KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
23-Mar-2010
Five "Pakistan-made" hand grenades were seized from the Mohali District on March 23, following the arrest of BKI militants. The grenades were recovered from Siswan village in Mullanpur town, about 14 kilometers away from the Punjab Cricket Association stadium, where one of the Indian Premier League cricket match is scheduled to be held on March 24. Mohali's Superintendent of Police Varinderpal Singh said that the grenades were made in Pakistan and had an imprint of 'P-86' on them.
21-Mar-2010
Two militants of BKI, arrested by Mohali Police, were produced in the court and remanded to two-day Police custody.
18-Mar-2010
A joint Police team of the Punjab and Delhi Police neutralized a module of the BKI, an outfit backed by Pakistan's ISI, by arresting three militants from Punjab and Delhi. Two suspected BKI militants, identified as Daljit Kumar alias Deepak of Baltana from Mohali District and Purshotam Singh alias Bunty from Rajoura in Patiala District, were arrested at the Zirakpur-Patiala road near Zirakpur in an operation conducted by the Mohali Police and the Special Cell of Delhi Police in the night of March 18. The third militant of the outfit, identified as Karwinder Singh, a native of Ropar, was arrested in Delhi on March 19.
16-Mar-2010
The BKI terrorists Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora were produced in a local court in Chandigarh for the ongoing trial of the Beant Singh assassination case.
07-Mar-2010
Sikh militant outfits based abroad are trying to revive terrorism in Punjab and the Government is maintaining a close watch on such outfits, the UMHA said. "Available reports suggest that Sikh militant groups, especially those based abroad, continue to persist with their efforts to revive militancy in Punjab," Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken told the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament). "A close watch is maintained on the activities of various groups known to have been engaged in trying to foment terrorist activities in Punjab," he said. He also added that pro-Khalistan terrorist outfits namely BKI, ISYF, KCF and KZF continued to be banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2004
21-Feb-2010
Two militants of KCF, identified as Jasvir Singh alias Jassa and Harjant Singh alias DC were arrested with explosives at a check-post near Rajgarh village in Patiala District. The duo, who were involved in more than 12 cases since 1993, were arrested when they were on their way to plant bombs in Ambala. They had reportedly planted bombs outside an LPG refilling plant near Nabha town in January 2010 and on a road leading to Indian Air Force station at Zirakpur, near Chandigarh. Nearly eight kilograms of explosives, 40 gelatin sticks, two pistols and some ammunition were seized from them. The IG claimed that the duo had met KCF’s Bakhshish Singh alias Baba who is absconding since the Karnal bomb attack attempt on the Dera Sacha Sauda (a group regarded as 'heretic' by orthodox Sikhs) chief in a high security jail during the days of militancy in Punjab. According to IG, another KCF terrorist Harminder Singh, now in Malaysia, provided arms, ammunition, explosives and money to DC, Jassa and Baba through the hawala (informal money transfer system) route and the trio had planted bombs with the help of another person, Pargat Singh, near the LPG plant in Nabha and the airbase.
27-Jan-2010
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) joined hands with Hurriyat Conference of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Dal Khalsa of Punjab, to put pressure on the Centre for an ‘early solution to the impasse in Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab’. Thuingaleng Muivah, ‘general secretary’ of the NSCN-IM, Syed Ali Shah Gilani, ‘chairman’ of Hurriyat Conference, and Kanwarpal Singh of Dal Khalsa in a joint statement appealed to the international community highlighting the ‘fundamental conflicts and contradictions’ in India. The report adds that the joint message was ‘endorsed’ by leading organisations based in the respective Diaspora communities.
18-Jan-2010
A bomb, suspected to be an IED, was discovered kept along the Bhiwanigarh-Nabha highway outside the Indian Oil Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plant in Nabha in Patiala District, Police said.
21-Oct-2009
The Special Operation Cell of Punjab Police arrested a militant of the KZF, identified as Barkat Singh, a close associate of Ranjit Singh, the KZF chief who is based in Pakistan, against whom many cases of terrorist activities were registered. Barkat Singh is currently wanted by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in a murder case and at present was living on a fake identity. Investigations reportedly revealed that Ranjit Singh was trying to push in a huge consignment of arms, ammunition and explosives from Pakistan, which was to be received by Barkat through an associate in Jammu, Police said.
17-Oct-2009
The Director-General of Punjab Police, Paramdeep Singh Gill, said that Pakistan’s ISI is actively engaged in reviving militancy in Punjab by providing arms and money to extremists.
29-Sep-2009
Police arrested five BKI militants, including the son of a Police official, and claimed to have neutralized a terror module. Four militants were arrested on the night of September 29 from Bhogpur, 45 kilometers from Jalandhar and one was arrested on September 30 from Jalandhar. The arrestees were identified as Ranvir Singh alias Saabi (son of an ASI), Manjit Singh alias Jeeta, Amandeep Singh (all of the residents of Bhogpur) and Kuldeep Singh of Basti Bawa Khel locality and Dinesh Kumar. The arrested persons have been in touch with their Germany based head of BKI Harminder Singh alias Mintu, a close link of BKI terrorists residing in Pakistan for the past six months; the Police said adding that the accused were also in touch with Paramjit Singh Pamma, also based in Germany.
04-Sep-2009
The Punjab Police claimed to have seized 2.5 kilograms of RDX, said to be a part of the consignment used in the attack on the convoy of Dera Sacha Sauda (a group regarded as 'heretic' by orthodox Sikhs) chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on February 2, 2008, near Pipli in Karnal District. The Police also claimed to have seized two detonators and a pistol from two-murder accused brought to Patiala from Mansa for interrogation in another case.
