KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
India 05-Jan-2015
Authorities in Thailand arrested Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) militant, identified as Gurmeet Singh alias Jagtar Singh Tara convicted for his involvement in a bomb attack in 1995 that killed former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh and at least 15 other people. Gurmeet Singh, one of six Sikh militants convicted for the blast outside government headquarters in Punjab, fled a high-security prison in Chandigarh in 2004 before receiving a life sentence in 2007. Gurmeet, entered Thailand in October 2014 and was arrested in the eastern province of Chonburi, Thai National Police Spokesman Lieutenant General Prawut Thawornsiri said. Prawut also said Gurmeet faces extradition to India.
India 19-Jan-2015
Jagtar Singh Tara, Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief and mastermind behind former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassination, was extradited to India within a mere two days of his arrest as he did not contest the plea moved by New Delhi in Thailand court. Sources in the Punjab Police said Tara himself requested for extradition, a process that usually took years. The extradition, however, does not bar India from giving him the death penalty if any court finds him guilty of committing a crime under rarest of rare cases. Tara was arrested on January 5 and the Thailand court ordered his extradition on January 7. He was flown to India on January 15 after the completion of various formalities. Sources said Tara had told investigators that he along with his Pakistan-based associates wanted to carry out killings in Punjab and that they had even shortlisted some leaders. Tara is learned to have stayed in Ganganagar, Kurali and Fatehgarh Sahib for a few months before escaping to Pakistan through Nepal and Thailand. Police officials said he was giving some conflicting replies about his whereabouts after he escaped from the Burail Jail in January 2014. However, Police said that his claims were being verified.
India 23-Jan-2015
The Police will take recently extradited KTF militant Jagtar Singh Tara to Nepal border after his disclosure that he had hidden the large quantity of Research Department Explosive (RDX) and other ammunition in a village near Indo-Nepal border. Police said Tara had disclosed that he had hidden a consignment of around 4kg RDX, detonators and other ammunition in a village in Rudrapur District of Uttarakhand, which is located near Indo-Nepal border. However, the court had extended Tara's remand only for three days, during which the Patiala Police will take Tara to Indo-Nepal border to recover the ammunition. Meanwhile, Uttarakhand resident Devi Singh, the fourth accused involved in the sensational 2004 Burail Jailbreak, who escaped along with three assassins of former Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Beant Singh, is currently living in Pakistan and has converted to Sikhism. This was confirmed by KTF militant Jagtar Singh Tara, who was nabbed by Indian security agencies from Thailand recently, revealed a senior Police officer associated with the probe. Significantly, Indian security agencies had the information that Devi didn't move out of Pakistan since he sneaked into that country after the escape from Burail jail by digging a 104-feet tunnel. Three of the four accused in the jailbreak, have already been arrested by Punjab Police, and Devi is still on the run.
India 05-Feb-2015
Pakistan's ISI trained Khalistan militants from the UK in Thailand last year (2014) to launch strikes in India, according to senior officials of Punjab Police who along with sleuths of central security agencies interrogated two such militants arrested recently in Thailand. The security agencies in Thailand arrested KLF 'chief' Harminder Singh alias Mintoo, in November 2014, and KTF 'chief' Jagtar Singh Tara, one of the alleged assassins of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, on January 5, 2015. A Lahore posted Lieutenant colonel-rank Army officer of the ISI, identified as "Chaudhary" by Indian spy agencies, was the handler of Mintoo and Tara. He shifted Mintoo and Tara separately from Pakistan to Thailand last year (2014) to "develop sleeper cells in India". Top ranking Punjab Police sources said that this ISI officer later held a camp from July 5 to 13, 2014 at Mea Sot (a town in Thailand bordering Myanmar) in which "five UK-based Khalistan militants" were trained in assembling and handling of explosives made from locally available material. IG counter-intelligence Punjab Police Gaurav Yadav said, "Necessary follow-up actions (regarding ISI training UK-based Khalistan militants in Thailand) are being taken." Based on the interrogation reports of the two arrested men that the State Police and central agencies are collating, it has emerged that Gursharanvir Singh (living in Coventry of England) and Birmingham resident Piyara Singh Gill, also wanted by Punjab Police in August 2009 killing on Rulda Singh, President of RSS wing Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, were among the five UK-based Khalistan militants who attended the training camp in Thailand. Reports said that the central agencies have already approached UK authorities for their extradition.
