KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
India 04-Jan-2016
Former militant Baaj Singh, a native of Bhullar village, was released prematurely.
India 04-Jan-2016
Mohali Police arrested three persons, identified as Harjinder Singh, Gurjant Singh, and Sandeep Singh, along with Pakistani SIM card, mobiles, weapons and ammunition. The three criminals were involved in an interstate narcotics smuggling gang.
India 04-Jan-2016
There have been 136 terror attacks in India in the last 27 years, according to the UMHA. The state of Punjab has witnessed 34 terror attacks over the highest. Most of the attacks occurred during the 1990s, with the latest attacks reinforcing the view that India’s security forces cannot cope with small bands of militants. A majority of the 34 attacks in Punjab over 27 years were between 1990-1992, a time when Sikh militancy was at its peak; 31 of 34 attacks took place in the 1990s, while the 16 years between 2000 and 2015 saw three attacks in Punjab.
India 07-Jan-2016
Sikh political prisoner Hardeep Singh, who was associated with Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), was released from the Amritsar Central Jail in Punjab following clearance from the State Government. Hardeep was released owing to his good conduct. Hardeep was arrested under various sections of the Militant and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act (TADA), besides Section 302 (murder charges) of the IPC in 1993.
India 09-Jan-2016
A BSF Constable Anil arrested by Punjab Police for allegedly helping a cartel of drugs and arms smugglers infiltrate heroin and weapons into India. The arrest followed the January 4 incident, when three persons were arrested for smuggling narcotics. Their interrogation then led the investigators to Anil who was deployed with the 52nd Battalion of the BSF.
India 10-Jan-2016
Data Provided by BSF Punjab revealed that seven narcotics smugglers and intruders, including three Pakistani nationals, shot dead in separate encounters by BSF guarding the International Border along Pakistan in Punjab in 2015 and 334 Kilogram heroin worth INR 1720 crore was seized. In 2015, 91 persons were arrested for narcotics smuggling and illegally crossing the border, while Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) with a face value of more than INR 11, 00,000 was seized. Of the 91 persons arrested five were Indian smugglers while the others included 58 Indians, 20 Pakistanis, four Bangladeshis, two Nigerians, one Chinese and one Nepali, who was held for crossing the border illegally. The other items seized in 2015 include 17 weapons, 24 magazines, and 286 cartridges. 19 Mobile phones (15 Pakistani, 2 Indian, 2 Bangladeshi) and 41 SIM cards (28 Pakistani, 11 Indian, 2 Bangladeshi) were also seized through 2015.
India 07-Feb-2016
BSF killed four persons, including two Pakistani intruders, and recovered 10 kilograms of heroin, two pistols and a motorcycle from their possession on the Indo-Pak border in Punjab. Besides the Pakistani intruders, two Indian nationals were also gunned down.
India 04-Apr-2016
Chand Kaur, the wife of the late Satguru Jagjit Singh, the former head of the Namdhari sect, was shot dead by two unidentified assailants at the Bhaini Sahib Gurdwara complex in Ludhiana District.
India 22-Apr-2016
Gurdeep Singh Khera, who is serving a life sentence in two different terror cases, was released on parole of 42 days. Khera is currently lodged in Central Jail in Amritsar (Punjab) where he was transferred from Gulbarga Jail of Karnataka in June 2015 on "humanitarian grounds". He was booked under the Militant and Disruptive Activities (TADA) Prevention Act and later sentenced to life imprisonment in two different cases registered in 1996 in New Delhi and Karnataka.
India 22-Apr-2016
The Punjab Government released the 1993 Delhi blast convict, Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar, on a 21-day parole. He was released barely 24 hours after another terror convict, Gurdeep Singh Khera, walked out on of the same jail on parole. Bhullar's parole application said he wanted to meet his family, including his wife who is temporarily staying in Ranjit Avenue in Amritsar.
India 23-Apr-2016
Shiv Sena’s labour wing chief in Punjab, Durga Prasad Gupta, was shot dead by two unidentified assailants near Lalheri Chowk in Khanna in Ludhiana District.
India 01-May-2016
Gangs of criminals operating in Punjab's border areas may be affecting the country's national security, the Indian Army's military intelligence (MI) unit has written a letter to Punjab Police, saying that criminals operating from state jails are running extortion rackets at military stations. The note has been sent after Fazilka-based gangster-turned-politician Jaswinder Singh Rocky was shot dead in a gang war in Himachal Pradesh's Solan District on May 1 morning. Showing no fear of the Police, rival gang members have for the past two days been gloating on social media about how they successfully hit Rocky.
India 29-May-2016
Intelligence agencies in India have reportedly sent an alert to the Canada government about pro-Khalistan terrorists planning attacks in Punjab. Canadian Sikh Hardeep Nijjar is said to have taken over as the 'operational head' of KTF and formed a module of Sikh youths to carry out the strikes. Making a reference to the recent Pathankot attack, the report which has been submitted to the MEA to seek Nijjar's extradition said he was to arrange weapons from Pakistan but due to high alert on the border in the wake of Pathankot incident (January 2, 2016), it could not materialise. The disclosures were made in the report after an alleged KTF operative Mandeep Singh, was arrested in Ludhiana (Punjab) two weeks ago, following his phone calls to Pakistan-based terror outfit DKI 'chief' Gajinder Singh and Nijjar. The report added that Nijjar has been imparting arms training to his group in Canada after the arrest of former KTF 'chief' Jagtar Tara in Thailand by Interpol and was detained by Thai authorities when he was flying back from Lahore to Vancouver via Bangkok in 2015.
