Time Line-2021

India 17-Apr-2021

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on April 17 filed a charge-sheet against seven narco-smugglers associated with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). The charge sheet exposes the plot of Pakistan’s Intelligence Agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and banned terror outfit BKI. Pakistani ISI handler Arif told accused Gurpartap Singh that he will sell the heroin and then either he will buy weapons for BKI and other terrorists or provide the money to the terrorists and operatives of BKI. Arif also told that the proposed consignment will be for Gurpartap. In addition, he also told that Gurpartap has strong connections with ISI in Pakistan. The NIA charge-sheet says, “Investigation has established that accused Gurpartap Singh has been involved in smuggling of heroin and gold since 2004. He has been part of the larger conspiracy of smuggling of heroin and arms/ammunition into India to actively assist revival of BKI activities. He is an active member of BKI. His role is to collect proceeds of heroin and collect arms/ammunitions smuggled from Pakistan into India and forward them to the cadres of BKI and to create unrest in Punjab. In the first week of June, 2020 Sham Lal visited the house of Gurpartap Singh.” It further added that accused Ajeet Kumar remained an operative of BKI. He was involved in the 2005 Delhi Cinema Blast which was claimed by BKI. He had also been part of a larger conspiracy of smuggling of heroin, arms and ammunition into India for the revival of BKI cadres. Accused Ajeet Kumar played a vital role in transporting heroin.

Canada 19-Apr-2021

In a major operation, Canadian law enforcement arrested and charged over two dozen persons, mostly Indo-Canadians with roots in Punjab, with participating in transnational drug trafficking activities. The drugs were being illegally brought into the country from the US - primarily from California - and also from India. York Regional Police (YRP), which led the investigation and the subsequent crackdown, said that multiple agencies worked on the operation that “dismantled a large-scale international drug trafficking network that extended to western Canada, the United States and India”. The investigation, named “Project Cheetah”, began in May last year (2020) and penetrated “a robust network” involved in importing large quantities of banned drugs into Canada. “The drugs were then distributed across the country through a sophisticated system run by the traffickers,” YRP said. On April 8, police in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia as well as in California executed over 50 search warrants, resulting in 33 people being charged with over 130 offences. Among them, 27 were arrested and charged in the Greater Toronto Area, with 19 of them hailing from the town of Brampton. Of these, 23 are of Punjabi origin. One suspect, Gurbinder Sooch, remains at large.

Pakistan 19-Apr-2021

Sikh pilgrims celebrated the 322nd Baisakhi Mela at Gurudwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur. Around 818 Sikhs from India came to border town Kartarpur through the corridor in a procession. Other than India, pilgrims from Pakistan, Dubai, the US and Canada were also participated in the Baisakhi festival.

India 19-Apr-2021

Police arrested Raj Kumar alias Raja and recovered 270-gram heroin from him in Ferozepur district. He was booked under the NDPS Act.

India 20-Apr-2021

The Narcotics Control Cell arrested a smuggler and recovered 6.27 kg heroin worth Rs 32 crore following the information provided by him in Ferozepur district.

Pakistan 20-Apr-2021

Pakistan’s Punjab Government has issued a resolution which defines the Government’s position towards the Sikh community and puts in a strong plea for the maintenance of cordial relations between the Sikhs and the Government.

India 20-Apr-2021

Accusing Delhi Police of ducking its Right to Information (RTI) queries about the specimens of “Khalistani, Hindu Rashtra, and other banned flags”, pro-farmer ‘Tractor2Twitter’ group has vowed legal action against the television channels if these would further insult a 'Nisan Sahib' (Sikh flag) from now on in their coverage.

India 20-Apr-2021

The recent charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against 7 operatives of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in connection with a narco-smuggling case clearly suggests that the BKI continues to be backed heavily by the ISI, which is aiming cause a huge unrest in the country. The report said that the BKI with the ISI was drumming up support abroad and, in the bargain, earned a lot of sympathizers. While Pakistan continued to provide shelter, the Khalistan outfits began drumming up support abroad, especially in Canada, UK and the US. During the farmer protests it was seen that several pro-Khalistan voices had offered support and were attempting to create unrest in several parts of the country in the name of the protests.

Canada 21-Apr-2021

According to reports, Punjabi smugglers figure among top three notorious gangs in Canada behind the biker gangs and Vietnamese groups. The Punjabi gangs have hogged international limelight these days with the Canada police claiming on April 19 that they have broken a major drug cartel run mainly by Punjabis. Out of 33 persons charged for the possession of drugs and firearms besides huge currency and a gold-plated car, nearly 25 were of Punjabi origin. According to a report from Canada said about 21 per cent of gangsters died in gang-wars or police operations since 2006 were of Punjabi region. Their activities are of high concern back home in Punjab as some of the gangs have been linked to either arrested or wanted smugglers. The main being the gangs of Devinder Dev, Kamaljit Chauhan and Amarinder Singh Chhina. The Punjab Police and NCB officials said Dev even had links with the Jagdish Bhola gang. These persons had used Punjab as the base to transport drugs to Canada, the USA and Australia through the Golden Crescent of drugs network featuring Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Pakistan 21-Apr-2021

According to media reports, the Sikh community in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) of Pakistan is facing troubles as the members of the community are once again receiving calls from extortionists. A local Sikh trader who has a cosmetics shop in the Karkhano Market recently received a call from Afghan numbers asking him to pay ‘charity money’ to the militants. The businessman has received two calls for extortion in a short span of two days and is being threatened with dire consequences if he failed to pay up. The Hayatabad police have opened an inquiry into the case.