India 22-Feb-2015
The UMHA has decided to take a fresh look into the case against Balwant Singh Rajaona, a BKI militant who was sentenced to death after his conviction in the case pertaining to the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. The development follows the arrest of another BKI operative Jagtar Singh Tara, who was recently extradited from Thailand. Rajaona himself has refused to petition either the State Government or the Supreme Court for a stay on his death sentence. He is currently lodged in a Punjab jail. Sources said UHM Rajnath Singh has asked ministry officials to examine Rajaona's case afresh in the light of new facts that could emerge after Tara's interrogation. "Since Rajaona has refused to petition any authority for clemency, Home Ministry has decided to look into his case afresh. Since Tara has been extradited from Thailand and is presently in the custody of Punjab Police, new facts could emerge in the case. Even if there is a fraction of a chance that Rajaona was involved in the assassination case, the entire case has to be relooked into," said a senior Home Ministry official. Tara, a co-accused in the case, was facing trial for allegedly assassinating Beant Singh when he escaped along with three others through a tunnel dug inside the jail, where they were lodged in 2004. Two of the three others have been arrested, while the third is still at large.
India 23-Feb-2015
Bathinda Court (Punjab) extended KTF chief Jagtar Singh Tara's Police remand by another two days. Previously, Tara was produced in court on February 9 and was sent to four-day police remand. Police also produced one Amarjit Singh of Dusarna village in Mohali District and accused him of having links with Tara. Arrested on February 12, Amarjit was also sent in two-day police remand. Tara is accused of making way for Bathinda-based Ramandeep Singh alias Sunny in getting arms training in Bangkok. Bathinda Police on November 9, 2014, had arrested Ramandeep and claimed that he was a member of the terror organization KTF headed by Jagtar Singh Tara. Police had recovered explosive material, a revolver and 5 letterheads of BKI. Bathinda District attorney Iqbaljit Singh Kingra said, "During interrogation, Ramandeep confessed that he had gone to Thailand to get arms training on Tara's insistence and had met him in Thailand." Kingra said that Ramandeep also told that Tara had got militant training at Pakistan and encouraged him to toe the same path.
India 25-Feb-2015
Failing to get UT administrator's nod for suspension of notification prohibiting BKI militant Jagtar Singh Tara's movement from Burail jail in Chandigarh, the jail authorities failed to produce him before court on the second consecutive day and have now sought time till February 27. UT Police failed in producing Tara before the court of Additional District and sessions judge Shalini S Nagpal,as the state failed to obtain suspension of the notification under section 268 of the Code of CrPC prohibiting transportation of Tara from Burail jail. Jail authorities stated before the court that Tara's movement from Burail jail was prohibited as Section 268 of the CrPC (person shall not be removed from prison till the completion of the trial) imposed on the assassination accused, was still valid.The jail authorities sought time till February 27.
India 27-Mar-2015
A Pakistani smuggler shot dead by BSF personnel and recovered 24 kilograms of heroin from him from the Majhmian border outpost area close to the Indo-Pak border in the Amritsar sector. Troops had laid an ambush near the border on the intervening night of March 27 and 28. Soon, the troops observed some suspicious movement of Pakistani smugglers near the border who were trying to insert a plastic pipe through the border fence to push heroin packets across.
India 29-Mar-2015
Two Pakistani smugglers were shot dead by BSF and 12 kilograms of heroin and 1 AK-47 rifle was recovered at International Border in Punjab.
