KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
India 18-Jan-2010
A bomb, suspected to be an IED, was discovered kept along the Bhiwanigarh-Nabha highway outside the Indian Oil Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) bottling plant in Nabha in Patiala District, Police said.
India 27-Jan-2010
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) joined hands with Hurriyat Conference of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Dal Khalsa of Punjab, to put pressure on the Centre for an ‘early solution to the impasse in Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab’. Thuingaleng Muivah, ‘general secretary’ of the NSCN-IM, Syed Ali Shah Gilani, ‘chairman’ of Hurriyat Conference, and Kanwarpal Singh of Dal Khalsa in a joint statement appealed to the international community highlighting the ‘fundamental conflicts and contradictions’ in India. The report adds that the joint message was ‘endorsed’ by leading organisations based in the respective Diaspora communities.
India 21-Feb-2010
Two militants of KCF, identified as Jasvir Singh alias Jassa and Harjant Singh alias DC were arrested with explosives at a check-post near Rajgarh village in Patiala District. The duo, who were involved in more than 12 cases since 1993, were arrested when they were on their way to plant bombs in Ambala. They had reportedly planted bombs outside an LPG refilling plant near Nabha town in January 2010 and on a road leading to Indian Air Force station at Zirakpur, near Chandigarh. Nearly eight kilograms of explosives, 40 gelatin sticks, two pistols and some ammunition were seized from them. The IG claimed that the duo had met KCF’s Bakhshish Singh alias Baba who is absconding since the Karnal bomb attack attempt on the Dera Sacha Sauda (a group regarded as 'heretic' by orthodox Sikhs) chief in a high security jail during the days of militancy in Punjab. According to IG, another KCF terrorist Harminder Singh, now in Malaysia, provided arms, ammunition, explosives and money to DC, Jassa and Baba through the hawala (informal money transfer system) route and the trio had planted bombs with the help of another person, Pargat Singh, near the LPG plant in Nabha and the airbase.
India 07-Mar-2010
Sikh militant outfits based abroad are trying to revive terrorism in Punjab and the Government is maintaining a close watch on such outfits, the UMHA said. "Available reports suggest that Sikh militant groups, especially those based abroad, continue to persist with their efforts to revive militancy in Punjab," Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken told the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament). "A close watch is maintained on the activities of various groups known to have been engaged in trying to foment terrorist activities in Punjab," he said. He also added that pro-Khalistan terrorist outfits namely BKI, ISYF, KCF and KZF continued to be banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act, 2004
India 16-Mar-2010
The BKI terrorists Jagtar Singh Hawara and Paramjit Singh Bheora were produced in a local court in Chandigarh for the ongoing trial of the Beant Singh assassination case.
India 18-Mar-2010
A joint Police team of the Punjab and Delhi Police neutralized a module of the BKI, an outfit backed by Pakistan's ISI, by arresting three militants from Punjab and Delhi. Two suspected BKI militants, identified as Daljit Kumar alias Deepak of Baltana from Mohali District and Purshotam Singh alias Bunty from Rajoura in Patiala District, were arrested at the Zirakpur-Patiala road near Zirakpur in an operation conducted by the Mohali Police and the Special Cell of Delhi Police in the night of March 18. The third militant of the outfit, identified as Karwinder Singh, a native of Ropar, was arrested in Delhi on March 19.
India 21-Mar-2010
Two militants of BKI, arrested by Mohali Police, were produced in the court and remanded to two-day Police custody.
India 23-Mar-2010
Five "Pakistan-made" hand grenades were seized from the Mohali District on March 23, following the arrest of BKI militants. The grenades were recovered from Siswan village in Mullanpur town, about 14 kilometers away from the Punjab Cricket Association stadium, where one of the Indian Premier League cricket match is scheduled to be held on March 24. Mohali's Superintendent of Police Varinderpal Singh said that the grenades were made in Pakistan and had an imprint of 'P-86' on them.
India 25-Mar-2010
Three BKI militants, Waryam Singh alias Jasbir Singh alias Giani of Mohali District, Kulwant Singh of Mann Kheri District and Bhupinder Singhof Ropar District, were arrested at Rajpura of Patiala District. SSP R. S. Khatra said that they confessed that they were in constant touch with Italy-based BKI militant Jasvir Singh Jassi, who gave them the weapons to eliminate Baba Bhaniarwala to create unrest in the State. They were paid heavily by Jassi and were asked to step up militant activity in the State, Khatra said.
