KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
India 02-Aug-2019
Maheshinder Singh Grewal, a senior spokesperson of the Akali Dal, accused Pakistan of working at the instructions of the ISI of hatching conspiracies to create a rift between the Sikh communities in both countries by floating religion-based narratives. Grewal added that Pakistan’s peace gestures were merely an eyewash and Islamabad had no Sikh-welfare in mind.
India 02-Aug-2019
In a joint operation, Ludhiana Special Task Force (STF) and Ludhiana Rural Police recovered over 4.5-kilogram heroin, worth crores in the international market, at Mamdot in Ferozepur District of Punjab near the India-Pakistan border.
India 04-Aug-2019
Unprecedented security measures have been made at IB with Pakistan, especially in Pathankot District of Punjab. Punjab’s border zone IGP S P S Parmar said that high alert had been sounded in all border districts of the state following which they had upgraded the security. He added that special officers had been deputed in the border districts who would be monitoring the situation round the clock.
Pakistan 04-Aug-2019
After being removed from the PSGPC and ETPB, Pakistan’s pro-Khalistan leader Gopal Singh Chawla has now taken to social media to propagate misinformation campaign about Kashmir. In a two-minute video uploaded on social media, Chawla alleged “Kashmir tay jo zulm ho riha hai, usdi main apni tarfo te saari duniya day Khalisatania vallo muzammat karda han (I and the Khalisanis around the world condemn the atrocities committed in Kashmir).” Chawla circulated the video in the wake of New Delhi has called off Amarnath yatra and has issued advisory to tourists and pilgrims to leave the Kashmir valley. In his provocative video message, he also named former slain Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, stating that those who had committed atrocities had met their fate like her.
India 05-Aug-2019
The recent seizures of over 1,100 kg of heroin in the Indian subcontinent have left the investigating agencies worried about a spurt in the activities of Pakistan-based drug-trafficking syndicates in the region. A case in point is the seizure by the Customs at the Attari Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Amritsar District of Punjab in June of 532 kg of heroin and 52 kg of other drugs. They had been declared rock salt. The alleged kingpin, Tariq Ahmed Lone of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested, along with importer Gurpinder Singh. “The consignment was booked in the name of Global Vision Impex, a front for Pakistan’s ISI, in Lahore,” the official said.
India 06-Aug-2019
Punjab Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa accepted in the State Legislative Assembly that drugs and mobile phones were being smuggled into prisons in the State. The Minister informed the assembly that his department was taking this "seriously" and seized 576 cellphones from various jails and suspended 20 jail staffers in six months. Six jail employees of the Patiala jail have been dismissed and Ferozpur jail superintendent has been demoted to the post of deputy jail superintendent, said the Minister.
India 08-Aug-2019
The Government of India has set up a tribunal to adjudicate whether or not there is sufficient reason to impose a ban on pro-Khalistan group SFJ, which was declared as an unlawful organisation last month. The UMHA, while imposing the ban, had said the group’s primary objective is to establish an “independent and sovereign country” in Punjab and it openly espouses the cause of Khalistan and in that process, challenges the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.“Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 5 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967), the central government hereby constitutes an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal, consisting of Mr Justice D N Patel, Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi, for the purpose of adjudicating whether or not there is sufficient cause of declaring the SFJ as an unlawful association,” a notification issued by the UMHA said.
India 08-Aug-2019
An elderly man identified as Amar Singh was shot and wounded when drug peddlers selectively shot at some houses in Shamkhera in Muktsar District. Police has registered a case against eight people. However, no arrest has been made so far.
India 09-Aug-2019
According to a report, Punjab is struggling to wean its youth from substance abuse. An estimated 7.2 lakh people in Punjab, out of its around 3-crore population, need treatment for opioid addiction, according to a study by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Over 42 lakh people in Punjab are involved in substance abuse, including opioid, cannabis, alcohol and sedatives, it found. The figures on substance abuse in Punjab are stark. Punjab Police have arrested 34,443 persons in a total of 28,214 FIRs registered under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act since April 2017.‘At present, 51% of the total 23,033 prisoners in 24 jails of Punjab are undertrials or convicts in NDPS Act cases.As per official figures, there have been 134 drug overdose deaths since 2017 to date and around 4,000 viscera samples, including those of suspected drug overdose deaths, are pending with Punjab’s only functional chemical examining laboratory in Kharar.
