KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
16-Oct-2020
Unidentified assailants shot dead anti-Khalistan activist Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who had fought against terrorism in Punjab for years, at his native Bhikhiwind village in Tarn Taran District. Director General of Police (DGP), Dinkar Gupta, said Sandhu was killed by two unknown assailants at his home in Bhikhiwind, at around 7 am [IST]. Sandhu was awarded the Shaurya Chakra in 1993 for his exemplary courage as he along with his family strongly opposed the Khalistani movement and terrorism for many years.
15-Oct-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered 5 kilograms of heroin, estimated to be worth INR 250 million in the international market, near the International Border (IB) at Ferozepur sector in Ferozepur District
15-Oct-2020
Pro-Khalistan graffiti appeared on the walls of three Government properties in Dirba village in Sangrur District. ‘Referendum 2020 ‘was found painted on the walls as well as gates of the Government Primary School, Committee House and an adjoining building. “The slogans were written by miscreants last night. We reached the spot immediately after receiving the information,” said Jagbir Singh, Station House Officer (SHO) of Dirba Police Station.
14-Oct-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered 9 kilograms heroin worth INR 450 million along the International Border (IB) at the Ferozepur sector in Ferozepur District.
13-Oct-2020
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) carried out searches at six locations in Punjab in connection with a case linked hoisting of Khalistani ‘flag’ by Sikhs for Justice (SJF) cadres at the Deputy Commissioner's Office in Moga on the eve of Independence Day on August 14, 2020. The NIA conducted the searches in Ferozpur, Ludhiana and Moga Districts. The searched premises belonged to accused Akashdeep Singh, Jogwinder Singh, Inderjeet Singh, Jaspal Singh and Ram Tirath, the NIA said. It also searched a cyber cafe belonging to accused Jaspal. During the searches, the NIA seized various electronic items like pen drives, laptops, hard discs and other incriminating documents. The NIA said that the crime was committed by miscreants who were offered cash rewards at the behest of Sikh For Justice (SFJ)'s General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
09-Oct-2020
‘Pro-Khalistan’ slogans were raised at the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar District during a function held by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to commemorate the death anniversary of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) militants – Sukhdev Singh Sukha and Harjinder Singh Jinda, the assassins of former Army Chief General Arun S. Vaidya. Gen. Vaidya was the commander of the Operation Blue Star, launched in June 1984 to flush out Khalistani terrorists from the Golden Temple, and subsequently retired as Chief of Army Staff.
08-Oct-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered four packets of heroin weighing 3.8 kilograms worth INR 180 million in the international market along the International Border (IB) at Ferozepur sector in Ferozepur District. During the current year so far, the BSF has seized 427.784 kilograms of heroin valuing over INR 21.23 billion in the international market.
06-Oct-2020
Police arrested a drug peddler, identified as Krishan along with 300 intoxicant tablets from Rupewali village in Shahkot in Jalandhar district.
06-Oct-2020
Police arrested a drug peddler, identified as Raj Kumar alias Raju and recovered 300 intoxicant tablets from his possession in Rame village in Jalandhar district.
06-Oct-2020
Police arrested a man, identified as Lakhvir Singh along with 500 grams poppy husk in Kohar Kalan village in Shahkot in Jalandhar district.
05-Oct-2020
According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, 560 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were registered in Ludhiana commissionerate (Ludhiana CP) in 2019, which placed it at number seven position among the districts and police commissionerates of the state. Jalandhar rural and Sangrur were at number one and two spots with 955 and 807 such cases. In 2018, Ludhiana commissionrate was at ninth place in such cases with 495 being registered under the NDPS Act in that year. Analysis of the sub-categories of the NCRB report of 2019 indicated that Ludhiana CP was at third spot as far as the cases of possession of drugs for personal consumption were concerned with 521 such cases. Sangrur and Patiala were at number one and two spots with 689 and 539 such cases, respectively, in 2019.
04-Oct-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered one kilogram of heroin along the International border (IB) in the Amritsar sector in Amritsar district. During patrol duty, the BSF troops recovered two plastic bottles carrying the drug.
