KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
India 18-Mar-2009
The Punjab Police neutralized an ISI-sponsored espionage ring with the arrest of four persons, including two of them with a terrorist background. The arrestees were identified as Naib Singh, Baldev Singh, Sukhdev Singh and Randhir Singh, all residents of different villages in the Faridkot District. Naib Singh and Baldev Singh have a terrorist background and several cases were registered against them, a Punjab Police spokesman said. Sensitive documents relating to important military installations, photographs, charts, movements of military units, diaries containing Pakistani telephone numbers and mobile phones and fake currency of the face value of INR 20,000 were seized from the possession of the arrested persons.
Pakistan 20-Apr-2009
Intelligence agencies have recently ascertained that a joint meeting between militants of the LeT, JeM and the BKI chief Wadhwa Singh was held in Rawalpindi in Pakistan during February 2009, where they planned terrorist attacks in Punjab during the Parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in the fourth and fifth phases on May 7 and May 13. Sources in the agencies said the Pakistan-based terrorist outfits had planned to take the help of local BKI cadres for logistical support.
India 20-Apr-2009
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has alerted the State to take adequate measures in coordination with central intelligence and security agencies to foil any such attempts. Agencies believed that Wadhwa Singh continues to be a vital link between terrorists in other countries and some radical elements in the Sikh community in Punjab. Wadhwa Singh, hiding in Pakistan, is one of the 40 most-wanted terrorists India has sought to be deported from Pakistan.
Pakistan 04-May-2009
According to military intelligence, a group of 935 Pakistani women are being trained by the ISI, in the Faridkot District of Punjab province in Pakistan to entice men and motivate them into becoming terrorists in India. According to a military intelligence report, the group is also being trained at a camp in Kotli, Pakistan. It said a joint meeting of senior ISI officers with representatives of al Qaeda, LeT, KZF and KCF on April 23 near Talwandi (in Pakistan) was attended by Neeta, KZF leader, and Nazira Begum, the wife of Kotli training camp principal Shah Mohammad. Taught to breach national boundaries, these women generally enter India through West Bengal and Bihar borders and are equally adept at using computers and in blackmailing youth.
Austria 24-May-2009
A violent clash between two groups of Sikh worshippers broke out in a Gurudwara in Vienna, capital of Austria. Austrian Police said that the two groups of Sikh worshippers clashed with knives and a handgun in the Gurudwara. A 56-year-old Sikh Guru Sant Ram Nand was shot at and injured and he died later in the night. 30 others were also injured. Sant Ram Nand was accompanying another Guru Sant Niranjan Das who was the preacher at the ceremony in the Gurudwara. The two preaching to a gathering that calls itself the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha. The clash broke out when groups of people of rival Sikh sect intruded and attacked the gathering with knives and guns objecting to the sermon. Sant Ram Nand belonged to DeraSach Khand, a follower of Guru Ravidass. Some reports suggest that militants belonging to KZF had killed him. The Vienna violence spread to Punjab (India) as well. The army was called in Chandigarh.
Austria 26-May-2009
The KZF has claimed responsibility for the May 24 attacks on a Gurdwara in Vienna. The London-based Akash Radio Website claimed that it had received an e-mail, written on the KZF's letterhead, was signed by one Ranjit Singh. The letter said the incident occurred because "these people did not heed to the warnings that they should not disrespect Guru Granth Sahib ji by sitting parallel to Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji; letting people bow before them in the Guru Sahib's presence and committing various unacceptable anti-Maryada (Sikh code of conduct) acts. As they continued to commit such sins, the KZF was forced to take this action."
Austria 26-May-2009
Another Khalistani militant outfit, the BKI, which also figures on the US’s list of terrorist organizations, has condemned the killing of Sant Rama Nand in Vienna. London-based Akash Radio Website claimed that the BKI chief Wadhwa Singh Babbar said in an e-mail that the entire Sikh Panth regretted the attack on Sant Niranjan Das and Sant Rama Nand. The e-mail said: "Everyone knows that this attack was not done by the Sikh Panth. Indian agencies are behind this attack, and they are trying to split the Ravidasiya community from the Sikh Panth. The Khalsa Panth will continue to cherish this relationship formed since the times of Guru Nanak Devji… The Khalsa Panth requests the Ravidasiya community to maintain peace. The Khalsa Panth will always stand by the Ravidasiya community and will not let the Indian agencies succeed in their mal-intensions."
