KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday arrested a key accused in the violent attack on the High Commission of India in London last year and unlawful actions during the subsequent protests.
Inderpal Singh Gaba, a resident of Hounslow, has been arrested for carrying out unlawful activities during the March 22 protests, three days after the Indian high commission building was attacked by pro-Khalistani protesters, the NIA said in a statement.
The NIA's ongoing probe into the case has revealed that the March 19 and March 22 incidents in London were parts of a larger conspiracy to unleash vicious attacks on the Indian missions and its officials, the agency said.
“The attacks in London in March 2023 were found to be in retaliation to the action taken by Punjab Police against pro-Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh on 18th March 2023,” it added.
The national flag at the Indian high commission in London was pulled down by Khalistani supporters during a protest against the crackdown at separatist elements back home.
The NIA took over the probe from Delhi police after the ministry of home affairs (MHA) met with UK home office representatives in April.
The mastermind of the March 19 violence was said to be Avtar Singh Khanda alias Azad alias Ranjhodh Singh, the self-styled chief of the designated terror outfit Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), who died at a hospital in Birmingham weeks later.
The death of Khanda, the alleged handler of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, came as a major blow to the pro-Khalistan elements or PKEs.
Intelligence agencies believe that he has been killed by Nijjar and Pamma as he was “proving to be liability to Khalistanis in the UK after his role in the attack on the Indian High Commission was exposed, said an officer, who didn’t want to be named.
'Waris Punjab De' chief Amritpal Singh, who is currently lodged in a jail in Assam under the National Security Act, will fight the Lok Sabha poll from Punjab's Khadoor Sahib seat as an Independent candidate, his counsel claimed on Wednesday.
However, his father, Tarsem Singh, said he would comment on the matter only after meeting his son on Thursday while asserting that Amritpal earlier had not shown any interest in joining politics.
Amritpal's legal counsel Rajdev Singh Khalsa claimed that he met him in Dibrugarh jail on Wednesday and requested him to contest the polls.
"I met bhai sahab (Amritpal Singh) in Dibrugarh central jail today and during the meeting, I requested bhai sahab that in the interests of Khalsa Panth, he should fight elections this time from Khadoor Sahib to become a member of Parliament.
"Bhai sahab accepted my request in the Panthic interests...He will fight as an Independent candidate," claimed Khalsa.
Amritpal was arrested in April last year and the stringent NSA was invoked against him.
He, along with nine of his associates, is currently lodged in Dibrugarh jail.
Amritpal was arrested in Moga's Rode village on April 23 last year following a more than one-month-long manhunt.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Friday froze the immovable assets of Surat Singh, an alleged key aide of Pakistan-based Sikh separatists, in a 2021 case related to a motorcycle-borne explosion in Punjab — a bid to destroy the financial infrastructure behind narco terrorism in India.
The blast took place on 15 September that year in a Bajaj Platina bike in Jalalabad.
According to the NIA, Singh is a key aide of Habib Khan alias ‘Doctor’ and designated terrorist Lakhveer Singh alias ‘Rode’. He is a resident of Mahatam Nagar in Punjab.
“The property of Surat Singh has been frozen under the provisions of the NDPS Act 1985,” the NIA said in a statement Friday.
In this case, the NIA has also chargesheeted Khan and Lakhveer Singh, along with Surat Singh.
“The NIA investigations have revealed that Habib Khan and Rode had collaborated with Surat Singh and other associates in India to create a terror gang in Punjab with the aim of perpetrating IED blasts and operating a narco-terror racket to destabilise the region,” the probe agency said.
According to the agency’s investigations so far, Surat Singh has been identified as an important agent of this terror network involved in smuggling narcotics, explosives, arms and ammunition from Pakistan.
“Surat Singh used encrypted communication channels such as WhatsApp, along with fake IDs and virtual numbers, to facilitate the logistical and financial aspects of terrorist activities as an overground worker (OGW) of the naco-terror network, as per NIA findings. In association with other accused individuals, he had provided support for the execution of criminal conspiracies on the directions of Pak-based handlers,” the NIA statement said.
The case was first registered under sections of the Explosives Act at the Police Station City Jalalabad in Punjab’s Fazilka on 16 September, 2021. The NIA took over the investigation and registered another case on 1 October that year.
According to the NIA, this terror module had also set ablaze a car and some shops in Ferozepur city before the motorcycle explosion. The probe revealed that eight tiffin bombs were received by the other accused Balwinder alias Binder Singh and Sukhwinder Singh along with heroin and cash.
