WASHINGTON/TORONTO :As a physician specializing in addiction, Dr. Jasmeet Bains, the first Sikh American elected to the California assembly, was used to risky situations.
Even so, Bains said she was shocked when four men came to her office in August last year, shortly after California adopted her resolution declaring the killing of thousands of Sikhs in India in 1984 a genocide. The men, who appeared to be of Indian origin, warned they would “do whatever it takes to go after you,” Bains said. The threat was just the beginning.
Since last summer, Bains said, she has received more than 100 threatening text messages. She spotted someone taking photos of her Bakersfield home from a parked truck, and the lock on her mailbox was broken repeatedly.
Bains reported the incident at her office to the local police, and the surveillance of her home to the state assembly Sergeant-at-Arms. Reuters did not review the text messages.
Bains said she began screening phone calls and avoiding traveling alone. She occasionally requests a security detail while attending official events.
“My life has changed,” she said. “I don’t go anywhere alone anymore. I make sure my staff is with me at all times, which is hard for someone as independent as me.”
Reuters spoke to 19 Sikh community leaders, including three elected U.S. officials, who said that they or their organizations have been targeted with threats and harassment in the United States and Canada over the last year – even as law enforcement agencies pursue criminal investigations into the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada and the foiled assassination attempt of another separatist leader in the U.S.
The Sikhs Reuters spoke to described experiencing online harassment; surveillance at their homes and places of worship; the release of personal details online or doxxing, and “swatting,” filing a false police report to trigger a law enforcement response.
Seven Sikh activists told Reuters that the FBI or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police warned them last year their lives could be in danger, without specifying the source of the threat.
An FBI official said the bureau issues such warnings when it receives credible evidence of a threat, but declined to comment further. Canadian federal police declined to confirm how many individuals were issued duties to warn.
The FBI also warned the Sikh community more broadly about “transnational repression,” efforts by a foreign state to intimidate or threaten political opponents in another country, releasing a public service announcement, opens new tab in Punjabi urging people to report threats or harassment. It also held two invitation-only meetings for Sikh advocacy groups, FBI officials and participants said.
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