04-Oct-2020
Punjab Police busted a Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) terror module with the arrest of two terrorists, identified as Makhan Singh Gill alias Amli and Davinder Singh alias Happy, from Noorpur Jattan village in Hoshiarpur district. Police also recovered sophisticated arms and ammunition, including an MP5 sub-machine gun (with two magazines and 30 rounds) and a 9mm pistol (with two magazines and 30 rounds), besides an Etios car, four mobile phones and an Internet dongle. The Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta said that during preliminary investigations, Makhan disclosed they were in touch with Canada-based Harpreet Singh, who had instigated them to set up a terror module in Punjab to carry out targeted killings. Makhan, who had earlier been a close aide of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) chief Wadhawa Singh Babbar, claimed KZF operative Harpreet was a frequent visitor to Pakistan and was an associate of Pakistan-based KZF chief Ranjeet Singh, alias Neeta. The DGP also said that Makhan was a hardcore pro-Khalistan militant who had earlier been arrested by the Punjab Police for involvement in arms smuggling and various terror-related offences. As many as seven cases had been registered against him. Pakistan-trained Makhan had stayed in the US during the 1980s and 90s. He had also stayed with the BKI chief in Pakistan for over 14 years, added the DGP.
04-Oct-2020
Punjab Police arrested two drug smugglers, identified as Simranjeet Singh alias Simran (26) and Balram Singh (26) from near Kartarpur in Jalandhar district when they were on a heroin delivery mission. The duo were arrested in a follow-up action on the recently busted international drug and weapon smuggling racket operated by former BSF Constable Sumit Kumar alias Noni. A 7.65 mm pistol with Italy marking, heroin, drug proceeds, two mobile phones, two Wi-Fi dongles and a racing bike were recovered from the accused.
03-Oct-2020
The Khalistani secessionist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) has announced a reward of $10,000 for hoisting Khalistan flag at Shambhu toll plaza at Punjab-Haryana border in Patiala district during farmers rally on October 4. Intelligence aAgencies warned both Punjab and Haryana police to be on alert as the US-based SFJ's General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has given the call for raising Khalistan flag at Shambhu border to highlight its agenda that "independence from India is the only permanent solution". During the farmers rally at Shambhu border, SFJ's referendum ambassadors will try to register votes for the outfit's 'Referendum 2020' agenda and will distribute literature to educate farmers about the permanent solution to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agricultural reform bills, agencies informed.
03-Oct-2020
Police recovered 600-kg poppy husk and 65,000 sedative tablets by intercepting a truck on the Abohar-Sriganganagar highway in Ferozepur district. The driver of the truck, Karamjit Singh Kamma was arrested. Preliminary interrogation reportedly indicated that the consignment was to be delivered in Katora village near Muktsar.
01-Oct-2020
The Indian Army issued a statement rubbishing the claim put out by several Pakistani social media users that Indian Army officer Lieutenant General Taranjit Singh has been arrested on charges of sedition. The Indian Army issued a statement dismissing the claim stating that it categorically rejects such malicious attempts to defame the institution and claimed that a disinformation campaign is being run by Pakistan against the Indian Army and in particular against Lt Gen Taranjit Singh.
30-Sep-2020
The Delhi High Court declined to entertain a PIL seeking action against social media platform Twitter for being allegedly involved in a conspiracy to promote anti-India propaganda such as Khalistan movement, saying that the plea was based on claims and no representation about it was made to the Centre. The bench allowed the petitioner, Sangeeta Sharma, to withdraw the plea to move an appropriate representation before the central government.
29-Sep-2020
According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on “Crime in India”, which was released on September 29, as many as 11,536 cases under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were registered in Punjab in 2019. Out of these 5,609 were registered for possession of drugs for personal use or consumption and 5,927 for possession of drugs for trafficking. A total of 7,2779 cases under NDPS Act were registered across the country. In terms of numbers, maximum such cases were registered in Maharashtra (14,158), followed by Punjab (11,536) and Uttar Pradesh (10,198).
28-Sep-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) personnel recovered 6.5 kg of heroin along the International Border (IB) in Ferozepur sector in Ferozepur district. According to BSF, a search operation was carried out near a Border Out Post (BOP) during which six packets of heroin weighing 6.5 kg were seized.