KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
06-Jun-2007
Punjab Police is reported to have traced the main conspirators of the May 22, 2005-bomb blasts in New Delhi, alleged to be members of the pro-Khalistan outfit, BKI, in Germany. The police said it had moved an application before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Maini in New Delhi for issuance of letters rogatory seeking information about the suspects from the German authorities, which was granted by the court. The letters rogatory seek information about Satnaam Singh, son-in-law of Babbar Khalsa chief Wadhwa Singh, his wife Sukhwinder Kaur and another woman identified as Kanwaljit Kaur.
31-May-2007
The Fatehgarh Sahib police registered a 'sedition case' against Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) senior vice president Daljit Singh Bittu and others on the statement of Fatehgarh Sahib Station House Officer Darshan Singh. It was alleged in the FIR that Bittu and his colleagues came in front of a bus and stopped it and raised slogans of 'Khalistan Zindabad', 'Sant Jarnail Singh Bhinderwale Zindabad', 'Sant Bhinderawale Teri Souch Te Pehra Devange Thok Ke' and used the words traitors against the members of 11 members of committee sitting in bus, which was going to submit a memorandum to the Governor against the Dera Sacha Sauda chief.
02-May-2007
Intelligence agencies said that the Pakistan-based LeT and the ISI, Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, are trying to revive militancy in the Indian State of Punjab through sympathizers of the Sikh militant groups like the BKI, the ISYF, KZF, and KCF. The information has been sent to the Punjab Police about the plans to target towns of Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Pathankot region. Instructions have also been given to monitor the activities of sympathizers of BKI-Hawara, ISYF-Rode, KZF- Neeta, and KCF, who are sending funds through hawala to "re-launch their separatist movement".
14-Apr-2007
Balbir Singh alias Beera, a Pakistan-trained terrorist, was arrested from his native Chak Thaliwal village in Ferozepore district. He was wanted in a case under the Explosives Act registered against him and others on December 2006. Cases of terrorism, murder, and kidnapping for ransom are also pending against him. He was part of the gang of Paramjit Singh Dhadi, a terrorist who was arrested on December 2006.
02-Mar-2007
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal was sworn in as Punjab Chief Minister for the fourth time.
27-Feb-2007
The Congress party was voted out of power in the Legislative Assembly elections as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine returned to power with a clear majority. The SAD-BJP alliance won 71 of the 117 seats in the Assembly with Akali Dal itself winning 48 seats. The BJP won 19 of the 23 seats it contested. Congress, which had won 62 seats in 2002, secured 44 seats.
13-Feb-2007
An estimated 71.97 percent of 1.66 crore voters exercised their franchise for the Legislative Assembly elections which passed off peacefully barring minor incidents.
01-Feb-2007
Punjab Police Chief S. S. Virk said the crime rate in respect of murder, rape, and kidnapping has increased in the State due to rising unemployment and the spread of urbanization. The crime rate has increased by about 20 percent, he said while giving figures which showed murder cases increasing to 852 in 2006 against 743 in 2005. Virk also stated undercurrents of terrorism still prevailed in Punjab, while few terrorists or militants were arrested who were active during the phase of terrorism in the State in the 1980s and early 1990s.
24-Dec-2006
Three unidentified terrorists belonging to the Rode faction of ISYF were arrested from Jalandhar. Police recovered 11 kilograms of RDX, 11 detonators, four hand grenades, 11 timer devices, two pistols with four magazines, 100 live cartridges, along with a walkie-talkie set from their possession. The explosives recovered were reportedly meant for disrupting the 2007 Assembly elections in Punjab.
23-Dec-2006
The Jalandhar Police arrested Paramjit Singh Dhadi and Amolak Singh of the ISYF. Dhadi was arrested while on en route to his ancestral village Gakhal and Amolak Singh was arrested from an unspecified location along with three kilograms of RDX, a hand grenade, three detonators, and 50 cartridges.
05-Dec-2006
A Pakistani intruder was shot dead when he entered the Indian territory with a consignment of heroin worth INR 10 crore and ignored the warnings given by BSF to surrender at the Ferozepur sector of the India-Pakistan border of Punjab region.
18-Oct-2006
Nishan Singh, a terrorist belonging to the KLF, was arrested from Batala Road at Kalanaur in the Gurdaspur district. He had provided shelter to Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjeet Singh Bheora, two of the accused in the Beant Singh assassination case after their escape from Burail jail in Chandigarh. Police also claimed that the three had hatched a conspiracy to revive terrorism in Punjab and that Nishan Singh was a member of various terrorist outfits having their base abroad, including in Pakistan.
