KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
08-Jul-2015
According to Intelligence reports Pakistan’s ISI is funding pro-Khalistan groups in India and abroad including Babbar Khalsa in India, US, Germany, and Canada. 22 Sikhs that rose slogans on the periphery of Golden Temple near Akal Takht in Amritsar recently were instructed to take help from Pakistan to spread violence in India. According to a report the Pakistani spy agency can also use the ultras of four Khalistan militant groups - Ranjit Singh Meeta - headed Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), Jagtar Singh Tara-headed Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), Wadhwa Singh-led Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Harminder Singh Minto-led Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) - to revive militancy and launch terror strikes in Punjab. The ISI and the radical Sikh groups are trying to lure unemployed youths to join terror groups.
30-May-2015
Jagtar Singh Tara, the Sikh militant divulged that while he was based in Pakistan, he had sent to India with weapons and explosives, including three AK-47s, to kill Shiv Sena leaders in Gurdaspur in Punjab. Tara mentioned that he was in regular touch with militants in jails across Amritsar and Nabha and had sent the weapons in 2013. These revelations are part of a 20-page investigation report by the IB and Punjab Police and come about a month after Shiv Sena state secretary Harvinder Soni was shot at in Gurdaspur while playing volleyball on April 12, 2015. A jailed militant, Sukchain Singh Khurmania, lodged in Amritsar prison, in a conversation with Tara demanded timers, detonators, and pistols in September 2014.
19-May-2015
Jagtar Singh Tara head of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) who was involved in the killing of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995 disclosed that LeT trains and assist Khalistan militant. KTF is also assisted by LeT. KTF claimed responsibility and LeT was involved in October 12, 2011 Ambala (Haryana) RDX recovery inside an Indica car that meant to carry out a major blast in New Delhi on Diwali 2011. According to the interrogation report, Tara had held three meetings with LeT militant Asdullah Maulvi between 2012 and 2014 to deliver consignments of arms and RDX into Punjab. Maulvi is currently in Sialkot, Pakistan and is directly controlled by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The report also said that Tara had told LeT that he did not have enough foot soldiers in Punjab to carry out attacks. LeT had then offered to send both 'hardware' as well as fidayeen attackers. According to Tara as many as six LeT men were backing KTF.
23-Apr-2015
India has raised the concern of pro-Khalistan extremist groups with their Canadian counterparts about Pro Khalistanis active in Canada at the behest of Pakistan’s ISI. About a month before Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s Canada visit, a joint working group on counter-terrorism comprising security officials of both the countries held a meeting on March 19. Several issues, including those related to threat assessment, extremism, and foreign fighters, were taken up. India raised the issue of Pakistan’s ISI using some Canada-based pro-Khalistan groups and individuals for anti-India activities. Intelligence agencies have identified a Canadian national with Indian roots, an alleged associate of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Jagtar Singh Tara who was recently arrested in Thailand and deported to India.
29-Mar-2015
Two Pakistani smugglers were shot dead by BSF and 12 kilograms of heroin and 1 AK-47 rifle was recovered at International Border in Punjab.
27-Mar-2015
A Pakistani smuggler shot dead by BSF personnel and recovered 24 kilograms of heroin from him from the Majhmian border outpost area close to the Indo-Pak border in the Amritsar sector. Troops had laid an ambush near the border on the intervening night of March 27 and 28. Soon, the troops observed some suspicious movement of Pakistani smugglers near the border who were trying to insert a plastic pipe through the border fence to push heroin packets across.
25-Feb-2015
Failing to get UT administrator's nod for suspension of notification prohibiting BKI militant Jagtar Singh Tara's movement from Burail jail in Chandigarh, the jail authorities failed to produce him before court on the second consecutive day and have now sought time till February 27. UT Police failed in producing Tara before the court of Additional District and sessions judge Shalini S Nagpal,as the state failed to obtain suspension of the notification under section 268 of the Code of CrPC prohibiting transportation of Tara from Burail jail. Jail authorities stated before the court that Tara's movement from Burail jail was prohibited as Section 268 of the CrPC (person shall not be removed from prison till the completion of the trial) imposed on the assassination accused, was still valid.The jail authorities sought time till February 27.
23-Feb-2015
Bathinda Court (Punjab) extended KTF chief Jagtar Singh Tara's Police remand by another two days. Previously, Tara was produced in court on February 9 and was sent to four-day police remand. Police also produced one Amarjit Singh of Dusarna village in Mohali District and accused him of having links with Tara. Arrested on February 12, Amarjit was also sent in two-day police remand. Tara is accused of making way for Bathinda-based Ramandeep Singh alias Sunny in getting arms training in Bangkok. Bathinda Police on November 9, 2014, had arrested Ramandeep and claimed that he was a member of the terror organization KTF headed by Jagtar Singh Tara. Police had recovered explosive material, a revolver and 5 letterheads of BKI. Bathinda District attorney Iqbaljit Singh Kingra said, "During interrogation, Ramandeep confessed that he had gone to Thailand to get arms training on Tara's insistence and had met him in Thailand." Kingra said that Ramandeep also told that Tara had got militant training at Pakistan and encouraged him to toe the same path.
