KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
The leader of pro-Khalistan Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, has warned that the Chief Ministers of Delhi and Punjab will face a “political death” if his associates were not released by next month.
Pannun’s threat comes hours after the arrest of Jagdish Singh, Manjeet Singh and Davinder Singh, all residents of Rajpura, by the State Special Operation Cell of Punjab Police on Friday.
In a video message shared on Saturday, Pannun claimed that the three youths worked directly with the SFJ for Khalistan Referendum voter registration that is due to start on January 26.
He warned that Delhi and Punjab Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, respectively, will face the wrath of Sikhs who helped their Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to win in Punjab.
“Kejriwal-Mann duo will face ‘political death’ if the three pro-Khalistan Sikhs are not released by February 15… they will face the wrath of Sikhs who helped AAP to win Punjab,” SFJ’s legal counsel Pannun said, speaking in Punjabi.
He claimed that the two AAP leaders collected donations to the tune of $6 million from Khalistan supporters in the US and Canada with an understanding that they will not intervene in their activities in Punjab.
He further accused Kejriwal of coercing Mann to follow the path of Beant Singh, Chief Minister of Punjab from 1992 to 1995, who was assassinated by Khalistan separatist group, Babbar Khalsa International on August 31, 1995.
“Kejriwal-Mann duo must not forget August 31, 1995, the consequence they will face for “torturing” pro-Khalistan Sikhs,” Pannun, declared a designated terrorist in 2020 by India, said.
Threatening to assassinate Mann again, he said that “hands that hold the Khalistan flag will not shy away from holding rocket launchers”.
Reacting to a January 16 video in which Pannun urged gangsters to unite for an attack on Mann and Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav, the Punjab Chief Minister said he doesn’t take these threats seriously.
Meanwhile, the three arrested men told police that Pannun had asked them to raise the Khalistan flag and spray paint walls with pro-Khalistan graffitti ahead of Republic Day.
Pannun said that his three associates have not been given any arms, only the Khalistan referendum flag.
Pannun, wanted in nearly two dozen cases, including some of terrorism and sedition in India, recently called for shutdown of airports from Amritsar to Ayodhya ahead of the January 22 Ram temple Pran Pratishtha ceremony.
In addition, he exhorted Muslims in the country to “oppose” the ceremony, and urged them to carve out ‘Urduistan’ from India.
Uttar Pradesh ATS arrested three members of the banned outfit Sikhs for Justice, headed by Canada-based Khalistan movement leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, from Ayodhya on Friday. Those arrested were identified as Shankar Lal, Ajit Kumar, and Pradeep Ponia — all natives of Rajasthan. ATS sleuths claimed the three accused were planning to create disturbance in the temple town ahead of the consecration ceremony.
Slogans supporting Khalistan surfaced in parts of Delhi this morning ahead of Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun's threats for Republic Day. Slogans in support of Khalistan were found written on walls of Chander Vihar area of Outer Delhi.
The Delhi Police have removed the slogans and filed a case in this matter.
The US claims Pannun, an American-Canadian citizen, was the subject of an assassination bid orchestrated by Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national and an un-named Indian government official.
Pannun had warned about hoisting the Khalistani flag in Delhi on January 26, which is celebrated as Republic Day.
Sources said Sikhs for Justice wrote slogans in support of Khalistan on the walls of Chandra Vihar area after his warning video was widely circulated.
The slogans sought a referendum and voting for the demand of separate Khalistan.
Sources said Pannun instigates such activities through his sleeper cells in Delhi ahead of Republof Day and Independence Day.
Pannun has also issued threats to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Sources said he has called on gangsters to attack Mr Mann on Republic Day.
In view of such threats, Mr Mann has Z+ category security cover. The Punjab Police have promised "strict action" against those who might plot to assassinate Mr Mann.
Pannun has also issued threats about the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya due on January 22. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be present on the occasion along with other senior members of his government, industrialists and other celebrities.