27-Aug-2009
Police detained several people from Patiala, Bathinda, Moga and Malout for suspected links with Balbir Singh Bhutna. The person who was picked up from Malout is stated to have purchased a .32 bore revolver from the accused. Bhutna, a Khalistani terrorist, is believed to have been involved in the recent murder of Lily Sharma, a Dera Sacha Sauda (a group regarded as 'heretic' by orthodox Sikhs) follower, in Mansa.
27-Aug-2009
Police in Ludhiana, arrested a suspected militant, identified as Daljit Singh Bittu for allegedly plotting to kill Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. Bittu, who was involved in the Khalistan movement of the 1980s, was arrested from his house following information provided by arrested terrorist Balbir Singh Bhutna, Police said. Bhutna, who is suspected of links with militant outfits KCF and BKI, was arrested at Ludhiana railway station on August 25 after an encounter in which one person was killed and two policemen were seriously injured. During the investigation, Bhutna had revealed that they had plans to kill the Punjab Chief Minister and his son, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister of the State. Bittu is president of the Akali Dal (Amritsar- Panjpradhani), a party which he floated after his release from prison. Bittu was also associated with Simranjit Singh Mann's SAD (A) but had later formed his party - SAD (Panch Pardhani).
15-Aug-2009
The BSF personnel arrested four Pakistani intruders who were trying to enter India through the Tarn Taran District of Punjab. Two kilograms of heroin, two pistols, two Pakistani mobiles, and Pakistani currency notes were recovered from their possession.
02-Aug-2009
A suspected woman agent of the Pakistan’s ISI, identified as Savinder Kaur, was arrested along with fake Indian currency having a face value of INR 480000 from Amritsar.
20-Apr-2009
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has alerted the State to take adequate measures in coordination with central intelligence and security agencies to foil any such attempts. Agencies believed that Wadhwa Singh continues to be a vital link between terrorists in other countries and some radical elements in the Sikh community in Punjab. Wadhwa Singh, hiding in Pakistan, is one of the 40 most-wanted terrorists India has sought to be deported from Pakistan.
18-Mar-2009
The Punjab Police neutralized an ISI-sponsored espionage ring with the arrest of four persons, including two of them with a terrorist background. The arrestees were identified as Naib Singh, Baldev Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Randhir Singh, all residents of different villages in the Faridkot District. Naib Singh and Baldev Singh have a terrorist background and several cases were registered against them, a Punjab Police spokesman said. Sensitive documents relating to important military installations, photographs, charts, movements of military units, diaries containing Pakistani telephone numbers and mobile phones and fake currency of the face value of INR 20,000 were seized from the possession of the arrested persons.
31-Oct-2008
Patiala Police arrested three terrorists, linked to Paramjit Singh Panjwar of KCF in Pakistan, from an unspecified place. They were identified as Didar Singh alias Dari, Bahal Singh alias Bala and Ajmer Singh. A motorcycle, a 9-mm pistol, and some live cartridges along with 200 grams of smack were recovered from their possession. They were reportedly involved in several killings in Punjab in recent years.
23-Oct-2008
Two BKI cadres, identified as Paramjit Singh and Kamaljit Singh, were convicted and sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment by a special court for the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, in Chandigarh. The duo, described as human bombs in the Police charge sheet, had reportedly had planned to revive terrorism and had been trained by BKI head, Jagtar Singh Hawara.
25-Sep-2008
Security Forces arrested a Rashtriya Rifles (RR) personnel identified as Ranjeet Singh for his suspected links with the KZF when he was fleeing from his unit at Baramulla in Kashmir valley along with two AK-47 rifles in Banihal town on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
11-Jun-2008
The Punjab Police claimed to have arrested a woman agent of the Pakistani external intelligence agency, ISI from Jagroan village near Ludhiana. Police said the woman, identified as Ranjeet Kaur, was working as a messenger of the ISI and was sending the message of the ISI to the terrorists operating in India. She was providing them financial support as well.
20-Mar-2008
The Delhi Police claimed to have arrested two BKI militants, identified as Jaswant Singh alias Kala and Surender Singh alias Fauji from near the Sutlej bridge in Jalandhar in Punjab, in a follow-up to the December 31, 2007-arrest of four BKI militants. One.30 Star make pistol and one .22 Star made pistol with 11 live cartridges were recovered from them.
11-Mar-2008
According to Intelligence sources, Pakistan’s ISI is making serious attempts to revive Sikh militancy in India by coordinating and establishing linkages among various terrorist outfits with the Sikh extremist leaders. The ISI activities to this extent have been planned from countries like the US, Canada, Germany, UK, France, Norway, and Belgium, besides Pakistan in the absence of ground support in India. The various terror groups have established nexus among themselves in terms of financial and logistical support, sharing of information and tactical planning. An intelligence input indicated that representatives of BKI, ISYF and LeT met in Berlin on June 2007 and decided that financial support would be extended to the LeT and logistical support to the BKI to carry out terrorist actions in India. Another input indicated that Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) had got in touch with a UK-based organization, Parliamentarians for National Self-Determination (PNSD) for modelling their ‘position paper’ on the pattern of the ‘Sikh Position Paper’.
05-Mar-2008
In a letter to the guardians of Sikhism's holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said die-hard separatists were receiving support from sympathizers living overseas. "The government and our agencies have credible information of efforts being made by extremist groups to revive militancy in Punjab," the premier said in the letter. "Much of this is concentrated in countries abroad like the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and especially Pakistan, where such groups receive a great deal of encouragement from remnants of extremist groups as well as support from other hostile forces," he wrote. Singh was responding to an appeal for a review of an official "blacklist" of most-wanted insurgents who fled India at the peak of the insurgency in Punjab.