PM Modi wants coordinated action against hoax bomb threats to airlines

Ever since the fugitive founder of the banned terror group Sikhs for Justice, Gurupatwant Singh Pannun, circulated a video on Monday warning passengers against flying Air India, Indian carriers have been subjected to over a 100 hoax bomb threats aimed at destabilising flight operations

The caller also claimed a possible attack on the carrier between 1 and 19 November 2024. 

On Thursday, 85 flights, including 20 belonging to Air India, 20 each of Indigo and Vistara and another 25 from Akasa Airlines, received hoax threats over the last 24 hours, even as the wave of bomb threats targeting Indian carriers continued unabated.

Pannun, who is being harboured by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in Canada, wants a repeat of the 1984 bombing of an Air India plane in Canada.

The Indian government has taken these threats emanating from anti-India forces outside the country, seriously and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has advised united action by central and state governments to thwart any nefarious plans of the Canadian terror group.

Reports said the central government has been able to trace many of the threat messages and action is being taken accordingly.

The union ministry of electronics and information technology on Tuesday called a virtual meeting of airline officials and various social media platforms, where it reprimanded social media platforms such as Meta and X for freely letting these hoaxes circulate.

Air India and Vistara are reported to have participated in the meeting.

Pannun, the founder of the banned group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), issued a public video on Monday warning passengers to avoid flying Air India between November 1 and 19. He claimed a potential attack could take place during this time, which marks the 40th anniversary of what he called the "Sikh genocide."

This follows over 100 bomb threats made against Indian airlines, including Air India, in the past week. So far, all of these threats have proven to be hoaxes.

Canada is coordinating its sponsorship of Pannun wit the United States, which has accused Indian officials of plotting to eliminate Pannun.

In fact both the US and Canada have warned their terrorist friends f threats to their lives. Things have reached a point of no-return and both Ottawa and Washington are enjoying the drama being played out with support of Khalistani terror groups, as the recalled Indian High Commissioner in Ottawa had alleged before his return to India.