Earlier, Pannun had also threatened to attack the new Parliament building in Delhi. On the day named, two men smuggled smoke bombs inside the Lok Sabha and let them off during the proceedings.
Post a comment The police, however, claimed they had no connection with Khalistan activists and were protesting about myriad subjects including Manipur violence and farmers' issues. The men have been arrested and face charges under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA.
Khalistani terrorist and Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has threatened to kill Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on this Republic Day. He has asked gangsters to come together to attack Mann on January 26, India Today reported citing Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav.
Commenting on this, DGP Yadav said that the Punjab police force has adopted a zero-tolerance policy against gangsters, while adding strict action is being taken. Pannun has previously issued multiple threats against the Indian establishment and authorities.
Meanwhile, the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) founder has also threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi and dared him to attend the Republic Day function on January 26 without security.
"I dare Modi, you come to Delhi without your security. If you are a popular leader, come to Delhi on R-Day without security and SFJ is going to avenge the assassination of Shaheed Nijjar by raising Khalistan flag," he can be heard saying in the video. In June last year, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed by unidentified assailants at a gurudwara in Canada's Surrey.
A week ago, Pannun released a statement urging multinational companies to not invest in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2024, while calling the Indian government as "Nazi". Last month, Pannun released a video wherein he can be heard threatening an attack on India's Parliament on December 13.
He claimed that the conspiracy allegedly hatched by the Indian agencies to eliminate him failed and that he will respond by attacking the Parliament on December 13.
"Modi government has tried to kill me for organising Khalistan referendum and I am going to respond. My response on December 13 will be in contrast to Afzal Guru's 2001 resistance against extra-judicial killings of Kashmiris but still my response is going to shake the very foundations of Indian Parliament," Pannun said in the video.
CID (crime) officers probing the human smuggling case after France grounded a chartered flight carrying 303 Indians during a refuelling stop at Vatry airport near Paris, including 96 Gujaratis, on Friday said that the human smugglers had told illegal immigrants from Punjab to seek asylum in the US saying they were Khalistan supporters.
According to CID (crime) officers, the agents told the would-be emigrants from Punjab - who were numerous - to seek asylum as Khalistani supporters if they were caught by US security agencies. This is because Khalistan supporters have been agitating against the Indian state.
For Gujaratis, the agents instructed them to use different stories about persecution to seek asylum in the US.
Sources in the police said those from Gujarat were told to seek asylum either as Congress or Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers on the grounds of political persecution. Newlyweds or young couples were told to seek asylum on the grounds of inter-caste marriage or family feuds.
ADGP CID (crime) Rajkumar Pandian said they have booked 14 agents for human smuggling, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy.
"The procedure to issue look-out circulars against the 14 agents, many of whom are abroad, will be taken up very soon," Pandian said.
He said the agents made the emigrants delete messages and destroy evidence, but the agency succeeded in retrieving some of them.
The agents booked by CID (crime) were named as Joginder alias Jaggi Paji and Joginder Mansaram from Delhi; Salim Dubai and Sam Paji from Dubai; Chandresh Patel, Sandip Patel and Kiran Patel from Mehsana; Bhargav Darji, Jayesh Patel, Biren Patel, Arpit Jhala and Piyush Barot from Gandhinagar along with Raju Panchal and Raja Bhai from Mumbai.
France had grounded the chartered flight for suspected human trafficking after receiving a tip-off. It had taken off from Dubai and was to head to Nicaragua. On December 24, a court set up at Vatry airport ordered the release of the passengers and allowed the flight to take off for Mumbai. However, 276 people landed in Mumbai. Sources in the agency said the human smugglers had chartered the flight to Nicaragua from Dubai. They planned to send the flyers from North Gujarat and northern states of India to Mexico, from where they would cross into the US.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has shared its findings with the United State’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) pertaining to the March 2023 attack on the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, to ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted for the offence expeditiously.
