KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
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”.
04-Jan-2020
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Gobind Singh Longowa said that, SGPC will send a four-member delegation to Pakistan to take stock of the situation following a mob attack on Gurdwara Nankana Sahib. He said " The delegation will also meet Pakistan's Punjab Governor and Chief Minister." He also appealed to the Pakistan Government to take strict action against culprits who pelted stones.
04-Jan-2020
Indian political leaders across the spectrum condemned stone-pelting attack on Nankana Sahib in Pakistan and said it was a “shameful situation”.
04-Jan-2020
The Jalandhar Police team that had gone to Latianwal village in Kapurthala district to carry out a raid was attacked by villagers. Latianwal is among the several villages falling in the notorious drug belt of Kapurthala. Kapurthala SSP Satinder Singh said that “We have booked 11 persons of the village and raids are on to arrest them. As of now, they are absconding.”
03-Jan-2020
India strongly condemned the attack at Nankana Sahib Gurudwara in Pakistan and asked Pakistan Government to take "immediate steps" to ensure the safety, security and welfare of members of the Sikh community.
03-Jan-2020
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh appealed to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for his immediate intervention to ensure the safety of devotees stranded in Gurdwara Nankana Sahib. He also asked Imran Khan to save the historic Gurdwara from the angry mob.
02-Jan-2020
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) criticized Pakistan’s decision to deny entry to non-Sikh visitors to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan, for three days in January. Earlier Pakistan has decided not to allow the entry of non-Sikhs to the shrine, from January 3 to January 5, during the birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh who is the tenth and last of the Sikh Gurus.
01-Jan-2020
One person, identified as Bhalwan Singh was arrested along with five kilograms of heroin and two pistols and 10 live cartridges at the Amritsar-Jalandhar national highway in Amritsar. The accused was produced in a local court which sent him to police remand till January 6.
01-Jan-2020
The Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Dinkar Gupta in an interview said that “We have been fortunate that 2019 has gone without any terror crime.” However, he cautioned that “It is difficult to say what the future holds for us, but when you are dealing with a neighbour like Pakistan, there will be attempts to foment trouble in Punjab. So, we have to be always vigilant.” He also said that “the SFJ tirade, however, has no resonance in Punjab. Some see it as a bogey created by security agencies.”
01-Jan-2020
Regarding the “Referendum2020” campaign the DGP, Dinkar Gupta said, “It has no takers here. SFJ has been banned by the government of India and its chief protagonist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has been declared proclaimed offender in a few cases. The only worrying part is that they are beguiling and trying to provoke the youth to commit violence which is not a good sign. It vitiates the peace.”
31-Dec-2019
21 more villages in Punjab’s Nawanshahr district were declared drug-free on the eve on the New Year, while 50 of total 71 villages were declared drug-free a few months back. Nawanshahr district of the Doaba region has taken a lead in the crusade against drugs launched by the state government, while Hoshiarpur district is in the second in the list with 37 villages. According to the government information, Nawanshahr has identified 71 villages out of its total 466 villages (15 per cent) which are totally drug-free and there was no case registered under NDPS Act and also no drug recovery was made from any resident of such villages. Additionally, there are no addicts in these villages, as per the government’s information.
30-Dec-2019
The SGPC condemned booking of Sikh devotees by UP Police for allegedly defying prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc) by taking out a religious procession from Kiratpur Gurudwara in Pilibhit’s Kheri Naubaramad village to commemorate Shahidi Diwas (martyrdom of the sons of Guru Gobind Singh) on December 29 afternoon.