KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
14-Jan-2020
The Amritsar (Rural) police identified six more suspects of the narco-terror module that was busted on January 10. According to Police, six persons, all belong to Punjab, were getting heroin supply from the arrested members of the module.
13-Jan-2020
A drone from Pakistan was spotted at Indo-Pak border in the Indian air space at Tendiwala village in Ferozepur district on January 13 night. A senior official said that, “The drone was seen for 4-5 minutes. BSF personnel tried to shoot it down but could not do so. Then, it disappeared.”
13-Jan-2020
According to officials, Punjab Police has constituted five teams to keep an eye on smuggling of drugs and weapons by drones from Pakistan. Among the five teams, one team will solely be dedicated to handle cyber crime, two teams will keep a tab on the movement of narcotics and smugglers from other states into Punjab and two other dedicated teams would track criminals by their social media activity. All the five teams will work in tandem to make arrests.The new teams were formed in the wake of the recent seizure of two Chinese-made drones used to fly into Pakistan to pick drugs and fly back and arrests of five drug smugglers.
12-Jan-2020
Bengaluru Police arrested an alleged Khalistan supporter, Jarnail Singh Sidhu, who had fled Punjab and was hiding in the city, from Sampigehalli Police Station limits in north-eastern Bengaluru in Karnataka. Police sources said that "The Punjab police had approached us about Jarnail Singh, who was wanted by them. We traced him and handed him over to the Punjab police.” According to Central Crime Branch police, he was residing in Bengaluru for the last six months and is also allegedly in touch with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Police said he was living in a paying guest accommodation and was working in a private firm.
12-Jan-2020
According to reports, Punjab arms and drug smugglers are now sourcing the high-end GPS fitted drones from the free classified websites like OLX for the cross-border smuggling of weapons and drugs. During an interrogation, the Army man, Rahul Chauhan, who was arrested along with two Amritsar-based drug smugglers, told the Punjab Police that he had purchased and sold one drone at OLX. Earlier, the modus operandi of smuggling weapons and narcotics using drones had come to light when the police busted a Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) terror module in September 2019.
12-Jan-2020
According to report, Police has identified four more members of the narco-terror module busted by the Amritsar rural police four days ago, after the interrogation of the three arrested drug smugglers, including an Army man. Among the four suspects were two jail inmates who had been operating from the high-security prison in the city. The two jail inmates are believed to be accomplices of Balkar Singh, the kingpin of the nexus, who was a convict in an NDPS case and was undergoing 10-year imprisonment in Amritsar Central Jail.
11-Jan-2020
The three accused belonging to a narco-terror module busted by the Punjab Police on January 10 were sent to three-day police remand by a local court.
10-Jan-2020
The Punjab Police busted a narco-terror module, which flew drones from Amritsar to Pakistan to fetch drugs in the last few days, by arresting three persons, including an Indian Army soldier and an expert drone operator. The arrestees were identified as Dharminder Singh of Dhanoa Khurd village (Amritsar), Balkar Singh of Kalas village (Amritsar), and Rahul Chauhan of Pooja Vihar in Ambala (Haryana). DGP Dinkar Gupta said that the gang carried out multiple sorties before it was busted by the state police. He also said that they had recovered two highly sophisticated Chinese drones, belonging to the narco-terror module, involved in the smuggling of weapons and narcotics from across the border. “The seizure includes drone batteries, custom-made drone containers, two walkie-talkie sets, Rs 6.22 lakh, believed to be proceeds of drugs, and a magazine of an INSAS rifle. The drones, capable of travelling 2-3 km, were reportedly being launched from the Indian side to fly into Pakistan to pick up narcotics. The accused had apparently already conducted four-five sorties,” said Gupta.
10-Jan-2020
An Amritsar court awarded 12-year rigorous imprisonment to gangster Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuria in a case involving peddling of drugs and attacking a police party in July 2015. However, six of his accomplices were acquitted in the case by the court. Bhagwanpuria, who is currently lodged in the Patiala jail, is facing trial in 30 criminal cases such as murder, attempt to murder and extortion.
10-Jan-2020
The Dal Khalsa and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) called for a complete shutdown in Punjab on the occasion of India’s 70th Republic day. The head of SAD (Amritsar), Simranjit Singh Mann and the chief of Dal Khalsa, Harpal Singh Cheema, in a joint press conference, stated that, “Punjab will remain shut on January 25 (January 26 being a Sunday) to register its protest against Sangh’s agenda of Hindu rashtra and to reiterate that Punjab won’t be part of the theocratic Hindu state”. They declared that the shutdown would be verdict on fascists and divisive policies and decisions of Narendra Modi government.
09-Jan-2020
The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act [UAPA] tribunal headed by Delhi High Court Chief Justice D N Patel upheld the Central Government's ban on pro-Khalistan group, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ). The tribunal observed that it was clear from the evidence on record that activities of the group were ‘unlawful’, ‘disruptive’ and ‘threaten the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of India’. Justice Patel said that the evidence proves that SFJ was "working in collusion with anti-India entities and forces… Thus, the Central Government had sufficient cause to take action under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for declaring Sikhs For Justice as an unlawful association.” Earlier, the Central Government on July 10, 2019 had declared SFJ as an unlawful association and had banned it for five years.
