KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
24-Aug-2020
Police arrested three drug peddlers along with 100-gm heroin, Rs 3.50 lakh cash and a car in Ferozepur district.
24-Aug-2020
An Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) was shot at by a notorious smuggler, Rachhpal Singh Daula in Tarn Taran district. The injured ASI, Malkiat Singh, and his associate Ranjit Singh managed to arrest Rachhpal and seized his country-made revolver. His motorcycle was also impounded. However, Rachhpal’s accomplice Bhalwan managed to flee.
24-Aug-2020
The Akal Takht acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said, “Arresting Sikh youths for performing ardas in gurdwaras is not fair.” “Performing ardas is the religious duty of every Sikh. A Sikh always vows to the concept of Raj Karega Khalsa (Khalsa will rule) through ardas. However, performing it or getting it performed for money is not Sikhism. The Sikh youths should be conscious of the provocative statements,” said Giani Harpreet Singh. Earlier, police arrested a youth for performing ardas of Khalistan at Takht Damdama Sahib and Akal Takht on the call of a US-based secessionist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ).
24-Aug-2020
Prisoner Bhai Lal Singh was permanently released after 28 years of prolonged imprisonment. He had languished in different Indian jails for the last three decades after being indicted under TADA and Arms Act charges in August 1992. In 1997, he was sentenced to life by the Court in a case pertaining to the recovery of arms at Dadar railway station in 1992.
24-Aug-2020
According to recent reports, Pakistan' Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its terror outfits who are unable to execute any attacks in the country to disturb law and order situation due to the alertness of forces and intelligence agencies are now giving the task to local gangsters. Recently, Chandigarh intelligence unit alerted all intelligence agency units regarding such tie-up between terrorists and gangsters who have clout and local connections.
24-Aug-2020
Punjab Police arrested a wanted drug smuggler, identified as Rashpal Singh from Tarn Taran district. Rashpal Singh is wanted in several cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and is also suspected of having links with terrorists. A country-made semi-automatic pistol, two magazines and six live rounds were recovered from Singh. The motorcycle used by him and his associate has also been seized.
23-Aug-2020
Punjab Police arrested one Khalistani terror sympathiser, identified as Gurmeet Singh from the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar district after he allegedly organised prayers for the Referendum 2020. According to the reports, Gurmeet Singh also shot a video of the prayer he organised at the Golden Temple. He organised prayers after the pro-Khalistan group Sikh For Justice (SFJ) had claimed that it would offer $5000 to anyone performing prayers for Khalistan at Akal Takht on August 23. Later, Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran, works as a Sikh preacher (granthi), confessed to the police that he was promised $5000 by Pannun if prayer is held for Khalistan at the Golden Temple.
23-Aug-2020
Four Indian nationals were detained from the border belt in connection with the killing of five Pakistan intruders by the Border Security Force (BSF) in Tarn Taran on August 22. The killings has led the Punjab Police to a narcotics nexus thriving in connivance with local residents in the remote rural belt along the International Border (IB). According to police, the four had established connections with the five Pakistan nationals. Tarn Taran SSP Dhruman Nimbale said that details of weapons recovered from the intruders were being investigated, though no radical activity had surfaced so far. “Prima facie it appears to be an attempt to push narcotics from the Pakistan side in connivance with drug smugglers on this side of the border,” he said.
23-Aug-2020
A ‘Khalistan’ flag was put up on a flyover in Moga city in Moga district. According to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harmanbir Singh Gill, it was done by some miscreants and the act had nothing to do with fundamentalist organisations. He said the miscreants’ intention was to disturb communal harmony in the area. Gill said hoisting any such flag was not a legal offence, but it was punishable, if done with a “malicious” intention. Many such incidents have been reported in Moga district over the past few days.
22-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead five Pakistani intruders in self-defence after the infiltrators opened fire on the Indian troopers along the International Border (IB) in Tarn Taran district of Punjab early in the morning. One AK-47 assault rifle with two magazines and 27 live rounds, four .9mm Berretta pistols with seven magazines and 109 live rounds, 9kg heroin, two mobile phones and Rs 610 in Pakistani currency were also recovered from the infiltrators. According to the BSF’s Inspector General (IG), Punjab Frontier, Mahipal Yadav, prima facie, it appears the five men were trying to infiltrate as they were carrying arms and drugs, but their exact motive will be ascertained by the Punjab Police during their investigation. The mobile phones recovered by the intruders could contain vital information, Yadav said.
22-Aug-2020
The pro-Khalistan separatist outfit, Sikh For Justice (SFJ) offered money to anyone performing ardas for Khalistan at Akal Takht on August 23. In a release issued on August 22, SFJ’s Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has tried to lure people into offering such arads at Akal Takht by offering $5,000, and $500 for offering ardas at other local Gurudwaras. Recently, Pannun had offered $200 for removing Indian tricolour and raise Khalistan flag instead at gram panchayat on August 15, the Independence Day.
