KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
10-May-2023
According to report, retired Pakistani military officers, Major Adil Raja and Colonel Akbar Hussain, alleged that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operates a smuggling network involving high-ranking army officers that fuels the Khalistan movement and narco-terrorism. The report claims that the ISI exploited Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar to operate drug cartels and target Punjab's youth. The ISI allegedly raised funds under the guise of black operations and utilised them to finance smuggling and contraband networks. The report also alleges that the Pakistani army used actresses as honey traps.
10-May-2023
The funeral of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar was held in Lahore in Pakistan. Meanwhile, several Sikh organizations in Punjab and overseas planned to hold prayers for him on May 15.
07-May-2023
According to reports, Pakistan has been reluctant to grant visas to slain Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar's sons, settled in Germany, to attend their father's last rites. The Pakistani media has reported his death as a routine killing of a Sikh. Panjwar was involved in drug and weapons smuggling and accused of various crimes, including killing 18 students in Patiala. The killing is the latest instance of terror kingpins being targeted outside India.
06-May-2023
The wanted Khalistani terrorist and the chief of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), Paramjit Singh Panjwar, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Lahore in Pakistan on May 6. According to sources, Panjwar was gunned down in the morning by two motorcycle-borne men near his residence in Lahore. He was involved in drug and weapons smuggling and was designated as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020. Panjwar, who was the chief of the separatist group Khalistan Commando Force (KCF-Panjwar group), was accused by the Indian government of various illegal activities including arranging arms training, promoting drug trade, smuggling fake Indian currency notes, inciting minorities against the government, and attempting to reactivate former militants, sleeper cells, and those on bail to form a nexus with other forces hostile to India. The KCF was listed as a terrorist organization under the UAPA.
06-May-2023
According to reports, the killing of Paramjit Singh Panjwar alias Sardar Singh Malik, the longest serving head of the banned terrorist organisation Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) could have been a result of inter-gang rivalry or a dispute with other terrorist organizations. Panjwar is the second notorious terrorist killed recently in Pakistan. Earlier in January 2020, Harmeet Singh alias Happy PhD, who headed the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) was also killed.
05-May-2023
According to reports, religious minorities in Pakistan are facing targeted attacks and persecution, with hardly a day passing without an attack. Law enforcement agencies have failed to apprehend the perpetrators of these murders, leaving minorities feeling frustrated and helpless. Pakistan has been designated a "country of particular concern" under the Religious Freedom Act for its flagrant violations, and local law enforcement has failed to protect religious minorities and individuals accused of blasphemy.
15-Apr-2023
During the Baisakhi occasion at Sri Panja Sahib near Rawalpindi, Gopal Singh Chawla, a pro-Khalistan leader based in Pakistan, addressed Indian Sikhs and encouraged them to demand Khalistan. He reportedly compelled the audience to chant "Khalistan Zindabad" and stated that despite being a part of the Shiromani Committee and Delhi Committee, they were still Sikhs and could not openly raise their voices. He expressed a desire for their own country and declared that anyone who is a Guru's Sikh would support his call for ‘Khalistan Zindabad.’
13-Apr-2023
Reports indicate that Khalistani accounts and websites based in Pakistan are spreading false information about the Indian Army in relation to the firing incident at Bathinda military station.
22-Mar-2023
According to reports, Pakistan has commenced a campaign to promote abandoned sacred sites of Sikh and Hindu heritage by renovating them, with the goal of drawing in pilgrims from India and other nations. The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) stated that it has devised a comprehensive strategy to refurbish, maintain, and preserve the Sikh and Hindu religious sites located within Pakistan. As part of this initiative, the ETPB has initiated restoration work at the Prahladpuri Temple, which is situated in the city of Multan in the Punjab province.
10-Mar-2023
The Pakistani government has permitted the publication of religious books for students from Sikh and Christian minority communities under the supervision of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (PMTA). Anjum James Paul, the chairman of (PMTA), said that it will help minority students to learn about their religion in schools. However, minority groups, including Hindus, Buddhists, Parsees, Kalash, and Baha’is, are still not permitted to print their religious textbooks in Pakistan.