India 23-Apr-2015
India has raised the concern of pro-Khalistan extremist groups with their Canadian counterparts about Pro Khalistanis active in Canada at the behest of Pakistan’s ISI. About a month before Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s Canada visit, a joint working group on counter-terrorism comprising security officials of both the countries held a meeting on March 19. Several issues, including those related to threat assessment, extremism, and foreign fighters, were taken up. India raised the issue of Pakistan’s ISI using some Canada-based pro-Khalistan groups and individuals for anti-India activities. Intelligence agencies have identified a Canadian national with Indian roots, an alleged associate of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Jagtar Singh Tara who was recently arrested in Thailand and deported to India.
India 19-May-2015
Jagtar Singh Tara head of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) who was involved in the killing of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995 disclosed that LeT trains and assist Khalistan militant. KTF is also assisted by LeT. KTF claimed responsibility and LeT was involved in October 12, 2011 Ambala (Haryana) RDX recovery inside an Indica car that meant to carry out a major blast in New Delhi on Diwali 2011. According to the interrogation report, Tara had held three meetings with LeT militant Asdullah Maulvi between 2012 and 2014 to deliver consignments of arms and RDX into Punjab. Maulvi is currently in Sialkot, Pakistan and is directly controlled by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The report also said that Tara had told LeT that he did not have enough foot soldiers in Punjab to carry out attacks. LeT had then offered to send both 'hardware' as well as fidayeen attackers. According to Tara as many as six LeT men were backing KTF.
India 30-May-2015
Jagtar Singh Tara, the Sikh militant divulged that while he was based in Pakistan, he had sent to India with weapons and explosives, including three AK-47s, to kill Shiv Sena leaders in Gurdaspur in Punjab. Tara mentioned that he was in regular touch with militants in jails across Amritsar and Nabha and had sent the weapons in 2013. These revelations are part of a 20-page investigation report by the IB and Punjab Police and come about a month after Shiv Sena state secretary Harvinder Soni was shot at in Gurdaspur while playing volleyball on April 12, 2015. A jailed militant, Sukchain Singh Khurmania, lodged in Amritsar prison, in a conversation with Tara demanded timers, detonators, and pistols in September 2014.
India 08-Jul-2015
According to Intelligence reports Pakistan’s ISI is funding pro-Khalistan groups in India and abroad including Babbar Khalsa in India, US, Germany, and Canada. 22 Sikhs that rose slogans on the periphery of Golden Temple near Akal Takht in Amritsar recently were instructed to take help from Pakistan to spread violence in India. According to a report the Pakistani spy agency can also use the ultras of four Khalistan militant groups - Ranjit Singh Meeta - headed Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), Jagtar Singh Tara-headed Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), Wadhwa Singh-led Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Harminder Singh Minto-led Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) - to revive militancy and launch terror strikes in Punjab. The ISI and the radical Sikh groups are trying to lure unemployed youths to join terror groups.
India 27-Jul-2015
Five bombs recovered from Dinanagar- Pathankot railway track.
India 12-Aug-2015
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal dispatched a communiqué to Union home minister for an increase in deployment of Border Security Force (BSF) personnel on the International Border (IB) with Pakistan along the Punjab border to prevent cross border infiltration and avert any kind of terror strike. Badal visited some forward posts of BSF adjoining the border and realized the need for more personnel on the border to keep watch. He Said that the IB adjoining territory of Punjab should have the same strength of forces on the pattern of Jammu and Kashmir borders.
United States 18-Aug-2015
A former Sikh separatist leader - Satwinder Singh Bhola (52), the owner of Griswold Grocery& Liquor in Peoria, was stabbed to death by unidentified assailants outside his apartment in the U.S. city of Illinois. Bhola was parking his car in the parking lot of his apartment complex on August 16 when some unidentified persons attacked him with a knife. Bhola was nominated as Spokesperson of All India Sikh Student Federation at the peak of militancy in Punjab. Following operation Blue Star in Amritsar, he served a two-year jail sentence.
India 27-Sep-2015
ISI has mobilized militants belonging to groups like LeT, JeM, and HM as well as Sikh militants associated with BKI and KZF remnants based on its soil, for possible joint strikes in Punjab, Jammu, and Kashmir, Delhi or other parts of India.