On 15 September that year, Binder and Sukhwinder did a recce of a crowded marketplace in Jalalabad to carry out the explosion. The tiffin bomb placed on the motorcycle did not go off at the designated time, but exploded when Birender went to retrieve the vehicle. He was killed on the spot.
Khalistani secessionists burned and slashed Indian flags at a protest at India’s Vancouver consulate marking 300 days since the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar was killed last year outside of a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C. in what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada believes was potentially an assassination carried out by “agents of the Indian government.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has denied this as “absurd.”
“Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
At the Thursday demonstration, protesters burned and slashed Indian flags with kirpans, the sacred daggers of the Sikh faith, outside of the Indian consulate in Vancouver, urging for a referendum to form an independent Sikh state called Khalistan in India’s Punjab region.
In a video posted by independent journalist Mocha Bezirgan, protesters can be heard chanting.
“What do you want? Khalistan!” as they desecrate the Indian flag.
In a video posted by self described Sikh activist and journalist, Jagjeet Singh, protesters are heard chanting “Who killed Hardeep? (the) Indian government! Who killed Nijjar? (the) Indian government!”
The protest was organized by Sikhs for Justice, a Washington-based Khalistani separatist group designated as an “unlawful association” in India. India has classified the organization’s founder, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, as a terrorist.
In an interview with True North, Pannun accused the Indian government of having spies operating out of the consulate.
“We call the Indian consulate these terror houses from where Indian agencies, like RAW (India’s foreign intelligence service) and Indian spies are working, and that’s where they are challenging the sovereignty of Canada,” he said. “We all know from Prime Minister Trudeau…that Canada has been investigating the role of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar.”
Pannun accused a man who came out of the consulate building during the protest of being an Indian spy.
True North called the Indian consulate but the answering machine said it was closed for a holy day. Nijjar, who lived in British Columbia, was viewed as a terrorist by the Indian government, who regarded him as the “mastermind” of the Khalistan Tiger Force, an illegal militant group.
Pannun accused the Indian state of threatening and suppressing free speech of Khalistani activists.
He said there hasn’t been a single act of violence since the beginning of the Khalistan referendum movement he started in 2020.
Another group connected to the Khalistan independence movement was involved in a terrorist attack on Air India Flight 182 in 1985, however.
Pannun’s group has been attempting to hold independence referendum in Canada and the United States, although they are non-binding and have no official status. The next one is scheduled for July 28, 2024 in Calgary.
If the referendums succeed, Pannun said the ones running the campaign to “liberate” Punjab would hire and collaborate with international law experts to draft up a constitution for the new nation which he says would resemble the American, and Canadian constitutions.
“We have proved it with our action that we are seeking a peaceful and democratic resolution to the ongoing conflict, whether Sikh’s have a right to self determination in Indian apartheid Punjab,” Pannun said.
Source: https://tnc.news/2024/04/20/khalistani-protesters-burn-india-flag/
With the arrest of two terror module operatives, the Punjab Police on Tuesday said they have solved the murder case of Vishav Hindu Parishad Nangal unit’s president, Vikas Prabhakar, three days after he was shot dead by unidentified assailants at his confectionary shop in Nangal town.
In a statement on X, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said that the two accused identified as — Mandeep Kumar alias Mangi and Surinder Kumar alias Rikka — were arrested in a joint operation by Rupnagar Police and SSOC Mohali.
He said the accused were “operatives of a terror module backed by Pakistan-based terrorist masterminds.”
The district police on Sunday had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for providing information regarding the killers of the VHP leader.
The DGP said that two weapons of 32 bore Pistols, 16 live cartridges, one empty used cartridge and a TVS Jupiter scooty used in the crime was recovered from the accused.
“From the preliminary investigations, it has been revealed that this is a terror module, operated and funded by Foreign-based handlers operating from #Portugal and other places”, said Yadav in his post.
He said both “Mangi and Rikka are foot soldiers of the foreign-based entities who are the operatives of Pakistan-based terrorist masterminds. Foot soldiers have been recruited through lure of money”.
At a time when several overseas anti-India elements have been eliminated by unknown attackers across the globe, intelligence reports to the Government of India suggested that there is a dilemma among the pro-Khalistani entities, as only a very few are in favour of adopting violent means to take forward their cause citing leadership vacuum.
In the reports both the internal and external spy agencies of India have mentioned that PKEs are struggling to get a credible leadership.
