KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
28-Jul-2010
The Punjab Police arrested five BKI militants with two AK-47 rifles and a huge quantity of ammunition and explosives. Pal Singh of Dhandowal village in Jalandhar, Kulwant Singh of Varpal village, Gurmukh Singh alias Gana of Pandori Mehma, Jagtar Singh of Thoba village in Amritsar and Darshan Singh Dhadi of Dhaliwal in Jalandhar were arrested with two AK-47 rifles, five magazines and 420 live rounds, including 200 armored piercing cartridges, Superintendent of Police (SP) P. Mandeep Singh said.
23-Jul-2010
Pakistan-based Sikh militants, supported by the Pakistani ISI, might carry out bomb blasts in New Delhi before the Commonwealth Games, the Punjab Police has alerted. An advisory circulated recently among all senior officers in the State by the intelligence department of Punjab Police has pointed out that Sikh militant leaders based in Pakistan are under "tremendous pressure" from the ISI to carry out sabotage activities in India before the Games. "Militant leaders, including KZF chief Ranjit Singh Neeta, are planning to undertake some militant actions, including bomb blasts, before the Games scheduled in New Delhi in October," the advisory said. It also stated that around 15 kilograms RDX was smuggled into India from Pakistan by Neeta's contacts, which was divided into three parts, most of which have been seized by Police from different places in the State including Ferozepur and Rajpura. Intelligence sources of the State Police have inputs that Neeta could himself enter India if those directed to carry out the nefarious designs failed in their task. "Certain militants sitting abroad are desperate to push four Sikh extremists into India to carry out nefarious activities," the advisory said. Meanwhile, police have been sensitized and directed to take necessary preventive and detective measures to avoid any untoward incident, official sources said.
20-Jul-2010
The Director-General of Police in Punjab, P.S. Gill, said that Pakistan's ISI is helping terrorists to penetrate East Punjab. He claimed militants were receiving funds to the tune of Lakhs (100000) from Pakistan, and, had undergone training in the use of RDX, manufacturing of bombs, hand grenades, all kinds of rifles and pistols in Pakistan.
18-Jul-2010
Punjab Government recommends the deletion of names of 46 former Khalistani militants from the Union Government’s list of 'blacklisted' Sikh radicals. The existing blacklist — meant for travel ban and denial of visa — comprises names of 169 Sikhs who were directly or indirectly associated with various pro-Khalistan militant outfits. Names of 46 of them, however, have been cleared by a Punjab Government committee for deletion from the central list.
18-Jul-2010
Punjab Police said that it had arrested four militants of the BKI and recovered weapons and explosives from them. The four include BKI commander Harmohinder Singh, who was the mastermind in the 2007 Ludhiana cinema blast. The other three were his accomplices and they were staying in rented accommodation here for the past few weeks. Police have recovered 3.1 kilograms of RDX, an AK-47 and a revolver from them.
30-Jun-2010
A BKI militant, identified as Sher Singh was arrested from Amritsar District and one AK 47 rifle, three magazines, and 72 live cartridges were recovered from his possession. Singh had earlier spent around six years in jail for his involvement in various cases of bomb blasts in Delhi, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Kaithal (Haryana) and Chandigarh, and a jailbreak in Burail.
22-Jun-2010
The State Special Operation Cell of Intelligence Wing of the Punjab Police with the interrogation of arrested BKI militant Nishan Singh recovered one AK-47 assault rifle, 110 cartridges, one revolver 32 bore and three automatic Chinese pistols. Following Singh’s arrest, an Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) team had visited his village, Daleke, in the Tarn Taran District and recovered a huge cache of imported arms hidden in the farms by Singh. The weapons were sent from Pakistan.
18-Jun-2010
The Punjab Police arrested a BKI militant from Bhagowal village near Batala area in Gurdaspur District. He was identified as Jagtar Singh, a resident of Bhagowal village under Qilla Lal Singh Police Station. Jagtar Singh was sent to Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) Amritsar for investigations, Batala Police sources said
16-Jun-2010
A suspected militant of the BKI, identified as Sukhdev Singh alias Sukha, was arrested along with 1.4 kilograms RDX, arms and ammunition, from the border of Khalkian and Rattangarh villages in Amritsar District.
