KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
India 16-Aug-2020
Some miscreants had replaced the national flag with the Khalistani flag near a Gurudwara in Dhudike village of Moga district.
United States 18-Aug-2020
A resolution introduced in the US Congress described Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan as “endangered minorities” and has sought to resettle these persecuted religious communities from the war-torn country to America. Introduced in the House of Representatives last week by Congresswoman Jackie Speier and co-sponsored by seven others, the resolution supports refugee protection for Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan, noting the “systematic religious persecution, discrimination and existential danger” faced by members of these communities.
India 19-Aug-2020
Four persons, identified as Rupinder Singh alias Rim, Yudhvir Singh alias Jony, Gurjeet and Aman Sharma, were arrested for allegedly having raised a flag with the words ‘Khalistan Zindabad’ in Chaupal village in Sirsa in Sirsa district of Haryana. According to a spokesperson for Haryana Police, two of the four were involved in hoisting the flag and the other two shot the video and posted it on social media. Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the spokesperson said.
United Kingdom 19-Aug-2020
India refuted as absolutely untrue allegations that a British Sikh man arrested on charges relating to terrorism is being tortured in Tihar Jail in New Delhi after group of demonstrators staged a protest outside 10 Downing Street in London. The Indian High Commission in London in a statement said, Jagtar Singh Johal has been arrested on serious charges relating to terrorism. It is untrue that he is being held without any charges. The prosecuting agency, NIA (National Investigation Agency), has already filed charge sheet in the court of law and he is presently undergoing judicial proceedings as per the law of the land. It is absolutely untrue that he has been subjected to torture. He has been granted consular access several times to the UK High Commission in New Delhi. Further, institutional safeguards like the Human Rights Commission exist to investigate any such allegation, it said. Earlier, the protesters waved placards and made speeches to protest British national Jagtar Singh Johal's detention in India for 1,020 days. His brother, Gurpreet Singh Johal, handed in a letter for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeking his intervention over the alleged third-degree torture and mistreatment and lack of charges against his younger brother in India. Johal, a 33-year-old Scottish-born Sikh, was in Jalandhar with his family for his wedding in October 2017 when he was arrested by police in the city.
India 20-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered 4 kg of heroin from near Mohar Sona border outpost of Fazilka district in the evening. According to official sources, during a search, the BSF team recovered four packets from the agricultural fields of a farmer, Bhagwan Singh, of Retewali Bhaini village. The consignment was allegedly pushed from the Pakistan side into the Indian territory.
India 20-Aug-2020
Police arrested a 19-year-old youth, identified as Akashdeep Singh from Bathinda in Bathinda district in connection with the case pertaining to putting up a ‘Khalistan flag’ on the terrace of district administrative complex on August 14. Two men, Jaspal Singh and Inderjeet Singh Gill in their early twenties are absconding and Jaspal is the son of a Punjab Police inspector. According to police, Akashdeep, who reportedly filmed the incident and Jaspal and Inderjeet had put up the flag with Khalistan written on it on the terrace of the administrative complex at 8:15am on August 14. While fleeing, the two men also removed and took along the Tricolour hoisted on the premises.
India 20-Aug-2020
Some activists of SAD (Amritsar) and Dal Khalsa staged a protest outside the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) office, alleging illegal detention of a sister of one of the accused and a minor boy in connection with Khalistan flag hoisting case.
India 20-Aug-2020
The Dal Khalsa said that the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal was planned against universally accepted riparian principles with an eye on looting the scarce water resources of Punjab and the digging of SYL was next to impossible and that the people of Punjab would not allow this to happen. It categorically stated that Punjab owns the waters of the Sutlej, Ravi and Beas and no legislation or court could deprive the state of its legitimate right of ownership. Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said the ghost of the SYL canal has cropped up again to haunt the people of Punjab. “We will defend the rights of the state at any cost,” he added.
India 21-Aug-2020
The Supreme Court dismissed the bail application of Malkit Singh alias Shera, one of the accused in connection with the blast that took place in Tarn Taran district of Punjab in September 2019. A bench headed by Justice NV Ramana dismissed the plea saying it cannot grant bail to the accused. Earlier, the prosecution had submitted before the NIA court that during the course of investigation, incriminating role of the accused had emerged and that he was highly radicalised towards the Khalistan movement and he was part of a gang that had planned terrorist activities.