India 15-Jun-2016
Four Sikh leaders, former Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief and now United Akali Dal general secretary Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, Damdami Taksal follower Lakhwinder Singh Adian, Shiromani Akali Dal [Amritsar] (SAD-A) Gurdaspur president Satnam Singh, and party’s Pathankot District president Gurmit Singh, were taken into preventive custody on July 15 to prevent them from joining the other hardliners in a protest at Bargari (Faridkot District) on July 17. Led by SAD-A president Simranjit Singh Mann, the protest is going to be against the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari a few months ago. After the arrest, they were taken before Gurdaspur subdivisional magistrate Sayeed Sehrish Asgar, who remanded them in judicial custody till July 18.
India 24-Aug-2016
Punjab Police recently arrested three militants of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), a group demanding separate Sikh homeland called Khalistan through armed struggle. A huge cache of weapons was also recovered from their possession. The trio, arrested from Amritsar, was in touch with handlers in Belgium, Pakistan and the UK. It is believed they had direct links with Pakistan’s ISI.
India 12-Sep-2016
With assembly polls in Punjab around the corner, the state is now facing threats from Khalistan elements, which even though few in number, are still active and reportedly getting support from foreign-based intelligence agencies like Pakistan’s ISI. “All political parties must refrain from indulging in any kind of vote-bank politics, especially in such sensitive times when the polls are near. The ISI in Pakistan does not have a better moment than this to strike and make parties forget their morals, thus creating unrest,” the Chairman of the All-India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF) M S Bitta said. “Further asserting that no political parties must associate themselves with Khalistani elements whatsoever, he added that the Centre and intelligence agencies must take charge and ensure that nothing untoward happens in the state. “You can’t just leave everything on the security forces. People in the state, including politicians, must make themselves aware of the dangers Khalistani elements pose in the state with the polls nearing,” Bitta said.
India 06-Nov-2016
According to an input received by the UMHA, Pakistan's ISI has directed Pakistan-based Sikh terrorists to activate their sleeper cells in India to carry out terrorist strikes in Punjab to take advantage of prevailing resentment over detention and arrest of radical entities involved in organising Sarbat Khalsa. Sarbat Khalsa is a parallel congregation of Sikhs which is scheduled to be held on November 10 in Bathinda District. Punjab Police had been put on high alert after intelligence agencies warned about twelve Babbar Khalsa terrorists who managed to enter Punjab to carry out subversive activities in the northern parts of India.The revelation came following the interrogation of suspected terrorist Kamaldeep Singh who was arrested on October 23, 2016 from Punjab. During his interrogation, Kamaldeep had allegedly claimed that 12 Khalsa terrorists, who were trained in Pakistan, managed to enter India to disrupt the poll related activities in the state.
India 27-Nov-2016
Five armed men in Police uniform broke into Nabha prison jail in Patiala District of Punjab and took along Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) chief Harminder Mintoo. Mintoo, who was arrested by Punjab Police in November 2014, was wanted in 10 terror related cases, including the 2008 attack on Sirsabased Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and 2010 recovery of explosives at Halwara Air Force station. Five gangsters including one Vicky Gonder also fled along with Mintoo. State Police have flagged a high alert across the State and on borders of Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir.
India 28-Nov-2016
Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) 'chief' Harminder Mintoo, who along with five others escaped from Nabha jail in Patiala District of Punjab on November 27, was re-arrested from New Delhi Railway Station in New Delhi. 12 to 14 armed men, some of them in Police uniform, entered the high-security Nabha Central Jail, attacked guards and escaped with Mintoo in the morning of November 27. Along with the terrorist, five gangsters lodged in the jail also escaped. Subsequently, in the evening of November 27 Uttar Pradesh Police arrested Parminder Singh alias Painda, who had played a key role in planning and executing the jailbreak, from Kairana in Shamli District. He was driving one of the SUV used in the escape.
United States 29-Nov-2016
Forty-two-year-old Balwinder Singh, a resident of Nevada, pleaded guilty before US District Judge Larry Hicks to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, knowing and intending that such support would be used to carry out terrorist attacks overseas, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary McCord said. "Singh attempted to provide material support and resources to terrorists to create violence and disruption abroad," McCord said. "Identifying, thwarting and holding accountable individuals who pursue international terrorism is a top priority of the Department of Justice," she said. Singh communicated with co-conspirators by telephone to discuss these plans and agreed to provide material support by facilitating a co-conspirators travel to and within South Asia, providing funding and materials necessary to carry out an overseas attack. In October 2013, Singh and the co-conspirators agreed that one of them would travel to India in 2013 and carry out "likely an assassination or maiming of an Indian governmental official." The final target would be determined after the co-conspirator arrived in South Asia.
United States 01-Dec-2016
A Khalistan supporter, Balwinder Singh, an Indian citizen holding a green card has admitted in a federal court in the US that he conspired with terrorists to launch attacks in India to target a government official for assassination or maiming, according to officials. BalwinderSingh, made the admission before federal judge Larry R Hicks in Reno (Nevada state) that he provided a co-conspirator with night vision goggles for the planned attack, as a part of their terrorist conspiracy. Singh's conspiracy was part of a movement to create an independent Sikh state in Punjab, according to a statement by the prosecutors. "Singh attempted to provide material support and resources to terrorists to create violence and disruption abroad," said acting assistant attorney General Mary McCord. "Identifying, thwarting, and holding accountable individuals who pursue international terrorism is a top priority of the Department of Justice," she said. Prosecutors said conspirators were to decide on the government official to be targeted after one of them reached India. Singh's co-conspirators in the plot uncovered by US officials in 2013 were not identified.