14-Jun-2010
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said that arrests show forces are alert even as the arrest of two more suspected terrorists belonging to the dreaded BKI on June 12 in Batala has caused concerns regarding the revival of militancy in the State and ruled out any “threat to peace in Punjab”. He said the arrests were a testimony to the fact that Security Forces were alert and they would thwart any attempt to disturb law and order
14-Jun-2010
Five suspected militants of the BKI have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days by the Dera Bassi court. Earlier, these militants were in Police custody. According to information, militants sent to judicial remand include Balbeer Singh, alias Bhootna, Nirmal Singh, alias Nimma, Avtar Singh, Daljit, and Deepak. The accused had reportedly been involved in terrorist activities and arms and ammunition were also seized from their possession.
13-Jun-2010
Bakhshish Singh, a KLF militant who was arrested on May 30 said when freed he would again make an attempt to kill controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who had emulated Guru Gobind Singh, leading to clashes between Sikhs and Dera followers two years ago. He told the media gathered on the local court premises that he had done nothing wrong by targeting the Dera head and would not mind making another attempt on his life.
12-Jun-2010
The Police arrested two suspected BKI militants, identified as Balwinder Singh alias Binda and Manjinder Singh alias Mannaand recovered a pistol and 10 live cartridges from their possession, from a fuel pump at Khanowal village under Kila Lal Singh Police Station in Gurdaspur District. The two arrested suspects had hidden arms and ammunition in a water cooler they were carrying, Police said.
10-Jun-2010
Five persons have been arrested from a village in Amritsar and six kilograms of RDX as well as 20 detonators, time-devices, and heroin recovered from them, Police said.
29-May-2010
Punjab Police’s Special Operation Cell arrested a KLF terrorist, Bakshish Singh Baba, who reportedly masterminded a bomb attack on the convoy of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief in Karnal in February 2008, from Amritsar recently. Baba, carrying a reward of INR 500000 on his head, was reportedly involved in more than 25 cases of terror-related activities and destruction of public property in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.
29-May-2010
An ISI agent, identified as Irfan Ulla was arrested, with maps of vital defense installations, near the Indian Air Force (IAF) station at Mullanpur in Mohali District. The Police recovered a pistol with 20 live cartridges, maps, pictures and code numbers of IAF stations and airports in different parts of the country from him. Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar told journalists that Ulla was an ISI agent and close aide of dreaded terrorists Ranjit Singh alias Neeta, head of the KZF, and his associate Gurmeet Singh Bagga, who is based in Germany.
25-May-2010
Two Pakistani nationals were arrested by the BSF while trying to infiltrate into the Indian side at Dera Baba Nanak sector in Gurdaspur District of Punjab, officials said. The duo, which was in their 20s, was also carrying PKR 6,000 in, they said.
16-May-2010
Unidentified assailants shot dead the head of Maidas Nirmali Dera (sect) at village Baddon in Hoshiarpur District, Police said. "After the morning prayer inside the dera hall, Sant Pardhan Singh went out to open the main gate. Some three-four persons were already standing outside the gate and they immediately fired at him," said Amrik Singh, a resident of Baddon village. "Police have found four empty shells of AK 47 bullets. We cannot ignore the role of personal enmity behind this incident," said Rajesh Aggarwal, senior superintendent of police, Hoshiarpur.
08-May-2010
A car with two kilograms of explosives was found abandoned near a busy Railway Station in Amritsar, Police said. Although so far, no particular terrorist outfit has taken the responsibility, Police believe this incident was part of the attempt of BKI and Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) elements to revive terrorism in Punjab.
05-May-2010
Punjab DGP Paramjit Singh Gill said that Pakistan’s ISI keeps backing anti-national elements to disturb peace in Punjab but they were vigilant enough to thwart any challenge to the law and order situation in the State. He said that there were reports that ISI keeps instigating Khalistani as well as Kashmiri terrorists to jointly strike at sensitive places.