02-Jul-2006
BKI terrorist Bachan Singh Sogi, accused of plotting to assassinate the former Punjab Chief Minister, Prakash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir and former State DGP K.P.S. Gill was deported by Canada. Sogi was removed on July 2 from the Riviere des Prairies detention centre in north-end Montreal after Canada's Public Security Minister Stockwell Day rejected his plea challenging a court order.
19-Jun-2006
Satnam Singh alias Satta, a terrorist of the Pakistan-based KZF, confessed during police interrogation that he carried out the bomb blasts at the bus terminal in Jalandhar on April 24 on the instructions of the outfit’s chief Ranjit Singh Neeta.
18-Jun-2006
A KCF terrorist, Kulbir Singh Kulbeera alias Barapind, was arrested and later brought to India by a Punjab Police team on June 18 night, following his extradition from the US. Kulbeera, whose extradition to India was made possible after a nine-year legal battle, is allegedly involved in at least 20 cases ranging from mass murder and the massacre of innocents to snatching of weapons from the police, killing of police personnel and bank dacoity.
28-Apr-2006
At least 14 persons, including five women, were injured in an explosion in a bus stationed at the Jalandhar bus stop. The bus was on its way to Hoshiarpur from Amritsar.
21-Mar-2006
Four BKI terrorists, identified as Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukhi alias Bullet, Dilbagh Singh, Ranjit Singh and Balbir Singh alias Nepaliwere arrested from Chandigarh in Punjab and one kilogram of RDX, arms, and ammunition were seized from their possession. Chandigarh Police arrested the four from the Bus Stand in Sector 12 of the city. During preliminary interrogation, the arrested persons disclosed that they were part of the BKI module controlled by Jagtar Singh Tara.
20-Mar-2006
Paramjeet Singh Bheora, 'head of operations' of the BKI in India, and two of his accomplices, while planning to set up base in Delhi, were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police near G T Karnal road. Four kilograms of RDX, three detonators, one remote control device along with a wireless set, one-timer, three pistols, 39 live cartridges, and three fired cartridges are recovered from them.
10-Jan-2006
Police recovered 114 grenades, mostly rusted, from a construction site in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar. The devices were buried by Khalistani militants during the 1984 ‘Operation Blue Star’ period. Dalmegh Singh, secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, said the devices were noticed when labourers were digging the earth for laying the foundation for an administrative block.
27-Nov-2005
Police recovered six bags containing empty cartridges and bombshells from Mohanpur village in Ludhiana district.
19-Nov-2005
Punjab Police arrested three Pakistan-trained terrorists of the BKI from the Jagroan district and foiled their plan of a major strike in crowded localities in Chandigarh and Delhi. Police seized 1.2 kilograms of RDX, one pencil bomb, 28 detonators, a timer, 55 AK-47 cartridges, 56 Mauser cartridges, and four .9 mm cartridges. The ammunition and RDX were smuggled from Pakistan through the Rajasthan border and the terrorists planned to detonate bombs in areas dominated by a particular community.
17-Oct-2005
The Haryana Police is reported to have arrested a Babbar Khalsa terrorist, identified as Gurdip Singh, who assisted in the escape of the main accused in the Beant Singh assassination case, Jagtar Singh Hawara, and three of his accomplices from the Burail jail in January 2004. Gurdip Singh, a resident of Fatehgarh district in Punjab, was arrested from Sujra village of Kurukshetra district where he was living for the past three months on a fictitious identity. Police also seized a Chinese-made pistol and 14 live cartridges from his possession.
15-Sep-2005
Delhi Police neutralized an ISI base in Punjab and arrested an alleged agent who had been tasked to provide shelter to other operatives. According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch), Tajendra Luthra, the agent, identified as Mohammed Ramzan, was arrested from Malerkotla in the Sangrur district for providing shelter and secret information relating to the Ambala cantonment to another ISI agent, Irfan Kausar, who was arrested earlier on September 7 from New Delhi.
28-Jul-2005
Two trans-border smugglers-turned- BKI cadres were arrested from Jammu for their alleged involvement in the May 22 twin cinema hall blasts in New Delhi.
19-Jul-2005
Police in the Ropar district of Punjab arrested five accomplices of the BKI 'operations chief' Jagtar Singh Hawara in connection with the bomb blast near the house of Baba Piara Singh Bhaniara at Dhamana village in January 2005.