KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
India 29-Jan-2011
Former Deputy Speaker of Punjab, Bir Devinder Singh, reportedly received a threatening email from militant outfit BKI. The email dispatched by BKI area commander Nishan Singh claimed that a meeting of BKI ‘area commanders’ was held some days ago, where they decided to recruit 1,000 unemployed youngsters from Punjab for the establishment of Khalistan in Punjab. BKI threatened to chastise the former Deputy Speaker for creating obstacles for them.
India 07-Mar-2011
The Amritsar Police arrested Sohan Singh alias Sohanjit Singh, a close associate of a Pakistan-based terrorist Paramjit Singh Panjwar, ‘chief’ of KCF. A .32 bore revolver, a magazine and five live cartridges were recovered from the possession of the arrested militant. On May 8, 2010, Sohan Singh had allegedly planted a bomb in a car near Circuit House in Amritsar with the help of Sukhdev Singh alias Chira, Ratandeep Singh, Narain Singh alias Chaura and Gurinder Singh alias Heera and Gurjit Singh. Police had announced a reward of INR one lakh for giving information on Sohanjit. Preliminary interrogation of Sohanjit Singh revealed that he was a close associate of Paramjit Singh Panjwar. He had visited Pakistan along with Sikh jatha's and was trying to revive terrorism in the State with the active support of Panjwar.
India 13-Mar-2011
Khalistani militant Jagtar Singh Tara, who was involved in the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, is reportedly planning to launch his outfit, Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) breaking away from the parent outfit BKI.
India 12-Apr-2011
Avtar Singh Tari, an aide of the Chief of the Namdhari sect, SatguruJagjit Singh, was shot dead by two motorcycle-borne unidentified assailants at Katani Kalan village of Ludhiana District in Punjab.
India 12-Jun-2011
Punjab Police arrested a person in Jalandhar for facilitating the family of the militant Paramjit Singh Panjwar (who is on India's most-wanted list) procures passports on fake credentials. The arrestee, identified as Paramjit Singh (a namesake of the militant whom he was aiding), was a State Government employee.
India 06-Jul-2011
A huge cache of arms and ammunition was recovered by the Police from a village in the Tarn Taran District of near India-Pakistan border in Punjab. The recoveries included five kilograms of PETN explosive, 1.75 kilograms of RDX, four landmines, two AK 47 assault rifles and 250 AK 47-like cartridges from a jungle near-border village.Preliminary investigations revealed that the cache was hidden underground by slain KCF, Paramjit Singh Panjwar group, militant Harbhajan Chatu during the heydays of militancy in Punjab. Investigations also revealed that the explosives and weaponry were sent from Pakistan by the then Pakistani sympathizers of armed Khalistan movement.
India 08-Sep-2011
Investigators were also taking a closer look at a few intelligence inputs over recent months that hinted at efforts by Khalistani extremist groups to target the national capital. Sources said inputs spoke about militant Sikh outfits BKI and KZF trying to revive in India and carry out attacks.
India 16-Oct-2011
Recent intelligence reports cautioned the Punjab Government about renewed efforts by the Pakistani spy agency, ISI and Pakistan-based militant outfits, including BKI, to send a consignment of arms, explosives, fake currency, and drugs for spreading terror-incidents and drug menace in the state and disrupting its economy.
India 24-Oct-2011
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) recovered a cache of arms and ammunition and arrested one person in Firozpur District in Punjab. Besides the arms, 54 kg heroin - originating from Pakistan – was also been seized. The haul is seen as outfits across the border using drug syndicates to fund terror networks and reviving Khalistani militancy in Punjab.
India 31-Oct-2011
Banned terror outfit KTF claimed responsibility for the huge haul of explosives recovered from an abandoned car in Ambala in Haryana on October 12 and stated that their motive was to eliminate senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar to avenge the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
India 01-Dec-2011
BSF recovered five kilograms of heroin and FICNs of various denominations amounting to INR 980,000 from Naushehra Dhallan village near India-Pakistan international border in Punjab.
India 22-Dec-2011
Two suspected BKI militants were sent to 10 days in Police custody. They were arrested by the Delhi police based on leads that they planned to assassinate some religious and political leaders. Sarabjeet Singh was arrested in the Shalimar Bagh area of Delhi on December 22 by Delhi Police. Police reportedly seized a firearm, two magazines containing 15 live cartridges, five mobile phones, a cordless phone, three driving licenses purportedly issued in Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, two PAN cards and a laptop, besides two pen drives, from the accused.
India 23-Dec-2011
During interrogation, Sarabpreet allegedly disclosed the name of his accomplice as Jaswinder Singh. Subsequently, the Police mounted raids and arrested him at Ropar in Punjab. Two pistols and 30 live cartridges were allegedly seized from him. Ashok Chand, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) said Sarabpreet was told to eliminate Baba Ram Rahim of Ambala in Haryana, Baba Pyara Singh of Banihara at Ropar and Baba Ashutosh of Ludhiana, besides political leaders in Punjab.
India 25-Dec-2011
The security of VVIPs in Punjab is being reviewed in the wake of the revelations made by BKI militants arrested by Delhi Police on December 22. Delhi Police claimed that that the module had been tasked by BKI chief Wadhwa Singh and an operative Kulbir Singh to assassinate three religious leaders in Punjab and Haryana and some political leaders in Punjab during the upcoming Assembly elections. According to the Police, the BKI is on an overdrive to recruit cadre.
India 30-Dec-2011
Government asked states bordering Pakistan to step up vigil following inputs that militants from across the border may strike in India, specifically in poll-bound Punjab. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said, "What we gathered, we review every day... We alert the states who are targets... Apart from the jehadi groups, there is BKI (Babar Khalsa International) and some other Khalistani groups. We did bust a BKI module a few days ago. So, we have to remain on high alert in Punjab. We are working with the Government of Punjab and we will continue to remain high alert," he added. Asked whether there was a revival of the Khalistan movement in Punjab, he said, "There is no revival. These are remnant elements from old groups. Many of them have fled the country; many of them have taken refuge in foreign countries. These are remnant groups. There is no revival of the Khalistan movement".