India 29-Mar-2010
A BKI militant, identified as Piara Singh, a resident of Gattikatar village in Ferozepur, was arrested with 3.5 kilograms of RDX, which he had reportedly smuggled from Pakistan for supplying to BKI militants in Punjab. With the arrest of the explosive’s supplier to BKI, the Mohali District Police claimed to have foiled another bid of Pakistan’s ISI-backed BKI to revive militancy in Punjab, Delhi and across the country.
India 30-Mar-2010
A special court sentenced BKI militant Paramjit Singh Bheora to life imprisonment, after convicting him of involvement in the 1995 assassination of the then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. A fine of INR 65000 was also slapped on Bheora, who was on March 29 convicted of criminal conspiracy for his involvement in the assassination of Beant Singh by a suicide bomber, Dilawar Singh, August 31, 1995, at the high-security Punjab Civil Secretariat complex in Chandigarh. Jagtar Singh Hawara, an accomplice of Bheora, was earlier sentenced to death in 2007 in the same case
India 30-Mar-2010
A hardcore militant arrested by the Punjab Police was working towards the revival of terror outfit KLF and planning to carry out a series of explosions in the State at the behest of Pakistan's ISI, a senior Police official said. Amritsar City Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said, “He was associated with the defunct KLF and was working towards its revival by trying to cause series of explosions in the State at the instance of Pakistan's ISI.” “Baba at a very young age joined the BTFK (Sangha Group) in the early 1990s. Subsequently, after the death of BTFK area commander Sukh Ram Singh Kulara, he joined KCF headed by Jarnail Singh Shatrana,” the Commissioner said.
India 17-Apr-2010
A suspected BKI militant, identified as Avtar Singh, was arrested by Zirakpur Police from Materi village in Ambala on April 17. He was produced in the Derabassi court on April 18 from where he was sent in Police remand till April 22. He is said to be the brother of another BKI cadre Purshotam Singh, who is living in France. According to Police sources, Purshotam was regularly sending money to BKI cadres in India to sustain their criminal activities.
India 18-Apr-2010
A group of militants is reported to have intruded into the Indian Territory, taking probably for the first time Gurdaspur (Punjab) route, on the night of April 18. However, two of them were trapped by Police and Security Force (SF) personnel at Chabe Chak Nursery along Ujh River under the jurisdiction of Rajbagh Police Station in the Kathua District in the evening of April 19. While only two militants have been spotted so far, Police didn’t rule out the possibility of some more militants having succeeded in infiltrating into this side but maintained that at no other place movement of the intruders has been observed. According to sources, the group of militants included some activists of the Dashmesh Regiment of the KZF besides Pakistani militants. While the KZF militants were reported to have left for Punjab, the Pakistani militants intruded into Kathua District.
India 19-Apr-2010
A link between the KZF and LeT has once again surfaced with the infiltration of two militants, including a Pakistani and a local of Doda in Jammu and Kashmir, from Bamial sector of Gurdaspur District in Punjab.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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
India 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.
India 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.
India 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
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 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.
India 02-Aug-2010
Police claimed to have arrested two conduits of the KZF in connection with the seizure of arms and ammunition from Border out Post (BoP) Bakarpur in the R S Pura sector of Jammu District. Parveen Kumar son of Bihari Lal and Satnam alias Tani son of Prabhu Dayal resident of Kapoorpur in R S Pura was arrested by the Police in connection with the seizure of arms and ammunition from Border out Post (BoP) Bakarpur in RS Pura, a week ago. "Both the accused during interrogation disclosed that KZF chief Neeta, presently in Pakistan had sent the said consignment of arms and ammunition to this side for carrying subversive activities in Pakistan," sources said, adding that it was the second consignment sent by Neeta in last few months.
India 04-Aug-2010
A serious attempt is being made by the militants sitting in Pakistan with the help of Pakistan’s Army and spy agencies to revive militancy in Punjab using former militants and border smugglers and International Border (IB) of Jammu for smuggling of arms, explosives and hawala money. Sources said Satnam Singh alias Tainy son of Prabhu Dayal, a resident of Kapoorpur in RS Pura and Parvesh son of Bihari Lal, a resident of Avtal in RS Pura were reported to have disclosed during their questioning by Police and CI that the militants of KZF with active connivance of Pakistan Army, Rangers and ISI used to throw consignments of arms, explosives, ammunition and hawala money from across the border to this side at a fixed point near the border fencing. The consignments were meant for ‘KZF’ militants in Punjab.
