilitation to stop. There will simply not be the expertise or funding necessary to rebuild and renovate this decimated structure.”
If allowed to deteriorate further, they continued, the Kennedy Center “will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site.”
That could be an outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River, they said, adding that it would “fail to adequately honor President John F. Kennedy” but would be easier to build and maintain.
This latest attempt to add Trump's name on and around the center was met with some incredulity from Beatty's attorneys, who said it “is a transparent attempt to effectuate the renaming in another guise.”
“It’s déjà vu all over again,” they wrote. “Plaintiff and the Court should not need to play Defendants’ game of whack-a-mole.” They requested a final ruling to stop the renaming attempts “and put an end to this childish gambit.”
It's not the first time the board of trustees has used the argument that fundraising could be impeded without Trump's name on the building. A panel of judges in July said that the claim came without the support of “ specific facts or evidence.”
The Kennedy Center has fallen on harder times since Trump got more involved, with several artists canceling performances and attendance dropping.
This is one of several attempts by the presidential administration to put Trump's stamp on the U.S. capital, including a plan for a 250-foot (76-meter) triumphal arch, and, as Trump called it, a “military complex slash ballroom ” at the White House.
The Kennedy Center is seen from the air in Washington, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