During the visit of a U.S. delegation led by FBI Director Christopher A. Wray about a month ago, the senior agency officials had held a detailed discussion on the issue. They apprised the delegation of the inputs gathered by the NIA, including the information on the nexus between terrorists and members of organised criminal syndicates.
‘Aggressively probing’
Mr. Wray had informed the officials that the FBI was aggressively probing the attack. It is learnt that the FBI case has not yet reached the prosecution stage and investigations are still under way.
In September 2023, the NIA had released the photographs of 10 persons wanted for the attack and vandalism at the Indian Consulate in San Francisco. It had issued three separate “Request for Identification & Information” notices seeking information that could lead to the arrest or detention of the accused persons.
The agency had registered the case in June 2023 under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act to investigate the attack that took place in the intervening night of March 18 and 19, 2023. Some pro-Khalistan entities had allegedly illegally entered the consulate premises and tried to set it afire.
The same day, slogan-shouting Khalistan supporters had broken through the makeshift security barriers installed by the local police and put up two pro-Khalistan flags on the consulate premises, damaged the building, assaulted and injured some consulate officials.
In another case related to the attack on the High Commission of India in London on March 19 last year, the NIA questioned some persons linked to the case, during their visit to India. In August 2023, the agency had raided 31 locations related to the suspects and their associates in Punjab and Haryana.
A group of about 50 pro-Khalistan persons had attacked the High Commission, causing disrespect to the Indian National flag, damaging the public property and injuring some officials. The NIA found that the attack had been organised allegedly by Gurcharan Singh of Dal Khalsa, United Kingdom; Avtar Singh Khanda (who recently died) of Khalistan Liberation Force; one Jasvir Singh, and their associates.
An NIA team had visited the United Kingdom in May last year as part of the investigations in the case. Based on “crowdsourced information”, it also identified the attackers.
Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun continued his incendiary provocation of violence against India on Monday, calling for shutdown of airports from Amritsar to Ayodhya ahead of the January 22 Ram temple Pran Pratishtha ceremony.
The legal counsel of the outlawed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) group also exhorted Muslims in the country to "oppose" the ceremony, and urged them to carve out ‘Urduistan’ from India.
"From Amritsar to Ayodhya, shut down airports. Now is the time, Muslims, you carve out a country Urduistan from India," Pannun said in a fresh video message released on Monday.
Threatening that the ceremony is going to have a "global consequence", Pannun said, "every Muslim must protest".
Pannun's threats come as preparations for the Ram Mandir's Pran Pratishtha' in Ayodhya are in full swing with over one lakh devotees expected to be in the city for the event, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The newly-inaugurated Maharishi Valmiki International Airport in Ayodhya has already received more than 40 requests for landing of chartered flights for the mega religious event.
Last week, the Sikh separatist had issued another video calling for India's “economic destruction” by targeting the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) from March 12, coinciding with the 31st anniversary of serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993.
Pannun was declared a designated terrorist in 2020 by India under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
While the US claims to have shielded him from a purported assassination by Indian agents, he is wanted in nearly two dozen cases, including some of terrorism and sedition in India.
In September 2023, his properties in Amritsar and Chandigarh cities were seized by the NIA, which also charged him and his separatist organisation under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA on November 20.
Following the NIA charges, the radical Sikh and his secessionist group gave a call to pro-Khalistan elements to “picket” Air India’s outbound flights from the airports in the Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver on December 1, 2023.
An operative of a terrorist module of the banned pro-Khalistan group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) suffered a bullet injury inside Bal Gopal Gaushala in Balongi amid a joint operation conducted by the Mohali CIA and the Batala police on Thursday evening.