22-Feb-2015
The UMHA has decided to take a fresh look into the case against Balwant Singh Rajaona, a BKI militant who was sentenced to death after his conviction in the case pertaining to the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. The development follows the arrest of another BKI operative Jagtar Singh Tara, who was recently extradited from Thailand. Rajaona himself has refused to petition either the State Government or the Supreme Court for a stay on his death sentence. He is currently lodged in a Punjab jail. Sources said UHM Rajnath Singh has asked ministry officials to examine Rajaona's case afresh in the light of new facts that could emerge after Tara's interrogation. "Since Rajaona has refused to petition any authority for clemency, Home Ministry has decided to look into his case afresh. Since Tara has been extradited from Thailand and is presently in the custody of Punjab Police, new facts could emerge in the case. Even if there is a fraction of a chance that Rajaona was involved in the assassination case, the entire case has to be relooked into," said a senior Home Ministry official. Tara, a co-accused in the case, was facing trial for allegedly assassinating Beant Singh when he escaped along with three others through a tunnel dug inside the jail, where they were lodged in 2004. Two of the three others have been arrested, while the third is still at large.
05-Feb-2015
Pakistan's ISI trained Khalistan militants from the UK in Thailand last year (2014) to launch strikes in India, according to senior officials of Punjab Police who along with sleuths of central security agencies interrogated two such militants arrested recently in Thailand. The security agencies in Thailand arrested KLF 'chief' Harminder Singh alias Mintoo, in November 2014, and KTF 'chief' Jagtar Singh Tara, one of the alleged assassins of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, on January 5, 2015. A Lahore posted Lieutenant colonel-rank Army officer of the ISI, identified as "Chaudhary" by Indian spy agencies, was the handler of Mintoo and Tara. He shifted Mintoo and Tara separately from Pakistan to Thailand last year (2014) to "develop sleeper cells in India". Top ranking Punjab Police sources said that this ISI officer later held a camp from July 5 to 13, 2014 at Mea Sot (a town in Thailand bordering Myanmar) in which "five UK-based Khalistan militants" were trained in assembling and handling of explosives made from locally available material. IG counter-intelligence Punjab Police Gaurav Yadav said, "Necessary follow-up actions (regarding ISI training UK-based Khalistan militants in Thailand) are being taken." Based on the interrogation reports of the two arrested men that the State Police and central agencies are collating, it has emerged that Gursharanvir Singh (living in Coventry of England) and Birmingham resident Piyara Singh Gill, also wanted by Punjab Police in August 2009 killing on Rulda Singh, President of RSS wing Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, were among the five UK-based Khalistan militants who attended the training camp in Thailand. Reports said that the central agencies have already approached UK authorities for their extradition.
23-Jan-2015
The Police will take recently extradited KTF militant Jagtar Singh Tara to Nepal border after his disclosure that he had hidden the large quantity of Research Department Explosive (RDX) and other ammunition in a village near Indo-Nepal border. Police said Tara had disclosed that he had hidden a consignment of around 4kg RDX, detonators and other ammunition in a village in Rudrapur District of Uttarakhand, which is located near Indo-Nepal border. However, the court had extended Tara's remand only for three days, during which the Patiala Police will take Tara to Indo-Nepal border to recover the ammunition. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand resident Devi Singh, the fourth accused involved in the sensational 2004 Burail Jailbreak, who escaped along with three assassins of former Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Beant Singh, is currently living in Pakistan and has converted to Sikhism. This was confirmed by KTF militant Jagtar Singh Tara, who was nabbed by Indian security agencies from Thailand recently, revealed a senior Police officer associated with the probe. Significantly, Indian security agencies had the information that Devi didn't move out of Pakistan since he sneaked into that country after the escape from Burail jail by digging a 104-feet tunnel. Three of the four accused in the jailbreak, have already been arrested by Punjab Police, and Devi is still on the run.
19-Jan-2015
Jagtar Singh Tara, Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief and mastermind behind former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassination, was extradited to India within a mere two days of his arrest as he did not contest the plea moved by New Delhi in Thailand court. Sources in the Punjab Police said Tara himself requested for extradition, a process that usually took years. The extradition, however, does not bar India from giving him the death penalty if any court finds him guilty of committing a crime under rarest of rare cases. Tara was arrested on January 5 and the Thailand court ordered his extradition on January 7. He was flown to India on January 15 after the completion of various formalities. Sources said Tara had told investigators that he along with his Pakistan-based associates wanted to carry out killings in Punjab and that they had even shortlisted some leaders. Tara is learned to have stayed in Ganganagar, Kurali and Fatehgarh Sahib for a few months before escaping to Pakistan through Nepal and Thailand. Police officials said he was giving some conflicting replies about his whereabouts after he escaped from the Burail Jail in January 2014. However, Police said that his claims were being verified.