India 10-Aug-2019
India sent a reminder to Pakistan to hold technical level meetings to finalise key decisions relating to the proposed Kartarpur corridor. India had proposed that technical level meetings should be held in the first week of August. However, the sources said Pakistan is yet to respond to it, prompting the Indian side to send a reminder.
India 11-Aug-2019
Government of India has put into motion the process to allow Sikhs, who figured on the now defunct “blacklist”, to visit India. The controversial list was done away in April 2019. GoI through embassies and high commissions abroad, written to the persons mentioned on the list that they can now travel to India. Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), a banned terrorist outfit, has welcomed the removal of the “blacklist” of Sikhs by the Indian Government. Some of its members have expressed the desire to visit India, but with a rider that they would be allowed to raise the demand for ‘Khalistan’.
India 11-Aug-2019
Punjab CM Amarinder Singh expressed concern over reports of slowdown in activities of discernible showdown by Pakistan to develop Kartarpur corridor. The CM urged Pakistan not to back out of their commitment. The CM also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce a special economic package for the development of the border states of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir to create better job opportunities.
India 11-Aug-2019
According to Government officials, Pakistan’s enthusiasm over Kartarpur corridor will depend on the unfolding situation in Kashmir once the restrictions are relaxed. While not commenting on reports that Pakistan had slowed down work on the corridor, they referred to influential voices in its establishment, such as those of former Foreign Secretary Abdul Basit, calling for work to be suspended in light of India’s Jammu and Kashmir moves. The Indian establishment has viewed the Kartarpur Corridor with a tinge of suspicion. There have been recurring concerns after the seizures of explosives and arms in Punjab and Haryana that Pakistan is attempting to destabilise Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
India 11-Aug-2019
Special Task Force (STF) arrested head constable Gagandeep, alias Gaggi Khanna and his two accomplices for drug peddling and recovered 785 gram heroin from their possession from an unspecified location. His accomplices have been identified as Amandeep Singh, aliasMauli, and Vikas Kumar, alias Lara.
India 11-Aug-2019
Two drug peddlers were arrested from Sirsa District in separate incidents. A drug peddler identified as Laksham Singh was arrested from Bappa village in Sirsa District with 100 kilo grams of Chura Post. Separately, another drug peddler identified as Vinod Kumar was arrested with 12 kilo grams of Marijuana from an unspecified location in Sirsa District.
India 11-Aug-2019
Anti-Narcotic Cell team recovered 20 grams of heroin from two drug peddlers, identified as Mohit Kumar and Jitender Singh in Baba Hanuman Singh Chowk in Sirsa District.
India 11-Aug-2019
A member of anti-drug campaign committee was shot and wounded by drug peddlers at Kotli Ablu in Muktsar District.
India 11-Aug-2019
Mansa Police conducted extensive searches in houses of 51 people suspected of drug peddling or liquor smuggling in the District. The Police arrested 13 people and registered 11 cases.
India 12-Aug-2019
Radical Sikh organisation Dal Khalsa, United Akali Dal and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have decided to observe August 15 as Black Day. Kanwar Pal Singh of Dal Khalsa said that they will stage protests on Independence Day against the atrocities, political subjugation and denial of rights to Sikhs in the last seven decades. He also alleged that due to increased hostilities between Indo-Pakistan in the wake of government's abrogating article 370, the Kartarpur corridor is likely to become causality.
India 12-Aug-2019
Former MLA, Virsa Singh Valtoha had to face ire from the locals during his address on the death anniversary of Sukhdev Singh Babbar of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) at Dasuwal in Tarn Taran District in Punjab. Valtoha talked about his association with BKI. When he spoke on opening an old murder case of Patti-based surgeon Dr Sudarshan Trehan, who was shot on November 15, 1984, the organisers switched off the public address system and Valtoha was made to sit.