22-Aug-2020
The Special Task Force (STF) seized 4.2 kg of heroin hidden in a water pipe across the barbed fence near Chanduwadala village border outpost in Gurdaspur in Gurdaspur district. A STF official said that the seizure was made following the questioning of Sukhwinder Singh alias Kaka, of Chanduwadala village, who had around 15 acres across the barbed fence. Kaka was arrested following a tip-off that he, along with Karandeep Singh of Dhilwan and Mandeep Singh of Chanduwadala village, had smuggled a drug consignment, procured from Pakistan-based smugglers, into the country.
22-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) and the state police in a joint operation seized 1 kg of heroin near the border outpost in Fazilka in Fazilka district.
22-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) arrested five drug smugglers, identified as Bikramjit Singh, Nirmal Singh, Nachhattar Singh, Panjab Singh and Raju and recovered 1.12 kg heroin from them in Wan Tara Singh village in Tarn Taran district. The contraband was concealed in their shoes.
22-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) found eight packets of heroin, weighing 2.41 kg, in the fields of Tarsem Singh of Naushehra Dhalla in Tarn Taran district.
21-Aug-2020
The Supreme Court dismissed the bail application of Malkit Singh alias Shera, one of the accused in connection with the blast that took place in Tarn Taran district of Punjab in September 2019. A bench headed by Justice NV Ramana dismissed the plea saying it cannot grant bail to the accused. Earlier, the prosecution had submitted before the NIA court that during the course of investigation, incriminating role of the accused had emerged and that he was highly radicalised towards the Khalistan movement and he was part of a gang that had planned terrorist activities.
20-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered 4 kg of heroin from near Mohar Sona border outpost of Fazilka district in the evening. According to official sources, during a search, the BSF team recovered four packets from the agricultural fields of a farmer, Bhagwan Singh, of Retewali Bhaini village. The consignment was allegedly pushed from the Pakistan side into the Indian territory.
20-Aug-2020
Police arrested a 19-year-old youth, identified as Akashdeep Singh from Bathinda in Bathinda district in connection with the case pertaining to putting up a ‘Khalistan flag’ on the terrace of district administrative complex on August 14. Two men, Jaspal Singh and Inderjeet Singh Gill in their early twenties are absconding and Jaspal is the son of a Punjab Police inspector. According to police, Akashdeep, who reportedly filmed the incident and Jaspal and Inderjeet had put up the flag with Khalistan written on it on the terrace of the administrative complex at 8:15am on August 14. While fleeing, the two men also removed and took along the Tricolour hoisted on the premises.
20-Aug-2020
Some activists of SAD (Amritsar) and Dal Khalsa staged a protest outside the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) office, alleging illegal detention of a sister of one of the accused and a minor boy in connection with Khalistan flag hoisting case.
20-Aug-2020
The Dal Khalsa said that the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal was planned against universally accepted riparian principles with an eye on looting the scarce water resources of Punjab and the digging of SYL was next to impossible and that the people of Punjab would not allow this to happen. It categorically stated that Punjab owns the waters of the Sutlej, Ravi and Beas and no legislation or court could deprive the state of its legitimate right of ownership. Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said the ghost of the SYL canal has cropped up again to haunt the people of Punjab. “We will defend the rights of the state at any cost,” he added.
19-Aug-2020
Four persons, identified as Rupinder Singh alias Rim, Yudhvir Singh alias Jony, Gurjeet and Aman Sharma, were arrested for allegedly having raised a flag with the words ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ in Chaupal village in Sirsa in Sirsa district of Haryana. According to a spokesperson for Haryana Police, two of the four were involved in hoisting the flag and the other two shot the video and posted it on social media. Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the spokesperson said.
16-Aug-2020
Some miscreants had replaced the national flag with the Khalistani flag near a Gurudwara in Dhudike village of Moga district.
16-Aug-2020
According to reports, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is facing a massive setback due to the pro-active policies of the Indian government for the welfare of the Sikh community. Consequently, it is overburdening its proxy organizations like Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) to launch smear propaganda against India amongst the Sikh diaspora. The sinister attempts of the ISI as well as its proxies are proving to be absolute failure, adding to the frustration of Pakistan.
16-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered three packets of heroin weighing 3.26 kg, worth Rs 15 crore, and a China-made pistol (.30 bore) and a magazine near border outpost Shameke along the zero line in Ferozepur sector in Ferozepur district.
15-Aug-2020
A controversy erupted when a Khalistan flag was hoisted at a Gurudwara in Dhudike village in Moga district. According to villagers, national flag was hoisted on the premises of the gurdwara in the presence of village sarpanch. The Gurudwara committee, however, objected to the tricolour being hoisted there. The tricolour was taken off. Later, some persons allegedly installed a saffron flag with ‘Khalistan’ written on it on the spot. The villagers removed that flag also and handed it over to police, claiming that they did not know who was behind it. Moga Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harmanbir Singh Gill, said that the controversy happened due to “internal party politics” in the village. “Khalistan written over the saffron flag was not even legible,” he said.