Sources said that in an analysis of the reports submitted by the intelligence agencies, it has come to light that several meetings were held in the US and Canada to identify potential leaders, who could carry on anti-India activities across various countries.
During the course of such meetings it was felt that except for the designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, new faces need to be brought to the front to carry out activities in different countries, intelligence agencies said.
The reports were also indicative of the fact that there existed disunity among the PKEs, as only a few Khalistani sympathisers appeared to be in favour of staging violent protests during a recent gathering outside a venue visited by Indian diplomats, citing absence of strong leadership, sources said.
However, the reports indicated that Pakistan-backed terror groups have intensified their efforts to rope in individuals to further the Khalistan agenda, particularly in the UK and Canada, amid reported differences among supporters during protests in Toronto and Surrey.
Meanwhile, the agencies have closely been monitoring the activities of such elements and have warned India’s diplomatic community against violent anti-India activities outside Indian consulates by pro-Khalistani elements.
Intelligence agencies have also expressed their concerns over human trafficking efforts perpetrated by the pro-Khalistani elements, they said.
Jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi's mafia outfit has claimed responsibility for the firing at Bollywood megastar Salman Khan’s home just before dawn here on Sunday.
Based in the US, Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of Lawrence Bishnoi, has also described the incident as the "first and last warning" for Salman Khan, ominously decreeing that the next time "the bullets won’t be fired at walls or an empty home", indicating the actor would be directly targetted.
In a post on Facebook, Anmol Bishnoi has posted a message, purportedly on behalf of other ‘Bishnoi group’ baddies like Goldy Brar, Rohit Godara, and Kala Jathari, saying "they (the gang) seek only peace, but if justice from atrocity can be achieved only through war, then war is okay".
"Salman Khan, this is just to show you a trailer, to make you understand our power and not to test our patience further… This is the first and final warning to you. Next time, the bullets won’t be fired at walls or empty homes. You consider Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel as your gods, but we have two dogs named after them… This hint is enough and I don’t want to say anything more, " Anmol Bishnoi said in the post, signed off with ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
The post came hours after the brazen firing at the sea-facing Bandra home of Salman Khan around 5 a.m. on Sunday, creating ripples in the entertainment and political world. At least two unidentified persons sporting helmets came speeding on a motorcycle, and fired at least 4 shots in the direction of Galaxy Apartment, before zooming off on the dark and deserted road.
For the past several years, Salman Khan and his family have been facing death threats from certain Punjab-based mafia groups like the Bishnoi gang. In the past couple of years, he and his father Salim Khan have been issued death threats in different ways, including in a letter to the family.
On learning of the incident, a Bandra Police team rushed to the Khan household and launched preliminary investigations, and also tightened security in the vicinity.
The police are scanning the CCTV footage in the area to trace out the shooters and check their motives and targets. More details are awaited.
Hours later a Crime Branch and Forensic Team with ballistics experts also arrived on the scene and found at least one bullet mark on the gate of the building entrance.
The firing triggered a huge political row with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders slamming the ruling MahaYuti over what they alleged "total breakdown of law and order in the state".
Senior MVA leaders like Supriya Sule, Nana Patole, Sanjay Raut, Anil Deshmukh, Kishore Tiwari and more attacked the state government with growing incidents of shootouts and firing in the public places that have created fear in the peoples’ minds.
Salman Khan, 58 lives with almost his entire joint family comprising parents, brothers and their kin at the landmark Galaxy Apartments on the picturesque Bandra sea-face area of suburban north-west Mumbai.
For several years, Salim Khan and Salman Khan have been getting death threats from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang after the 1998 blackbuck poaching incident in Rajasthan.
In mid-2022, while on a morning stroll near his home, Salim Khan found a note saying “Salim Khan…Salman Khan… bahut jald aapka Moose Wala hoga” - a reference to Sidhu Moose Wala, a Punjabi rapper, who was brutally shot dead near his home on May 29, 2022, shaking the entertainment industry.
Following the multiple threats to the Mumbai-based actor, the city police have upgraded the security cover of Salman Khan, plus issued him a permit for a gun license and last year, the actor acquired a new bullet-proof SUV as additional protection to move around.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday confiscated an immovable property belonging to alleged pro-Khalistan designated “individual terrorist” Ramandeep Singh in connection with a case registered in August 2022.
The action has been taken on the directions of the NIA special court (Delhi). The property measuring 31 kanal, 9 marlas and 4 sarsahi is located in the Jhok Nodh Singh village of Tibbi Kalan in Punjab’s Ferozepur district.
