KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
06-Mar-2020
Around 3.58 gm heroin was recovered from a prisoner in the Sangrur Central Jail in Sangrur district. Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Amrik Singh said that “Accused Gurjit Singh had been facing trial in an NDPS case. On Friday, when he was taken to the jail after conviction, the head warden seized 3.58-gm heroin from him. We have registered another NDPS case against him
05-Mar-2020
The controversial Punjabi singer, Shubhdeep Singh alias Sidhu Moosewala approached Akal Takht voluntarily and tendered an apology. Moosewala was recently embroiled in a controversy over repeatedly using objectionable lyrics in his songs.
05-Mar-2020
The Tarn Taran blast accused, Massa Singh alias Mandeep Singh alleged that officials of National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Central Jail in Amritsar tortured and harassed him in judicial custody. Massa Singh moved an application through his counsel advocate Jaspal Singh Manjhpur before the special NIA judge Karunesh Kumar in Mohali. Manjhpur said that they had demanded strict action against that the officials concerned.The judge has served a notice to the NIA and the jail authorities to file a reply by March 26.
04-Mar-2020
Rajya Sabha MP (Member of Parliament) Partap Bajwa alleged shoddy investigations into cases involving drug mafia in Punjab. Bajwa, in a letter to the Union Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad, pointed out that no effort had been made by the Centre or Punjab to take forward the investigations on the basis of report on a police-politician-drug mafia nexus, submitted by the STF led by Harpreet Singh Sidhu.
04-Mar-2020
The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) and Anti-Narcotics Cell of Sangrur arrested one man, identified as Harbans Singh along with 150 gm of heroin in Sangrur district. According to police, apart from his arrest, police have also registered a case against his two relatives, including Kaka Singh and Salim.
03-Mar-2020
Police arrested a drug smuggler, identified as Jasvir Singh along with 100 gm of heroin from the outskirts of Rattian village in Moga district.
02-Mar-2020
Another prime suspect in the recent recovery of 450-kg of narcotic substances, including 197-kg heroin, identified as Sahil Sharma surrendered before the court in Amritsar. The court sent him to jail. Earlier, the STF had confiscated around 450-kg of narcotic substances from a house in Akash Vihar in Sultanwind village on January 31 and arrested six persons.
01-Mar-2020
The president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) Gobind Singh Longowal sought action against the police officers who are harassing Sikh pilgrims returning back after paying obeisance at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan. Longowal said that it is a very bad routine which has panicked the pilgrims and it can affect the Kartarpur corridor if it is not stopped immediately. He also said that this practice of Punjab government seems an intentional step to bring the people of Punjab under suspicion due to which they are feeling alienated.
29-Feb-2020
A controversy erupted when a school in New Delhi questioned its seventh-grade students about a ‘Sikh militant group’ in one of the examinations. Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa demanded immediate action against the school and termed the incident as intentional brainwashing. He said that the school was brainwashing the students into blaming Sikhs and to term them as terrorists. As per the sources, the question has also upset the Sikh community in Punjab who feel that the question was not required since it is related to a particular religion.
28-Feb-2020
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh said that Punjab Police had questioned some of the pilgrims returning through Kartarpur Corridor in the request of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), in the interest of national security. The CM, defending the police action, said that in fact, had the Gurdaspur police failed to cooperate with IB in the wake of security concerns expressed by the latter, he would have taken strict action against the former. He added that as the police force of a border state, the Punjab Police had acted within permissible limits of functioning in the matter.
28-Feb-2020
Police busted a drug racket and arrested two persons, identified as Kulwinder Singh and Raman Kumar along with 11 kg of heroin on the Sutlej bridge in Phillaur subdivision of Jalandhar district.
27-Feb-2020
A joint team of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and Special Task Force (STF) is investigating the possibility of linking the seizure of around 450-kg narcotics from a house in Sultanwind village in Punjab on January 31 with the seizure of around 300 kg of contraband by the ATS from Gujarat last year. The ATS also arrested three more suspects following the interrogation of cloth trader Ankush Kapoor and gym trainers Sukhdip Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and Major Singh, who were arrested along with the contraband in the preliminary stages of the case.
