KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
India 01-Jun-2021
Punjab Police arrested a suspected Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) operative, who they believe was one of the main shooters involved in the murder of a follower of the Dera Sacha Sauda and the attempted murder of a priest, identified as Kamaljeet Sharma along with four .315 bore pistols with 10 live cartridges from near village Nathuwala Jadid in Moga District. Earlier, Police arrested two of his associates Lovepreet Singh and Ram Singh from Moga on May 22. Police claim the trio had been found acting on the directions of KTF’s Canada based chief, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who has been notified as a ‘designated terrorist’ under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by the central government.
India 01-Jun-2021
With just days left for the 37th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is in a quandary as Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal has failed to complete a portrait gallery dedicated to those killed in action in the Golden Temple complex even as the project was assigned four years back. The radical Sikh leader, Kanwarpal Singh questioned the apex gurdwara body over the delay that, “The SGPC, being custodian of the project, must clarify about the fate of the gallery. The gurdwara body president must tell what hurdle they are facing in completing the project.” Besides militants, portraits of the devotees killed in the operation were also proposed to be installed in the gallery. The portraits will include those of slain militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the then head of the seminary, and his military adviser Major General Shabeg Singh who helped fortify the shrine complex.
India 01-Jun-2021
The Akal Takht announced plans to make a documentary on the Army’s operation in June 1984, thirty-seven years after Operation Bluestar. For the purpose, the officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh has called up the surviving dramatis personae to submit their experience in a video format so that these could be compiled to recreate what happened inside the Golden Temple complex during those fateful days between June 1 and 10 in 1984.
India 01-Jun-2021
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) asked to expedite the work on the martyrs’ gallery, dedicated to those killed during Operation Bluestar, on the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar. The ‘karsewa’ for the gallery being set up in the basement of Gurdwara Shaheedan in the Operation Bluestar memorial, was entrusted to Damdami Taksal, once headed by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The ceremony was officially launched in 2017 in the presence of the then SGPC president Kirpal Singh Badungar, Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and Damdami Taksal head Harnam Singh Khalsa. But the project that was aimed to be completed within a year lingered on. SGPC chief secretary Harjinder Singh Dhami said the work got affected due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. In the backdrop, the idea was to have portraits of ‘militants’ and pilgrims, who lost lives during the Army ‘assault’ in June 1984. Banking on the compensation of Rs10,000 awarded to the kin of Sikh activists in 1984, the SGPC has in its possession a list of 743 persons. On the other hand, a survey was conducted by Dal Khalsa which was compiled in a directory titled ‘Martyrs of June 1984 holocaust’ in 2006. It carried a brief about the militants and was updated twice in 2007 and 2012. The Damdami Taksal, in collaboration with the SGPC, Dal Khalsa and a US-based organisation, has prepared two lists comprising 890 persons.
India 01-Jun-2021
Akal Takht announced a documentary on the Army’s Operation Bluestar in its thirty-seven years anniversary. For the purpose, officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh has asked eyewitnesses and others to submit their experiences in a video format so that these could be compiled to recreate what happened inside the Golden Temple complex between June 1 and 10 in 1984. The idea is to have an authentic and credible account with the help of eyewitness’ interviews and interrogation reports of the Army. The Jathedar met an eyewitness, Harwinder Singh Khalsa, a ‘Panth Sewak’ awardee, to know about his experience.
India 02-Jun-2021
Police busted an interstate intoxicant tablet smuggling network with the arrest of two drug peddlers and recovered 1,15,350 tablets and 51 kg poppy husk from them in Fazilka district.
India 03-Jun-2021
According to officials, the banned terror organization, Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) planned to kill Dera Sacha Sauda follower Shakti Singh, who is an accused in three cases registered in connection with the Bargari sacrilege. However, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2015 sacrilege cases arrested him along with other accused before the KTF operatives could execute their plan, officials said. The two KTF operatives, who allegedly killed a Dera follower in Bathinda last year, were arrested by Moga police on May 22. It was revealed during the interrogation of four KTF operatives arrested by Moga police in connection with a murder case.