01-Mar-2023
According to a Pakistan government notification released on March 1, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appointed Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora as the Ambassador-at-Large for Kartarpur Corridor as part of efforts to draw Sikh pilgrims from all over the world.
24-Feb-2023
The Pakistani media on February 24 highlighted how supporters of pro-Khalistan Sikh leader Amritpal Singh 'staged a large demonstration in Amritsar on February 23 and put the Indian Punjab Police on the back foot'. Also, it mentioned, "the demand for Khalistan by Sikhs in Indian Punjab is gathering pace."
25-Jan-2023
According to reports in Pakistan, the gold-plated kalash that used to rest atop the dome of the Palki Sahib (palanquin) installed at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartapur Sahib, in Pakistan, has gone missing, leading to suspicion that it had been stolen from the Sikh shrine.
11-Jan-2023
Pakistan government has appointed a senior officer of its intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Project Management Unit (PMU) that manages the affairs of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib on the Pakistan side of Kartarpur Corridor. According to highly placed sources, the Deputy Secretary (Administration), Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) had on January 11 issued a notification number 212 for the appointment of Muhammad Abu Bakar Aftab Qureshi, Deputy Director General, Directorate General ISI as CEO, PMU, Kartapur Sahib for a period of three years. The appointment of an ISI officer as well as a non-Sikh as head of PMU is being criticized by the international Sikh community who are of the view that a non-Sikh couldn’t take ‘correct’ decisions with regards to the religious affairs of Sikhs besides being an official of ISI, he could use the platform of PMU to further anti-India agenda.
04-Nov-2022
According to reports, Pakistan issued visas to nearly 3,000 Indian pilgrims under the framework of the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974 to participate in celebrations in several cities in the bordering nation on the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak from November 6-15.
01-Nov-2022
According to intelligence sources, pro-Khalistan terrorist groups have infiltrated gurudwaras in Pakistan’s Lahore under a “new game plan” by Pakistan in a bid to promote extremism in the Indian Sikh community against Hindus and the Indian government. The intelligence inputs said that the alleged hijacker of the Srinagar-Lahore flight in 1984 was seen meeting Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh in Panja Sahib Gurdwara in Lahore. Pakistan’s game plan as such is to keep Khalistani extremists in gurudwaras in Lahore so that they can “radicalize” Sikh devotees, sources said. Intelligence sources further said the alleged flight hijacker Ravinder Singh Pinka and his associates were meeting Sikh devotees from India, who have gone to Pakistan to observe the 100th anniversary of Saka Panja Sahib. Pinka deliberately clicked a photo with Giani Harpreet Singh. Later, however, when officials of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) were informed about Pinka, the video was immediately taken down from the SGPC website. Sources also said the Jathedar belonged to the entire community and nobody was prohibited from meeting him, and that Giani Harpreet Singh might not even know or recognize Pinka.
31-May-2022
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has strongly condemned the murders and said in a statement that, "This is not the first time that the Sikh community in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, (KP) has been targeted and we demand that the KP police identify and arrest the perpetrators promptly." The brutal incident took place on May 15, in which two Sikh traders--Kuljeet and Ranjit Singh got killed on the outskirts of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. This was the 'twelfth' such incident since 2014 when Sikhs were targeted by extremists in KP province alone.
10-Apr-2022
According to Pakistani media report, a life-size statue of the first ruler of the Sikh Empire Maharaja Ranjit Singh has been restored and is soon expected to be reinstalled at a safer place at Lahore Fort, months after it was last vandalised by an activist of a banned Islamist party.
08-Apr-2022
In a bid to facilitate a number of Sikh pilgrims arriving in Lahore from India via Wagah, the Pakistan Railways (PR) has decided to run nine special trains. The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) said that as many as 2,500 Sikh pilgrims will enter Pakistan on foot via the Wagah border to attend the Vaisakhi festival. Some pilgrims will also reach Pakistan from the UK and Canada too. At Wagah, the ETPB officers and Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) office bearers will welcome the pilgrims.
07-Apr-2022
The Pakistan High Commission has issued over 2,200 visas to Sikh pilgrims for Baisakhi on April 14.