India 21-Apr-2021

Punjab Government has approved a reward policy to encourage information and inputs leading to recovery of drugs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The Director General of Police (DGP), Dinkar Gupta, said the policy will recognize government servants-informers-sources for their role in providing inputs leading to the recovery of substantial quantity of drugs and in successful implementation of various provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 and PIT NDPS Act, 1988. The quantum of reward for successful investigation, prosecution, forfeiture of illegally acquired property, preventive detention and other significant anti-drug work shall be decided on case-to-case basis, he said.

India 21-Apr-2021

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) decided to cancel the plan of grand events that were scheduled to be held to mark the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Teg Bahadur, the ninth Sikh Guru.

United States 21-Apr-2021

In the wake of last week’s massacre of innocent people, including four Sikhs in a FedEx store in Indianapolis, United Sikhs, a United Nations (UN)-affiliated human rights advocacy organization, has called upon the US administration for adopting stricter gun control measures in the country. It called upon the Congress and the Executive branches at the state and federal levels to declare such types of crimes, including race and ethnicity, hate-based crimes, a crisis and a national emergency.

United States 21-Apr-2021

Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy has entered a statement into the Congressional record to recognize April as ‘Sikh appreciation and awareness month’ in his home state of Illinois. He underscored the importance of the recognition, saying there had been a disturbing rise in hate crimes and violent acts perpetrated against the Sikh-American community.

India 22-Apr-2021

Around 100 pilgrims of the 818-member Sikh jatha that returned from Pakistan on April 22 tested positive for Covid-19. The jatha had gone to Pakistan on a 12-day pilgrimage to celebrate Baisakhi at Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Hasan Abdal, and pay obeisance at other historical Gurudwaras.

India 22-Apr-2021

Police arrested three Nepali nationals, including a woman, along with 13 kg heroin from near Peer Baba Dargah on Ambala-Chandigarh highway in Lalru in Mohali district in the evening. A case under Section 18/61/85 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act has been registered at Lalru police station.

Pakistan 23-Apr-2021

According to reports, Pakistan’s anti India propaganda machinery is now projecting a Muslim in guise of Sikh who has given a call to Sikh community to join hands with Islamist activists against the French people and to boycott the French products in protest against publishing of caricatures of Prophet Mohammed. In a video message which was uploaded on social media on Friday, a turban clad person said that this was the right time to reply to the temerity of French people and the man is also heard saying that he had visited a few shopping malls where he saw ‘boycott' labels attached to the French products. Notably, in the recent past there had been violent protests against France, after French president Emmanuel Macron defended the publication of a caricatures of Prophet Mohammed and pledged to fight the Islamist separation. Meanwhile, the Indian Sikh jatha on visit to Pakistan had to be stopped due to protest by the activists of Islamist body Teherek-i-Labaik Pakistan on April 12. While ensuring support of Sikh community to the Islamist jihadi’s, he said that they should be like Hitler to the French people who dared to publish the blasphemous caricature of Prophet Mohammed. Intelligence sources informed that the person in the provoking video was Qasam Dogar who calls himself Sardar Qasam Dogar Singh and was on the payrolls of ISI like Pakistan’s pro Khalistani leader Gopal Singh Chawla.

India 23-Apr-2021

The Chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh said that, in view of the coronavirus crisis, the Punjab Government will celebrate the 400th birth anniversary of ninth Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur from April 28 virtually. The CM said the situation is not conducive for grand celebrations and he will also speak to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Bibi Jagir Kaur to shift all celebrations to the virtual mode.

United States 23-Apr-2021

Several Indian-American Sikh, Muslim and Christian groups have applauded the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for its latest report wherein it has recommended India be designated as a “country of particular concern (CPC)” for the alleged deterioration of religious freedom in the country. The coordinator of American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (AGPC), Dr Pritpal Singh, said that “India, which claims to be the world’s largest democracy with a tradition of secular pluralism, is fast slipping into a majoritarian autocracy”.

India 23-Apr-2021

Mohali Police arrested a couple, identified as Manoj Sharma and Aishwarya Nagpal and recovered 260 gm heroin from their possession from Dhakoli in Mohali district. The couple was arrested while they were waiting for their clients. During preliminary interrogation, the couple revealed that they had been procuring the heroin from a Nigerian national in Delhi’s Uttam Nagar and selling it to their clients in Mohali, Dhakoli, Zirakpur, Panchkula and Chandigarh.

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