Germany 05-Oct-2015
Germany has become a meeting point of BKI and other militant groups. There have been a massive Germany based recruitments in BKI in the past few months as BKI is in immense pressure from Pakistan’s ISI to attack Indian establishments, even BKI is advised to coordinate with outfits like LeT. A few months ago, BKI’s Pakistan- based commander Wadhwa Singh and his counterpart from LeT held several meetings in Choburjee, Lahore and have been trying to orchestrate a "synchronized attack" on Punjab and Delhi as per the Indian security agencies reports and sources.
India 20-Oct-2015
Central intelligence agencies warned the Punjab government against Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI’s possible attempt to create trouble in Punjab. The letter, dated October 1 talked about an attempt by the ISI to send a group of militants trained in Sikh manners and customs to create trouble in the state. Intelligence agencies sent the letter to senior Punjab police officer that circulated to all districts to take necessary steps. The letter said a group of 15-20 militants from Pakistan - who had undergone arms training under 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Sayeed - had been trained in "Sikh traditions and Gurumukhi script at Pakistan's Gurudwara Sahib for about two months". Their trainer was Ranjeet Singh, the Chief of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF). However, despite the advance information, protests seared Punjab over the acts of desecration, plunging the Akali-BJP Government into the worst crisis of its nine-year rule.
India 22-Oct-2015
Intelligence agencies report that Pakistan’s ISI is behind the recent cases of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in its bid to revive the Khalistan insurgency in the state of Punjab. The involvement of Foreign hands is traced by investigations and traced calls to Australia by two suspects arrested in the Faridkot sacrilege case, Jaswinder Singh and Rupinder Singh. Police believe the funding comes from Australia and Dubai for desecration incidents. ISI is working with pro-Khalistan elements in the Sikh diasporas to revive militancy in Punjab. ISI officials in Pakistan had met militants from jihadi outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba(LeT) and with Sikh militants of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) to plot strikes in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi. Nearly 15-20 militants who were trained by ISI, which also issued funds for the anti-India strikes, were acquainted with Sikh traditions and Gurumukhi script at Kartarpur Sahib, a gurudwara in Pakistan, with the help of KZF's Ranjit Singh. They were also briefed on the topography of Punjab. Even the commemoration of Operation Blue Star anniversary earlier this year by hardliner Sikh elements across the United Kingdom (UK), France, Canada, Germany, Pakistan, and Malaysia, etc, was noted with concern by Indian agencies. More recently, ISI officials had reportedly visited a gurudwara in South Hall, London, to incite trouble ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit there. A senior intelligence official claimed that ISI's mission to rekindle the embers of militancy in Punjab has been encouraged by the weakness of the state leadership and the churn in Punjab society.
India 28-Oct-2015
BSF submitted a report to the UMHA on the narco-trafficking in Punjab. The detailed report suggests an increase in drug smuggling across the border, the BSF had seized heroin worth 67 kilograms in 2011, while in 2012; the seizure was elevated to 288 kilograms. These figures touched 313 kilograms and 324 kilograms in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The report further stated that there are numerous couriers in the border regions of Punjab which are being paid INR 60,000 per kilogram, and well-network groups ensure the drug consignments are safely cleared and smuggled.
India 02-Nov-2015
The operations cell of the Chandigarh Police filed a detailed charge-sheet against BKI militant Jagtar Singh Tara, charging him with escaping from Police custody, sedition and waging war against the country in the Burail jailbreak case. The charge sheet included the copies of Pakistan-made fake ID card of Tara and four FIRs registered against him after his escape from the jail for spreading terrorism in Punjab. It was filed in the court of CJM Anubhav Sharma. Tara along with Jagtar Singh Hawara, Paramjeet Singh Bheora, and Devi Singh had escaped after digging a 98-foot long tunnel in January 2004. An unnamed senior police official stated, "The charges of sedition and waging war against the country were levelled against Tara based on fresh evidence like proof of his presence in Pakistan and attempts to revive terrorism." Tara was arrested by a joint team of Punjab and Thailand police from Thailand in January 2015. He was brought to Chandigarh in connection with the jailbreak case on February 17, 2015. The charge sheet was filed under sections 223, 224, 452, 457, 121, 121 A, 123, 217, 221 and 120 B of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Chandigarh Police has also filed an appeal in Punjab and Haryana high court challenging the acquittal of all jail officials in the case.
