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.
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.
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.
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.
According to reports, anti-India demonstrations were held outside Indian High Commission in London and the Indian Consulate in Birmingham. The protesters termed India’s Republic Day as Black Day and asked the British government to intervene and halt the ongoing genocide in “Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir”.
According to reports, Khalistani supporters of Jaggi Johal (34) who is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail, have launched a fresh worldwide campaign to get him freed from India. Johal is a citizen of the United Kingdom (UK). Jaggi Johal alias Jagtar Singh Johal was arrested by Punjab police on November 4, 2017, in Jalandhar under the arms Act. Under the campaign christened “Free Jaggi Now” the Khalistani activists have announced holding protests on November 4, in 5 cities of the United States (US) including New York and California. The Canadian radicals will gather in two cities, Toronto and Vancouver while In the UK protests will be held in four main cities including London and Manchester. The free Jaggi protests are now directed toward the British – earlier they were targeting India – as a recent BBC report revealed that Jaggi was arrested in India on the basis of information provided by the intelligence agencies of the UK. According to the BBC Johal’s activities in the UK as a fundraiser for Sikh separatists active in Punjab were in the knowledge of the British intelligence agencies. He was also involved in translating pro-Khalistan Punjabi literature into English for publication in newspapers and on websites. This information was passed over to the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) following which Johal was arrested by the Punjab police. Jaggi has been named as an accused in seven cases, five of those being murder charges (targeted killings) and two being attempt to murder charges (attempted targeted killings). Activists and members of right-wing Hindu outfits, the Dera Sirsa followers, and even a Christian activist (a pastor) were targeted in these killings.
United Kingdom (UK) regulator Ofcom suspended the license of Khalsa Television Limited which broadcasts to the Sikh diaspora on its pro-Khalistan Punjabi TV channel KTV after one of its programmes called on UK-based Sikhs to travel to Punjab to engage in violent crime and disorder to achieve a separate Khalistan state. The license was suspended with immediate effect on March 31 when UK foreign secretary Liz Truss landed in Delhi. “The presenter of the programme made a number of statements throughout the programme which, taken together, promoted violent action, including murder, as an acceptable and necessary form of action to further the Khalistani cause. This was a serious breach of our rules on incitement of crime and disorder,” Ofcom said in its written decision.
According to intelligence sources, the banned “Punjab Politics TV” operating from the United Kingdom (UK) had been spreading hate against India and propagating pro-Khalistani sentiments in the country and in Punjab for the last one year. Sources confirmed that this social media channel and application was launched by pro-Khalistan sympathisers just ahead of the Punjab elections, and was being widely circulated in the hinterlands of Punjab with the agenda of keeping some political party out of power in the state and to spread Khalistani sentiments among the people of Punjab. The digital platform “Punjab Politics TV” bears the company name “Politics Punjab Broadcasting Ltd” and is registered in the UK with the Companies House, under the government of the United Kingdom. The company was incorporated in March 2021 and since then, it has been active both in the UK and in Punjab. Intelligence agencies have said that they were tracking the activities of this digital media since the last six months when it became quite active in Punjab, keeping in mind the recently held Assembly elections in the state. The intelligence agencies had shared a detailed report with the Ministry of Home Affairs about the activities of this media company and how they had been propagating hate, fake news against Sikhs in India.
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At least 50 passengers were killed and another 30 persons were injured as terrorists belonged to Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) attacked the train passengers in a train at Baddowal village in Ludhiana District on June 15, 1991. When the train was stopped as someone pulled the ‘emergency cords’ at Baddowal on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur railway line, the terrorists entered into the train’s compartments and started firing at the passengers.
Khalistani terrorists attacked a passenger bus and killed 38 innocent civilians and injured another 33 others on July 6, 1987, near Lalru village in Mohali District of Punjab. Around a half dozen terrorists belonging to Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) forcefully stopped a passenger bus - Haryana Roadways bus HYE 1735 – near Lalru village (between Jamalpur and Hasanpur villages) and opened fire on passengers, killing 38 passengers including women and children.
The Air India Flight 182 Kanishka on June 23, 1985, flying from Toronto to Mumbai, exploded in mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland killing all 307 passengers and 22 crew members. The mid-air bomb explosion which killed all the 329 persons, including 268 Canadians, 27 British, 22 Indians and 12 others on board, was the deadliest attack on civil aviation until the September 11, 2001 attack in neighbouring USA.
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered three packets of heroin weighing about 2.622 kg, along with a blinking device, from a wheat field near Mumbeki village in Fazilka district. According to official sources, the BSF personnel heard a buzzing sound and saw a blinking red light of drone entering from the Pakistan side into the Indian territory area of the Mumbeki border outpost during the wee hours.
Punjab Police's counter-intelligence wing arrested a man, identified as Rashpal Singh alias Pala for his alleged involvement in drug trafficking and seized 5 kg of heroin and Rs 12.15 lakh cash from his possession in Amritsar on January 29. According to reports, Preliminary investigations revealed that the consignment of drugs was pushed by Pakistan-based smugglers using a drone.
Ludhiana Police busted a gang of drug peddlers with the arrest of two accused, identified as Amandeep Singh alias Romi (30) and Gurpreet Singh (26) and recovered 100-gram heroin, four pistols of 0.32 bore along with 18 live cartridges of 0.32 bore, four magazines, INR 7.70 lakh in cash drug money and Hyundai Verna car from their possession in Ludhiana.
India on Thursday condemned recent attacks by pro-Khalistan elements against people of Indian origin in Australia, saying Australian authorities had been requested to ensure the safety and security of the Indian community.
A video has been shared by BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa that shows pro-Khalistan forces attacking Indians carrying the national flag in Australia. The video shows a group of men waving the Khalistani flag and attacking Indians carrying the Tricolour, leaving five injured.
A temple in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) was desecrated as pro-Khalistan and anti-India graffiti was spray-painted on a wall in the early hours on Monday.
Someone painted pro-Khalistan slogans on the board of Beant Singh Memorial at Sector 42 here, on Republic Day.