Ramandeep Singh was declared a proclaimed offender by the NIA Special Court on July 27, 2023. He is wanted in the case related to terror activities of the chiefs and members of several proscribed terrorist organisations, including Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), and International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF).
“NIA investigations have revealed that the operatives/members of these terror outfits, along with organised criminal gangs operating in various parts of the country, were engaged in smuggling terrorist hardware, such as arms, ammunition explosive, IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) etc., from across the border to spread terror in India,” said the agency.
In September last year, on the directive of a special court in Mohali (Punjab), the NIA had confiscated the properties of “designated individual terrorist” Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, self-styled general counsel of the United State-based proscribed outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), in Punjab’s Amritsar and Chandigarh. The properties included 46 kanal agricultural land in Khankot village of Amritsar and 1/4th share of a Chandigarh house.
Pannun, who operates from the United States and Canada, has been on the NIA’s radar since 2019. On February 3, 2021, an NIA court had issued non-bailable warrants of arrest against him. He was declared a “Proclaimed Offender” on November 29, 2022.
According to the NIA, the SFJ misuses the cyberspace to radicalise gullible youth and instigate them to undertake terrorist activities. It is alleged that Pannun is the main handler and controller of the outfit, which was declared an unlawful association by the Union Home Ministry on July 10, 2019. Pannun was designated an “individual terrorist” on July 1, 2020.
Punjab Police on Friday arrested a member of banned group Khalistan Zindabad Force in New Delhi, who was reportedly operating a terrorist recruitment and funding network from Germany. Prabhpreet Singh was apprehended by Punjab Police's State Special Operation Cell in Amritsar.
The Director General of Police for Punjab, Gaurav Yadav, shared the significant development on social media, stating, "In a major breakthrough, SSOC, #Amritsar arrests Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) operative Prabhpreet Singh Germany from #Delhi International Airport.He was running terrorist recruitment, funding and aiding module from #Germany."
Following a tip-off received in 2020, the SSOC in Amritsar launched an operation as KZF member Jagdish Singh Bhura was reportedly planning attacks on high-profile targets in Punjab. The group had allegedly provided weapons and financial assistance to their associates in India. Punjab Police successfully thwarted the module by apprehending four operatives and seizing weapons and ammunition from them. A case was registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act at the Police Station State Special Operation Cell, Amritsar.
During the investigation, the arrested individuals disclosed that they were acting under the instructions of wanted terrorist Bhura and his associate Prabhpreet Singh, who resided in Germany. Punjab Police issued a Look Out Circular against Prabhpreet Singh to ensure his detention. Immigration authorities at the IGI Airport in Delhi detained Singh, leading to his
arrest by the SSOC Amritsar team.
Additional IG Sukhminder Singh Mann revealed that Singh had traveled to Poland in 2017 before moving to Germany in 2020. He sought asylum in Germany and allegedly collaborated with KZF terrorist Jagdish Singh Bhura based in Belgium, engaging in anti-national activities. Singh facilitated funding and weapons for his associates in India to carry out targeted attacks and disruptive actions. Investigations are ongoing to unravel the extent of Singh's network and the activities of the module he was associated with.
A gurdwara president, also the owner of a construction firm, was shot dead on Monday in Canada. Indian gangsters are suspected to be behind the killing of Buta Singh Gill, who was shot near a construction site in Edmonton's Millwoods area. He was the owner of the firm Gill Built Homes Ltd.
According to Canada-based sources, Indian gangsters have tied up with pro-Khalistan elements in the country and are extorting funds from rich Indian-origin Canadians.
Monday's killing comes nearly 10 months after the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, president of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Canada's Surrey who was designated by India as a terrorist.
According to local reports on Buta Singh's death, an alleged accused, Nik Dhaliwal, also died in the shooting spree, while another person, identified as Sarbajit Singh, a civil engineer, was in hospital with life-threatening injuries. "At around 12 pm, police located three injured males. Emergency medical services responded and determined two males - a 49-year-old and a 57-year-old - were deceased, and a 51-year-old male was seriously injured," Edmonton police said.
Edmonton police has previously said that a criminal network in India was behind extortions targeting people of Indian-origin, mostly builders considered "affluent". In Jan, police were investigating 27 incidents, including five extortions, 15 arsons and seven firearms offences, believed to be linked to a criminal network orchestrated from India and carried out by local accomplices. These incidents involved extortion calls over messaging apps such as WhatsApp seeking payments from C$100,000 to several millions.