India 03-Jun-2021
Amritsar police will deploy more than 6,000 cops to keep a vigil in Amritsar on the 37th anniversary of Operation Bluestar, conducted by the army in 1984 to flush out militants hiding in the Golden Temple complex, on June 6. Since various Sikh bodies, including separatist outfits, have started organising programmes to observe the anniversary, a flag march was conducted by the police from Hall Gate to Heritage Street that leads to the Golden Temple on June 3.
India 03-Jun-2021
Thirty-seven years after Operation Bluestar, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has decided to put on display the bullet-riddled ‘saroop’ of Guru Granth Sahib and the gold-plated sheets of the Golden Temple that were damaged during the Army attack in June 1984. Besides, the original ‘khu’ (well), known as ‘Akalsar’, associated with the era of Guru Hargobind Singh, would also be made open for public view. The well also bore the brunt of the attack on its outer surface.
India 03-Jun-2021
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) informed that ‘Akhand Path’ would commence at Akal Takht from June 4 and bhog would be held on June 6.
India 04-Jun-2021
Police arrested three drug peddlers, identified as Hans Raj alias Hans, Balwindar Singh alias Gopi and Kulbir Singh alias Lakha along with 1 kilogram heroin, one pistol and a magazine in Shahkot in Jalandhar district.
India 04-Jun-2021
Akhand Path Sahib started to mark the annual martyrdom ceremony on June 6, to offer homage and respect to the martyrs including Sikh men, women, and children, who got martyred during the 1984 Operation Bluestar.
India 04-Jun-2021
In the wake of the Covid-19 threat, Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh appealed to the Sikh community to stay indoors and remember those who laid down their lives during the June 1984 Operation Bluestar.
Pakistan 04-Jun-2021
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) said that Pakistan government, citing the second wave of Covid-19, has denied permission to a group of Sikh pilgrims from India who wanted to visit the historic Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore to mark the martyrdom day Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru.
India 04-Jun-2021
The Border Security Force (BSF) and police arrested two persons, identified as Roop Singh Valmiki and Harmesh Singh, who had allegedly gone to Khajuwala near the Sriganganagar-Bikaner highway to collect 54 packets of heroin that was pushed into India by Pakistan smugglers on the wee hour of June 4.
India 05-Jun-2021
Thirty-seven years since the Sikh Reference Library got destroyed in Operation Bluestar at the Golden Temple, confusion and ambiguities still prevail over the missing rare repository of manuscripts and other artifacts that were taken away by the army. Not only the Centre, the SGPC too has failed to come up with accurate details of the items that went missing and the ones returned by the Union government latter. And now, Punjab and Haryana high Court is hearing a petition filed last year by one Satinder Singh against the SGPC after former library director Anurag Singh questioned the integrity of the SGPC in preserving the rare repository. He claimed that the army had returned the items three months after the operation and the SGPC officials received them on September 29, 1984, but many items are missing from the library now. He also alleged that some of the rare ‘birs’ were sold.
India 05-Jun-2021
Ahead of the Operation Blue Star anniversary on June 6 which is also a lockdown day in Punjab, security in Amritsar has been tightened with the deployment of 6,000 policemen. Like every year, this year too several Sikh organisations have announced to reach Akal Takht to observe the anniversary.
India 05-Jun-2021
Punjabi movie actor-turned-farmer activist Deep Sidhu has given a call on his Facebook page to reach Akal Takht on Operation Bluestar anniversary .
India 05-Jun-2021
Dal Khalsa organised a Ghallughara Yadgaari Samagam on the eve of Operation Blue Star in the city during the day where family members of Sikh militants that include General Shubeg Singh, Sikh student federation leader Amrik Singh, and others were honored. Later, Dal Khalsa supporters, including women and children, took out a march calling it ‘Genocide Remembrance Parade’, displaying photographs of damaged Akal Takht and Sikhs who died during the operation in 1984.
India 06-Jun-2021
Flags, posters and placards of pro-Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale were seen during an event inside Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar in Punjab as the nation marked the 37th anniversary of the 1984 Operation Blue star. News reports shared several pictures where hundreds of people, who had gathered inside the Golden Temple, were seen with Khalistani flags and Bhindranwale's posters. Source claimed that the crowd were also seen raising pro-Khalistani slogans.