27-Feb-2020
According to report, four Gurdaspur-based pilgrims, who had visited Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan in January this year, were questioned due to their not so convincing pilgrimage. The Intelligence Bureau (IB), in a letter written to the Superintendent of Police (SP), Gurdaspur, has sent details of four pilgrims who visited Kartarpur Sahib in January this year. The letter said all these pilgrims were questioned as the purpose of their visit was "not entirely convincing". Punjab Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa, while reading the IB letter in Punjab Assembly on February 27, said,"The following Indian nationals visited Gurudwara Shri Kartarpur Sahib (GSKS) Pakistan via a corridor. During interrogation, the purpose of their visit was not entirely convincing. Anything of interest may kindly be shared with us.” Those interrogated by the IB are Sukhdeep Singh (who visited Kartarpur Sahib on January 25), Ranjit Singh (visited Kartarpur on January 25), Prabhjit Singh (visited Kartarpur on January 23), and an unnamed person hails from Bhikhriwal in Gurdaspurhad visited Kartarpur on January 23 and is also unemployed and is ‘keen to settle in Canada’.
26-Feb-2020
The Dal Khalsa, through a statement, sought the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah for allowing non-state actors to collude and connive with Delhi police to unleash mayhem and terror on anti-CAA protesters. It said, “This is a gross failure of the entire Indian system comprising a hateful government, a biased bureaucracy and an indifferent justice system.”
26-Feb-2020
Police arrested a drug peddler who was out on bail, identified as Hardeep Singh alias Kaka and recovered 110 intoxicant injections and 110 bottles of intoxicant from his custody in Fatehgarh Sahib district.The preliminary investigation revealed that the peddler was earlier booked in NDPS Act and was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment and has now just come out of jail after five years on bail and again started supplying drugs.
26-Feb-2020
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh, while raising concerns about the security threat to the bordering state from Pakistan in State Assembly, revealed that “In three years what we have achieved through checking their (Pakistan) nefarious designs is that we have busted 32 terrorist modules propped up by them. We have arrested 154 terrorists, confiscated 41 rifles, 136 revolvers and pistols, 35 hand grenades including those used in the Nirankari Bhawan attack in Amritsar, 3.5 kg of RDX, two smart phones and Rs 30 lakhs in fake currency.”Showing pictures of Chinese drones, he said this was pressed by Pakistan into Punjab which was capable of carrying heavy payloads.“These are the drones which we were able to catch and we do not how many such drones are still there with people of Punjab. There are radical Sikhs in Punjab and several of them in countries abroad. Those NRIs go directly to Kartarpur Sahib. We do not know what they do there and who they meet”, he said.
25-Feb-2020
Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh, in the State Assembly, said that the Kartarpur Corridor would not be allowed to shut down at any cost. He said that Punjab government had left no stone unturned to make the corridor a success. The CM, while replying to the opposition demand to dismiss DGP Dinkar Gupta over his purported statements on Kartarpur Corridor, said that DGP had already apologized and the opposition was milking the issue for political capital.CM said that everyone should understand security concerns of the country vis-à-vis a hostile neighbour. Meanwhile, the CM defended his cabinet colleague, Bharat Bhushan Ashu after a suspended DSP had alleged that he had harboured a group of terrorists in 1992. He said, “The TADA case being raked by the opposition against the Minister has already been closed.”
25-Feb-2020
The Punjab State Assembly passed a resolution urging the Central government to ask Pakistan to do away with the condition that pilgrims using the Kartarpur Corridor must hold passports.The Assembly also sought a reduction in the USD 20 fee that Pakistan charges Indian pilgrims using the visa-free facility to visit the Sikh shrine in Kartarpur Sahib.
25-Feb-2020
The Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said that “DGP Dinkar Gupta’s should quit on moral grounds as his comments has hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs.” The Jathedar, who returned from Pakistan, said that if a Sikh could become an extremist after a six-hour visit to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, he had spent so many days in Pakistan but never returned to be so. “It is appreciable that the DGP had apologised for his objectionable comments. I do not insist but I believe that he should tender his resignation morally. His comments had hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs across the globe and it was an unpardonable mistake on his part to pass such remarks,” he added.