09-Jan-2020
The Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta said that the ban on the SFJ was good news for Punjab, where it had been fishing for young and gullible youth, and radicalising them. He said, "With the SFJ being declared as an unlawful association, people will not fall prey to their objective of radicalising youth and unleashing violence in the state.”
09-Jan-2020
Acting Jathedar of Akal Takht, Giani Harpreet Singh stated that the Pakistan government must deliver justice to the family of the Sikh youth murdered in Peshawar. The Jathedar, in a statement, said that “It is unfortunate that local police have not arrested the killers of the youth. The Pakistan government should step in to ensure justice so that minorities of Pakistan feel safe and they should ensure that no such incident takes place again.”
09-Jan-2020
India said that the Nankana Sahib attack on Sikhs and murder of a member from that 'minority' community should work as 'mirror' for Pakistan and its Prime Minister Imran Khan. MEA spokesman Raveesh Kumar said that "A country that cannot take care of its minorities should not tell other countries how to do it. It is not for us to comment every time they say something. Pakistan should focus on ensuring safety and security of the minorities there."
09-Jan-2020
The External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, while interacting with expatriate Indians on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, said that the government is committed to ensuring that perpetrators of atrocities during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots are brought to justice. To a question regarding misconceptions about the Sikh community abroad, the minister said that among the Indian communities abroad, Sikhs have been the foremost in shaping the brand and image of India.
08-Jan-2020
Police arrested three persons along with 45 gram of heroin in separate incidents in Jalandhar. The arrestees, identified as Satnam Singh alias Satta (21), and mother-son duo Kishan Singh (21) and Paramjit Kaur (35), are residents of villages falling under the Subhanpur police station in Kapurthala district. A case under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act was registered against them.
07-Jan-2020
Sikh activists belonging to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Sant Samaj took out a protest march in Phagwara in Kapurthala district against the mob attack on Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and stone-pelting on Sikh pilgrims in Pakistan.
06-Jan-2020
An SGPC delegation, led by Gobind Singh Longowal, met Balwant Singh Rajoana - who is facing death sentence for assassinating former CM Beant Singh - in a separate room and clicked pictures with him inside the Central Jail in Patiala. According to reports, the five-member delegation spent almost an hour with the convict inside the jail. Earlier, Rajoana had announced to go on an indefinite strike from January 11 against the pendency of his mercy plea with the Centre.
06-Jan-2020
The Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh condemned the violent incidents in Pakistan and called upon the global Sikh community to unite against such assaults. Over the mob attack on Gurdwara Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib and the killing of a Sikh youth in Peshawar, Giani Harpreet Singh said such incidents had instilled a sense of insecurity among the Sikh community in Pakistan.
06-Jan-2020
India summoned the senior-most Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner Syed Haider Shah in New Delhi to lodge a strong protest over incidents targeting Sikh minority in Pakistan and to demand immediate action against the perpetrators of such ‘heinous acts’.
06-Jan-2020
The Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh and parallel acting Jathedar Dhian Singh Mand came face to face at a function organised to felicitate kin of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassins in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The incident took place when acting Jathedar was felicitating Waryam Singh and Baltej Singh, brother and nephew of Satwant Singh, one of the assassins of Indira Gandhi. As Giani Harpreet Singh began to offer ‘siropa’ (robe of honour) to them, Jarnail Singh Sakhira, Mand’s aide, dubbed him ‘sarkari jathedar’ loudly and walked out of the gurdwara along with parallel Jathedar in protest.
05-Jan-2020
A Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delegation, led by its president Sukhbir Badal, urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to seek a categorical assurance from Pakistan that those responsible for a "hate attack" on Sikhs as well as the stoning of Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib would be given an "exemplary punishment." Sukhbir Badal also urged the Minister to raise the issue of atrocities being committed by Pakistan against minorities in the United Nations (UN).
05-Jan-2020
India condemned the ‘targeted’ killing of a Sikh youth in Peshawar and the Ministry of External Affairs asked the Pakistan Government to ‘stop prevaricating’ and take immediate action to apprehend and award exemplary punishment to the perpetrators. The Ministry of External Affairs said Pakistan should stop "prevaricating" and take immediate action to apprehend and give exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of the crime.
05-Jan-2020
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested two drug peddlers and recovered 402 gm of heroin from their possession in Ludhiana.
04-Jan-2020
Sukhbir Badal, chief of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) met the family of Khalistani terrorist Balwant Singh Rajoana, a convict in 1995 assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh and said he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue. After meeting Balwant Singh Rajoana's sister Kamaldeep Kaur at her Ludhiana home, he said that “Rajoana's death sentence ‘should be cancelled’.... Not even a single parole has been allowed to him in past 25 years... This is injustice. His death sentence should be cancelled because it is a serious matter related to the Sikh community”.