India 22-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead five Pakistani intruders in self-defence after the infiltrators opened fire on the Indian troopers along the International Border (IB) in Tarn Taran district of Punjab early in the morning. One AK-47 assault rifle with two magazines and 27 live rounds, four .9mm Berretta pistols with seven magazines and 109 live rounds, 9kg heroin, two mobile phones and Rs 610 in Pakistani currency were also recovered from the infiltrators. According to the BSF’s Inspector General (IG), Punjab Frontier, Mahipal Yadav, prima facie, it appears the five men were trying to infiltrate as they were carrying arms and drugs, but their exact motive will be ascertained by the Punjab Police during their investigation. The mobile phones recovered by the intruders could contain vital information, Yadav said.
India 22-Aug-2020
The pro-Khalistan separatist outfit, Sikh For Justice (SFJ) offered money to anyone performing ardas for Khalistan at Akal Takht on August 23. In a release issued on August 22, SFJ’s Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has tried to lure people into offering such arads at Akal Takht by offering $5,000, and $500 for offering ardas at other local Gurudwaras. Recently, Pannun had offered $200 for removing Indian tricolour and raise Khalistan flag instead at gram panchayat on August 15, the Independence Day.
India 22-Aug-2020
The Special Task Force (STF) seized 4.2 kg of heroin hidden in a water pipe across the barbed fence near Chanduwadala village border outpost in Gurdaspur in Gurdaspur district. A STF official said that the seizure was made following the questioning of Sukhwinder Singh alias Kaka, of Chanduwadala village, who had around 15 acres across the barbed fence. Kaka was arrested following a tip-off that he, along with Karandeep Singh of Dhilwan and Mandeep Singh of Chanduwadala village, had smuggled a drug consignment, procured from Pakistan-based smugglers, into the country.
India 22-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) and the state police in a joint operation seized 1 kg of heroin near the border outpost in Fazilka in Fazilka district.
India 22-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) arrested five drug smugglers, identified as Bikramjit Singh, Nirmal Singh, Nachhattar Singh, Panjab Singh and Raju and recovered 1.12 kg heroin from them in Wan Tara Singh village in Tarn Taran district. The contraband was concealed in their shoes.
India 22-Aug-2020
The Border Security Force (BSF) found eight packets of heroin, weighing 2.41 kg, in the fields of Tarsem Singh of Naushehra Dhalla in Tarn Taran district.
India 23-Aug-2020
A ‘Khalistan’ flag was put up on a flyover in Moga city in Moga district. According to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harmanbir Singh Gill, it was done by some miscreants and the act had nothing to do with fundamentalist organisations. He said the miscreants’ intention was to disturb communal harmony in the area. Gill said hoisting any such flag was not a legal offence, but it was punishable, if done with a “malicious” intention. Many such incidents have been reported in Moga district over the past few days.
India 23-Aug-2020
Punjab Police arrested one Khalistani terror sympathiser, identified as Gurmeet Singh from the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar district after he allegedly organised prayers for the Referendum 2020. According to the reports, Gurmeet Singh also shot a video of the prayer he organised at the Golden Temple. He organised prayers after the pro-Khalistan group Sikh For Justice (SFJ) had claimed that it would offer $5000 to anyone performing prayers for Khalistan at Akal Takht on August 23. Later, Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran, works as a Sikh preacher (granthi), confessed to the police that he was promised $5000 by Pannun if prayer is held for Khalistan at the Golden Temple.
United States 23-Aug-2020
A Sikh man based in the US, Surjit Singh, alleged that the chief of pro-Khalistani extremist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), Gurpatwant Singh Pannun extorted $15,000 from a Dalit youth from Punjab. In a video shared on social media, Surjit Singh of California has alleged that Pannun cheated him of $15,000 which he had paid to him in an immigration case of a Dalit youth last year. Surjit Singh is heard saying in the video that he gave Pannun $15,000 for getting the US residency status for a Punjabi youth of the Valmiki community (Dalit). However, after Pannun received the money, he did not fulfill his commitment and did not deliver what he had promised. Surjit is also heard saying in the video that whatever Pannun has been doing, he does it only for money.
India 23-Aug-2020
Four Indian nationals were detained from the border belt in connection with the killing of five Pakistan intruders by the Border Security Force (BSF) in Tarn Taran on August 22. The killings has led the Punjab Police to a narcotics nexus thriving in connivance with local residents in the remote rural belt along the International Border (IB). According to police, the four had established connections with the five Pakistan nationals. Tarn Taran SSP Dhruman Nimbale said that details of weapons recovered from the intruders were being investigated, though no radical activity had surfaced so far. “Prima facie it appears to be an attempt to push narcotics from the Pakistan side in connivance with drug smugglers on this side of the border,” he said.
India 24-Aug-2020
Police arrested three drug peddlers along with 100-gm heroin, Rs 3.50 lakh cash and a car in Ferozepur district.