KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
11-Sep-2019
According to sources, the interrogation of 32 people in connection with Tarn Taran blast has provided important leads about the motive behind the explosion."The accused wanted to cause a blast at a public place. Investigation is on to find out who these people were working for", an unnamed senior police official said. Sources also said that the Police suspect the hand of ISI and Khalistani terror groups in the explosion. Traces of foreign funding have also been found. Tarn Taran District was a hotbed for terror activities during the Khalistan militancy days.
11-Sep-2019
The Punjab Police, in a move to restructure its Intelligence Department, formed a separate ‘internal security wing’ to specifically focus on anti-terrorism and anti-internal insurgency operations. Under this new administrative arrangement, three major wings of Intelligence Department, Counter Intelligence (CI), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and Organised Crime Control Unit (OCCU) will now be supervised by ADGP (internal security) — a new post created recently. 1993-batch IPS officer RN Dhoke was transferred to the post on September 9. Earlier, functioning of these three wings (CI, FIU, OCCU) which are headed by IG, used to be directly supervised by the intelligence chief.
11-Sep-2019
Baldev Kumar, a former lawmaker of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) who has sought asylum in India, said that he has been receiving threatening phone calls from across the border. Baldev Kumar has sought political asylum in India for himself and his family, citing atrocities against minorities in Pakistan.
11-Sep-2019
The Special Task Force (STF) Ludhiana Ferozepur range arrested a drug peddler, identified as Ravinder Singh Nikka along with 1kg heroin and 100 gm of expensive ice drug from Chimney road in Shimlapuri in Ludhiana District.
11-Sep-2019
In a joint operation conducted by the health officials and the district administration, an illegal drug de-addiction centre, which was running under the name of ‘Khalsa Welfare Foundation’, was busted in Punjab's Fatehgarh Sahib District. The authorities rescued as many as 14 addicts being allegedly tortured in the centre.
11-Sep-2019
The Minister of Forests, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot demanded the arrest of former Pakistan lawmaker Baldev Kumar, who arrived in India a month ago. He said the antecedents of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader should be verified as sending him to India could be a ploy of Pakistan spy agency, ISI.
10-Sep-2019
The BSF team deployed along the border near the Sutlej river had successfully seized eight kilograms of heroin and 55 grams of opium. Since the rise of water level in the Sutlej river in Punjab's Ferozepur, smugglers from Pakistan have been continuously sending narcotics by turning the rough flow of the river into their advantage.
10-Sep-2019
The Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) Amritsar Sub-Zone said that it had busted an international network of drug trafficking operating in Delhi, Punjab and Mumbai with linkages in Australia and Canada.
09-Sep-2019
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh inaugurated a state-of-the-art Digital Investigation Training and Analysis Centre (DITAC) to strengthen Punjab’s anti-terror capabilities in the face of growing cyber terror threat, particularly along the vulnerable bordering areas exposed to infiltration and narcotics smuggling. The Chief Minister said that the new emerging cyber threats had necessitated the enhancement of online technical intelligence systems.
08-Sep-2019
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested a gangster, Jatinder Kumar Chintu, and his accomplice, Shiv Kumar along with 500-grams heroin at Kakowal road in Ludhiana District of Punjab. Inspector Harbans Singh, in-charge STF Ludhiana Range said that the accused had confessed their involvement in procuring and selling heroin among his customers from different areas of Amritsar, Jammu and Delhi.
07-Sep-2019
The Sarbat Khalsa appointed Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Jagtar Singh Hawara was produced before the Ludhiana based court of Judge Atul Kasana via video conference in a case pertaining to bomb blast occurred near Ludhiana’s clock tower in 1995. Sources said that the hearing of this case has been adjourned to September 18 for recording of Bhai Hawara’s statement under section 313 Cr.P.C through video conferencing.
07-Sep-2019
Bhai Jagtar Singh Hawara was also produced before the court of Judge Arunveer Vashisht via video conferencing in a case registered against him under the Arms and Explosive Act in Police Station Kotwali of Ludhiana in 1995. Without any proceedings in this case, the next hearing was adjourned to October 5 for final arguments.
