Online threat warns travellers not to fly on Air India

Canada’s transport minister and the RCMP say an investigation is underway into what they call “threats” against Air India, after an online video warned people not to fly on the airline on Nov. 19.

Pablo Rodriguez says in a social media post that the government takes any threat to aviation “extremely seriously.”

He says Canada and its security partners are investigating the “recent threats circulating online,” and his press secretary confirms Rodriguez was referring to comments about Air India.

RCMP spokeswoman Kristine Kelly says police are collaborating with domestic and international partners and “industry stakeholders” in an investigation into the threat against Air India flights.

The original remarks about Air India were made by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S.-based organizer of unofficial referendums on Sikh independence, including recent votes in Surrey, B.C.

Pannun says in a video, delivered in a mix of Punjabi and English, that he’s asking Sikhs “do not fly Air India” on Nov. 19, and there will be a “global blockade” against the airline that day.

That is the final day of the cricket World Cup in Ahmedabad, India, an event Pannun refers to in the video as the “World Terror Cup.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2023.

The Canadian Press