25-Feb-2020
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh stated that the apprehensions of a threat to the security of the people and the country were serious, however these apprehensions are not because the Corridor (Kartarpur Corridor) has been opened but because of the 'Maardi Neeyat [bad intent] of Pakistan. He further added that "After meddling in Kashmir for long, the ISI had only one task now -- to disturb the peace of Punjab. Pakistan was blatantly trying to foment trouble in the state." He also pointed out that 35,000 Punjabis and 1,700 policemen had lost their lives, in addition to the Army soldiers, during the years of militancy in the stare, and our responsibility is to ensure this does not happen again.
24-Feb-2020
The opposition parties, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), raked up the issue of the controversial remark made by Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta regarding pilgrims visiting the Kartarpur Gurudwara through the newly built corridor inside the State Assembly. The opposition parties also sought sacking of Cabinet Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in the backdrop of allegations levelled by suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police Balwinder Singh Sekhon of masterminding a bomb blast in the Gur Mandi area of Ludhiana in 1992. Soon after ‘Question Hour’ started, members of SAD and AAP shouted slogans and demanded action against the DGP and the Cabinet Minister.
23-Feb-2020
The suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Balwinder Singh Sekhon accused the Food and Civil Supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu of masterminding a bomb blast at Gur Mandi area of Ludhiana in 1992. He also alleged that minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu is a former Khalistani terrorist who worked with Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan (BTFK) and demanded his removal for involvement in anti-national and heinous crimes. Balwinder Singh Sekhon said, "The statements given by Ashu to the police in 1992 say he was part of Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan (BTFK) that used to harbour arms and ammunition provided logistics support to Khalistani terrorists and was involved in the murder of three people including a lady Home Guard, Constable Shyam Sundar and his uncle. He is a very dangerous person and can kill me. He should be removed as a minister." Balwinder Singh Sekhon also accused that the minister not only conspired the 1992 Ludhiana bomb blast, but also confessed his involvement in a triple murder case reported the same year."Charanjit alias Swarnjit alias Channa a hardcore Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan (BTFK) besides five other ultras were associated with my father and used to visit my dairy located at Dairy Complex, Haibowal. I used to take care of their weapons as nobody suspected me", copies of a police statement claimed to have been given by Ashu to then SP City Ludhiana SS Sandhu on May 6, 1992, issued to the media said. He also said that Ashu had established links with the Khalistani terrorists to kill his uncle Jagdish Chand who he suspected had killed his parents.
22-Feb-2020
The Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Dinkar Gupta said that there was no religious connotation in his remarks about Kartarpur Corridor made at an event on February 20. The DGP also said that his statements were misunderstood or ‘willfully misconstrued’. In a statement, he stated that “I rejoiced at the opening of the Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor which has fulfilled the decades-old aspirations of millions of devotees like myself all over the world who profess their faith in Guru Nanak Dev Ji and his divine teachings." "Their daily 'ardas' for 'khulle darshan-deedaar' of religious shrines, that are in post-Partition Pakistan, was finally answered. It was a matter of even greater happiness that it coincided with the 550th Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji," he said. "As the state DGP, I assure that we will continue to strive to work towards facilitating trouble-free access to the holy shrine of Sri Kartarpur Sahib," he added. He also said that as the DGP of the state, which is faced with the continuing battle against violent extremism that continues to be funded and supported from across the border, he cannot overemphasize the need to remain vigilant. "I only red-flagged the obvious 'potential' for misuse by elements notorious for their hostility towards India and their effort to exploit every opportunity, even the most pious one, to disturb the peace and communal harmony," the DGP said.
22-Feb-2020
The opposition parties in Panjab, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), accused DGP Dinkar Gupta of hurting the sentiments of the Sikh community by making irresponsible remarks in the context of pilgrims visiting the Kartarpur Gurudwara in Pakistan through the newly built corridor.The AAP leaders even demanded that a criminal case be filed against the DGP for his insensitive statement and that he be given the marching orders.
22-Feb-2020
The Dal Khalsa, in a letter urged the US president Donald Trump prior to his scheduled visit to India, to debunk India’s hollow arguments that whatever it does to its minorities is its internal matter. It also urged Trump to exert pressure on India to ensure respect for human rights of struggling nationalities and acceptance of their right to sovereign self-rule through the right to self-determination.The letter, which was sent via US Ambassador to India, was shared with the media by Kanwar Pal Singh and other office bearers at a press conference held at party office.