India 13-Aug-2010
The Union Government removed names of 23 former Khalistani militants, all foreign nationals, from the Centre's list of blacklisted Sikh radicals as they are not involved in any serious criminal cases and anti-India activities. Consequently, these 23 persons will now be able to get an Indian visa and travel to any parts of India without any restriction.
India 17-Aug-2010
The Central Government said that Sikh militant groups from abroad are trying to resurrect militancy in Punjab. "Available reports suggest that Sikh militant groups especially those based in abroad are continuing their efforts to revive militancy in Punjab," Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken informed the Lok Sabha.
India 25-Aug-2010
The Intelligence Bureau (IB) warned that "inimical agencies" operating from "international bases" were trying to revive militancy in Punjab by allying with Khalistani outfits and the LeT. Calling attempts to revive Sikh militancy a worrisome trend, IB Chief Rajiv Mathur said, "There have been clear attempts by inimical agencies abroad to reactivate Sikh terrorist elements, forge nexus between LeT and terrorist groups like BKI and KZF and mobilize their resources for planning terrorist violence in Punjab and elsewhere in the country."
India 10-Oct-2010
A cadre of the KZF, who is also associated with the BKI, was arrested by Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh Police from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The arrestee, identified as Gurjant Singh, was a native of Kurukshetra District in Haryana. An Italian pistol and some documents were seized from him. Gurjant reportedly acted as a link between KZF and BKI.
India 17-Oct-2010
A BKI operative,Karanbir was arrested along with an AK-47, an AK-56 assault rifle, two hand grenades, 5.4 kilograms of RDX, six magazines, 276 rounds of ammunition, two detonators, a timer device, and one remote control from Punjab.
India 18-Oct-2010
An alleged BKI operative Karanbir Singh escaped from Police custody under the pretext of going to the toilet. The incident occurred in Hoshiarpur District when Police personnel and officers were interrogating Karanbir, who was booked for the murder of the head of a religious sect in June 2010. He escaped through a window. A reward of INR 5 lakh has been announced.
India 23-Oct-2010
The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh (UP) arrested a BKI terrorist, identified as Makkhan Singh, from Barhni area of Sidharthnagar District on the Indo-Nepal border. ATS personnel also recovered one mobile phone along with Indian and foreign currencies from the accused. Makkhan was arrested when he was going to Punjab to acquire a fresh passport to leave India.
India 31-Oct-2010
Three terrorists, identified as Jasmail Singh alias Sahib Singh, Kulvinder Singh alias Kala and Arshpal Singh alias Rashpal Singh were arrested by a Police party near Buga Kanchian in Punjab when they were traveling in a car.
India 04-Nov-2010
The Punjab Police recovered a bomb, two detonators; a.30 bore Chinese pistol and six live cartridges following the interrogation of the recently arrested terrorists. SSP R S Khatra informed that after the interrogation of terrorist Jasmail Singh alias Sahib Singh, resident of Rupalheri village of the District, the Police recovered a bomb and two detonators from a hideout near Satluj Yamuna Link canal near Mehdoda village.
India 11-Nov-2010
BKI terrorist, Makhan Singh, who was jointly arrested by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Khanna (Punjab) Police on October 23, 2010, from UP was handed over to the Hoshiarpur Police in connection with the killing of Sant Pardhan Singh. During interrogation, Makhan Singh had confessed to the killing of Sant Pardhan Singh with one of his accomplices Karanvir Singh alias Bablu, resident of Daroli, Adampur, who was arrested on October 18 from Qila Barun (ChhotaBajwara) and later fled from the CIA staff custody.
India 08-Dec-2010
The Central Government said that militant groups, especially those based abroad, were trying to revive militancy in Punjab. “Available reports suggest that militant groups, especially those based abroad, continue to persist with their efforts to revive militancy in Punjab," Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Maken said in a written reply. The Minister, however, added that no specific inputs were indicating the development of any nexus between Khalistani outfits like BKI or KZF and militant Islamist organizations like LeT.