India 02-Aug-2009
A suspected woman agent of the Pakistan’s ISI, identified as Savinder Kaur, was arrested along with fake Indian currency having a face value of INR 480000 from Amritsar.
India 15-Aug-2009
The BSF personnel arrested four Pakistani intruders who were trying to enter India through the Tarn Taran District of Punjab. Two kilograms of heroin, two pistols, two Pakistani mobiles, and Pakistani currency notes were recovered from their possession.
India 27-Aug-2009
Police detained several people from Patiala, Bathinda, Moga and Malout for suspected links with Balbir Singh Bhutna. The person who was picked up from Malout is stated to have purchased a .32 bore revolver from the accused. Bhutna, a Khalistani terrorist, is believed to have been involved in the recent murder of Lily Sharma, a Dera Sacha Sauda (a group regarded as 'heretic' by orthodox Sikhs) follower, in Mansa.
India 27-Aug-2009
Police in Ludhiana, arrested a suspected militant, identified as Daljit Singh Bittu for allegedly plotting to kill Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. Bittu, who was involved in the Khalistan movement of the 1980s, was arrested from his house following information provided by arrested terrorist Balbir Singh Bhutna, Police said. Bhutna, who is suspected of links with militant outfits KCF and BKI, was arrested at Ludhiana railway station on August 25 after an encounter in which one person was killed and two policemen were seriously injured. During the investigation, Bhutna had revealed that they had plans to kill the Punjab Chief Minister and his son, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister of the State. Bittu is president of the Akali Dal (Amritsar- Panjpradhani), a party which he floated after his release from prison. Bittu was also associated with Simranjit Singh Mann's SAD (A) but had later formed his party - SAD (Panch Pardhani).
India 04-Sep-2009
The Punjab Police claimed to have seized 2.5 kilograms of RDX, said to be a part of the consignment used in the attack on the convoy of Dera Sacha Sauda (a group regarded as 'heretic' by orthodox Sikhs) chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on February 2, 2008, near Pipli in Karnal District. The Police also claimed to have seized two detonators and a pistol from two-murder accused brought to Patiala from Mansa for interrogation in another case.
India 29-Sep-2009
Police arrested five BKI militants, including the son of a Police official, and claimed to have neutralized a terror module. Four militants were arrested on the night of September 29 from Bhogpur, 45 kilometers from Jalandhar and one was arrested on September 30 from Jalandhar. The arrestees were identified as Ranvir Singh alias Saabi (son of an ASI), Manjit Singh alias Jeeta, Amandeep Singh (all of the residents of Bhogpur) and Kuldeep Singh of Basti Bawa Khel locality and Dinesh Kumar. The arrested persons have been in touch with their Germany based head of BKI Harminder Singh alias Mintu, a close link of BKI terrorists residing in Pakistan for the past six months; the Police said adding that the accused were also in touch with Paramjit Singh Pamma, also based in Germany.
India 17-Oct-2009
The Director-General of Punjab Police, Paramdeep Singh Gill, said that Pakistan’s ISI is actively engaged in reviving militancy in Punjab by providing arms and money to extremists.
India 21-Oct-2009
The Special Operation Cell of Punjab Police arrested a militant of the KZF, identified as Barkat Singh, a close associate of Ranjit Singh, the KZF chief who is based in Pakistan, against whom many cases of terrorist activities were registered. Barkat Singh is currently wanted by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in a murder case and at present was living on a fake identity. Investigations reportedly revealed that Ranjit Singh was trying to push in a huge consignment of arms, ammunition and explosives from Pakistan, which was to be received by Barkat through an associate in Jammu, Police said.