06-Sep-2019
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that the two people killed and one injured in a blast in Tarn Taran District in Punjab were trying to make a bomb in a bottle."The three people were digging a pit during the night and were trying to make a bomb in a bottle with a mixture of some chemicals that exploded. Two died in this incident and one had injuries in his eyes," Singh said. He further added that "We will find out who were making these bombs, how were they being made and for whom these bombs were being made. It will be known".
06-Sep-2019
A National Security Guard (NSG) team along with Punjab Police inspected the site at Tarn Taran District’s Pandoori Gola village where a blast took place on September 4, and recorded statements of people living in the nearby areas. The Punjab Police’s Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) wing rounded up more than 100 suspects in connection with the case, but no one was arrested.
04-Sep-2019
Two persons, identified as Harpreet Singh (20) and Vikram Singh (28) were killed and another one, Gurjant Singh (27) injured in a low-intensity blast in an agricultural field near Kaler village in Tarn Taran in Tarn Taran District. Harpreet was a part-time carpenter, Vikram a mason, while Gurjant rears cattle to make a living. Punjab Police suspects that blast could have links with terror organisations. It is suspected that the two deceased and the person injured in the blast might have been assembling a crude bomb at the site. The police were conducting raids and questioning suspects to probe links of those killed in the blast with radical organisations.
04-Sep-2019
India snubbed Pakistan delegation when they tried to ‘indirectly’ raise issues relating to J&K when the two sides met for the third round of talks on the Kartarpur corridor, as they were bluntly told to ‘stick to the agenda’. The Indian side led by SCL Das, Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, was quick to “rebuff”, as he “snubbed” the Pakistan officials by saying “don’t talk about concerns other than Kartarpur corridor, as we have greater concerns (cross-border terrorism) than you. Better we stick to the agenda rather than delve on other issue”, said a source.
04-Sep-2019
The agreement on the Kartarpur Corridor project, which will open the famed pilgrimage centre to Indians, could not be signed after Pakistan declared that it would charge fees from the visitors. According to the sources, Pakistan has insisted on charging a service fee for allowing pilgrims to visit Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib, which is not agreeable in the spirit of smooth and easy access through the corridor.”
03-Sep-2019
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and raised the issue of forceful conversion and marriage of a Sikh girl, Jagjit Kaur in Pakistan and said the neighbouring country should protect the rights of the minorities.
03-Sep-2019
According to reports, the Khalistani separatist elements are trying to radicalise Sikh youth in the Indian state of Punjab through sustained campaigns on social media run from countries like Canada, UK and Germany. Khalistani supporters have also organised rallies against India in connivance with the ISI in the UK.
02-Sep-2019
The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) decided to approach the United Nations (UN) against forced conversions of minorities in Pakistan. SGPC chief Gobind Singh Longowal said that the Sikh body is planning to write to the UN regarding the issue.
02-Sep-2019
President of the radical group Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) Simranjit Singh Mann stated that the Pakistan Government and PM Khan should take special care of Sikh minorities living in the country. He revealed that a statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was also vandalised in Lahore recently. Such incidents are not positive signs for the minority community in Pakistan, said Mann.
01-Sep-2019
Pakistan and India will hold the next high-level talks on the proposed Kartarpur Corridor for Sikh pilgrims on September 4, which would take place on the Indian side of the Wagah Border - Attari Border - where the two countries are expected to finalise the draft agreement pertaining to the opening of the corridor.
01-Sep-2019
Activists of Bajrang Dal Hindustan set fire to the effigy of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in Amritsar and called for solidarity between Hindu and Sikhs to protest against the continued lack of action by the Pakistani government on the abduction of the Sikh girl, who was forcibly converted and then married to a Muslim man.
01-Sep-2019
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is going to start various events for celebrating the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev at Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala District in Punjab from November 1.
30-Aug-2019
15 Officials from each India and Pakistan discussed the technical modalities of the Kartarpur corridor, the first meeting held at the Zero point, after New Delhi revoked Jammu and Kashmir's special status leading to fresh tensions between the two countries. The meeting lasted for close to two hours during which various technical aspects pertaining to the corridor were discussed.