India 19-Nov-2015
Police recovered nearly five kilograms of heroin from a goods train returning from Pakistan in the border region of Punjab.
India 20-Nov-2015
Supreme Court (SC) directions issued to send the file of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) self-styled commander Jagtar Singh Tara to Chandigarh Session Court to begin the trial of the accused on November 20. Tara is charged in the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh (August 31, 1995). Tara was arrested from a person’s house that was sheltering him at the behest of Pakistan’s ISI agency in Thailand in January.
India 21-Nov-2015
To revive Khalistan movement in Punjab and execute more attacks like Gurdaspur to destabilize peace in the state of Punjab recently Pakistan’s ISI held a meeting with militant outfits, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF). KZF 'chief', Ranjeet Singh alias Neeta, works closely with the ISI to carry out terror attacks in Punjab. Neeta has provided a two-month-long language training to LeT’s Fidayeen (suicide bombers) near Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib near Lahore, in Punjab (Pakistan). “The militants have been trained by Neeta in the Sikh tradition and Gurumukhi script. They are likely to be disguised as locals following infiltration. Local police departments and state law enforcement agencies have been put on high alert,” intelligence input based on intercepted communication revealed. ISI and terror groups sheltered by the Pakistani state authorities have been systematically trying to revive the militancy in Punjab with the help of Babbar Khalsa and outfits such as the KZF. The Pakistan-based outfits are also getting financial support from sympathizers in Germany and the UK.
India 03-Dec-2015
A major narcotics racket was neutralized and Goods worth INR 70 million seized from nine men by police. The consignment-1 kilogram of Alprazolam, an anti-depressant, 6.4 kilograms of heroin and around 2 kilograms of opium-was being transported from Punjab by a group of men from Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Punjab. The accused have been identified as Harjinder Singh (28), Durgesh (33) from Punjab, Ubah Casmir Amobi (35), Abu Bakr (28), Mohd Akhtar (31), Shabir Ahmed Bhat (38), Ezeh Chinedu Joseph (34), Ugo Geoffery Franklin (39), and HaziImamudin (50).14 mobile phones have also been seized.
India 13-Dec-2015
Arms and ammunition (a pistol, two magazines, 10 live rounds), fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) totalling INR 5, 97, 500, narcotics and a Pakistani SIM card were seized by the Border Security Force (BSF) near the Noor Wala border outpost in Ferozepur Sector of International Border (IB). In another operation of the BSF near the border outpost at Kulwant, 1-kilogram heroin was seized. The contraband is worth INR 5 crore in the international market
India 22-Dec-2015
Sikh For Justice (SFJ) who was under the radar of Intelligence agencies for aiding militants and funding of terror and the UK and Canada government would be contacted to act against the outfit. Now the Sikh for Justice raising funds to prevent the deportation of BKI militant Paramjeet Singh Pamma who is also associated with KTF and arrested in from a hotel in Portugal last week. Paramjeet was reportedly based in England on 'political asylum' since 1994-95. Paramjeet was reportedly the main fundraiser for BKI. Around INR 25, 00,000 has been raised from gurudwaras in France and the UK over the past few days, apparently to help Paramjeet engage a formidable legal defense to contest his deportation. Avtar Singh of Sikhs for Justice, a New-York based Sikh rights outfit, arrived in Paris from Canada on December 20, 2015, a couple of days after Paramjeet--wanted for 2010 twin bomb blasts in Patiala and Ambala and murder of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat leader Rulda Singh in 2009, was arrested by the Portugal Police.
India 28-Dec-2015
An Indian Air Force (IAF) employee Ranjith KK was arrested after the IAF dismissed him from service for leaking sensitive information.
India 30-Dec-2015
BSF Recovered drugs and weapons from over 550 kilometres of the porous India – Pakistan border. BSF troopers confiscated around 344 kilograms of heroin from the IB, which was the second major seizure in the past five years.