05-Jan-2015
Authorities in Thailand arrested Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) militant, identified as Gurmeet Singh alias Jagtar Singh Tara convicted for his involvement in a bomb attack in 1995 that killed former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and at least 15 other people. Gurmeet Singh, one of six Sikh militants convicted for the blast outside government headquarters in Punjab, fled a high-security prison in Chandigarh in 2004 before receiving a life sentence in 2007. Gurmeet, entered Thailand in October 2014 and was arrested in the eastern province of Chonburi, Thai National Police Spokesman Lieutenant General Prawut Thawornsiri said. Prawut also said Gurmeet faces extradition to India.
31-Dec-2014
India's BSF seized 361 kilograms of heroin in 2014 on the border with Pakistan in Punjab. The seizure, according to BSF officials, is worth over USD 286 million in the international market. The seizures (till December 30, 2014, are higher than the previous record of 322 kilograms recovered in 2013 along the barbed wire fenced 553-km border between India and Pakistan in Punjab. In 2012, the BSF recovered 288-kilogram heroin in the Punjab sector, comprising the frontier districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, and Fazilka.
13-Nov-2014
BTKF militant Rattandeep Singh recorded a confession statement about his involvement in the bomb blast at Sector 34, on June 30, 1999, and named Pakistan-based Sikh militant, Paramjeet Singh Panjwar, for masterminding the blast. Singh, in his confession statement, also claimed that most fugitive militants settled in European countries and Pakistan have been indulging in drug trafficking. Meanwhile, Singh disclosed that the recently held Jasbir Singh aka Jassa had got him INR 1, 00,000 before executing the blast. Sources in the operations cell said, "During interrogation, Rattandeep narrated the pathetic condition of extremists based in Pakistan and other foreign countries. Panjwar, head of KCF, is now a builder in Pakistan and under the acute pressure of ISI to revive terrorism in Punjab." He also disclosed his links with Pakistan-based head of KZF, Ranjit Singh Neeta.
09-Nov-2014
Police arrested BKI militant Ramandeep Singh alias Sunny, from Cantonment Road in Bathinda, and recovered 200 grams explosive material, a timer, battery, wire, a pistol .32 bore and five letter heads of BKI. A case under the UAPA, Explosives Act and Arms Act has been registered against him at Bathinda kotwali Police Station. The arrested militant has reportedly been guided by Pakistan's ISI. Ramandeep also confessed that Babbar Khalsa militant Jagtar Singh Tara has floated a wing, KTF, and is recruiting youths to carry out militant activities in India. He had also spent a month in Thailand and Malaysia in April-May, 2014. Ramandeep was allured on Facebook by militants and BKI sources had sent him money from Europe through money transfer service. An unspecified amount of money was sent to him through a money transfer firm and he was asked to report in Thailand, while ISI agents provided him training. He had returned in May and was to conduct trails of bomb detonation. Bathinda zone IG Paramraj Singh Umranangal said, "During initial investigations, Ramandeep has confessed that he got training in making bombs and was to conduct a trial explosion at a secluded place."
07-Nov-2014
Punjab Police arrested ‘chief’ of KLF, Harminder Singh alias Mintoo and his key operative Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi. Police tracked and located the two in Thailand and coordinated with central agencies and Thai authorities. Mintoo, was running active modules among Khalistani militants outside India, was arrested from Delhi airport. The arrest location of Gopi is still not specified. He was wanted in 10 terror offenses filed in Punjab.
07-Nov-2014
The central investigation agencies are not only looking into alleged KTF militant Ramandeep Singh Goldy's role in Patiala and Ambala bomb blasts in 2010 and the killing of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat chief Rulda Singh in 2009 but also whether he was in touch with former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh's assassin Jagtar Singh Tara during his stay in Thailand and Malaysia.
06-Nov-2014
Top KTF militant, Ramandeep Singh alias Goldy wanted for April 20, 2010, Patiala blast and the murder of Rulda Singh, head of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat on July 28, 2009, was arrested by Punjab Police in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) after he was deported by Malaysian authorities.
04-Nov-2014
Heroin seizures by BSF troops in Punjab have increased. BSF has recorded its highest seizure of drugs in recent years along the India-Pakistan international border. In over 10 months, BSF has seized over 328.6 kilograms of heroin valued at INR 16.50 billion (about USD 270 million) in the international market. The seizure, till November 3, is even higher than the previous all-time high of 322 kilograms recovered in 2013 along the 553-kilometer International Border between India and Pakistan. A total of 44-kilogram heroin has been seized in the first three days of this month alone. Previously, in 2012, BSF had recovered 288-kilogram heroin in the Punjab sector, comprising the frontier districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, and Fazilka. The seizure of heroin made by the BSF in 2011 was just 68 kilograms. The seizure was 115 kilograms in 2010, 120 kilograms in 2009 and 100 kilograms in 2008, officials said. The drug network operates along the Afghanistan-Pakistan-India route.