An operative of a terrorist module of the banned pro-Khalistan group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) suffered a bullet injury inside Bal Gopal Gaushala in Balongi amid a joint operation conducted by the Mohali CIA and the Batala police on Thursday evening. (HT Photo)
The accused, identified as Sharanpreet Singh alias Sunny, a close associate of ISI-backed terrorist Harvinder Rinda and US-based gangster Harpreet alias Happy Pasia, was rushed to Phase-6 government hospital after he was shot in leg
Police recovered a pistol and two live cartridges from Sunny. According to the police, Sunny was wanted in two UAPA cases registered in Fazilka and Mohali and was also involved in a murder case in Batala.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mohali CIA team led by DSP Gursher Singh Sandhu and inspector Shiv Kumar arrested his two accomplices Karan Gujjarpuria and Vishaldeep Singh from Amritsar and recovered three weapons and eight live cartridges from the former. “Sunny used to work with Gujjarpuria. As Sunny was also wanted by Batala police, Mohali CIA and Batala police jointly interrogated his two accomplices. During interrogation, it was revealed that Sunny was hiding in Balongi following which patrolling teams launched a search and spotted him in Balongi around 5 pm. When chased, he ran into the gaushala and exchanged fire with the police. He was nabbed after being shot in the leg,” Sandeep Kumar Garg, SSP, Mohali, said.
He added that all the three arrested accused were part of the module busted by the Mohali CIA in October last year.
“Earlier we had arrested one Amarjit. Sunny and Amarjit used to go to the border to procure weapons smuggled from the cross-border. We will register a fresh case under the Arms Act and attempt to murder against Sunny,” DSP Sandhu said.
In another firing incident in Kharar, local police arrested two men for firing at the supervisor of a de-addiction centre located at Randhawa Road, Kharar, due to an old rivalry.
The accused have been identified as a 24-year-old Yamuna Nagar resident and Ravi Kumar of Jalandhar. They were arrested from Banga by a team led by Kharar DSP Karan Sandhu.
According to the police, the Yamuna Nagar resident was earlier admitted to the same de-addiction centre and nursed a grudge against victim Sarabjit claiming that the latter deliberately prolonged his stay in the rehab centre. The accused who reached in an Alto car shot at the victim in his stomach following which he was rushed to a private hospital in Phase-6. His condition is out of danger, the police said. Kharar city police have booked both accused under section 307 (attempt to murder) and the Arms Act. This was the fourth encounter in 21 days by the Mohali Police
On December 13, a gangster, Karanjit Singh alias Jassa Happowal, was shot in both legs when he tried to escape from Punjab Police’s custody at Peer Muchalla in Zirakpur town.
On December 16, two gangsters, wanted in at least six cases of carjacking and extortion in Mohali, were shot in the legs as they tried to flee on being intercepted by district police’s CIA at Saneta in Sohana area of the town on December 16.
On December 21, Mohali police nabbed two criminals, allegedly owing allegiance to the Prince Chauhan gang and involved in eight cases of extortion from Balongi area after an exchange of fire.
A Hindu temple in the US state of California was defaced with pro-Khalistani graffiti. This incident comes weeks after Swaminarayan Mandir in California was vandalised with anti-India graffiti.
The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) shared information about the vandalisation of California's Sherawali Temple in a social media post on Friday. A photo of the defacement was also shared by the HAF.
The organisation, in its post on X, said it was in touch with the police regarding the incident. The HAF also asked Hindu temples to install security cameras and alarm systems in view of "rising threat from Khalistan proponents as well as the omnipresent risk from anti-Hindu actors".
On December 23 last year, a Hindu temple was defaced with pro-Khalistani slogans in California's Newark city. The pictures were shared on X by the Hindu American Foundation, showing slogans scribbled on the walls of the Swaminarayan Mandir Vasana Sanstha.
Images showed hateful slogans against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the wall of the temple.
At the time, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had taken note of the incident and reiterated that extremists and separatists should not be given space.
"I have seen it. Extremists, separatists and such forces should not be given space. Our Consulate there complained to the government and the police and an inquiry is underway," Jaishankar had told reporters.
To prevent smuggling via drones from across the border into Indian territory, the Central has decided to install indigenous anti-drone technology in the next six months, which is being developed to check all such misadventures by the anti-national elements. In the last 12 months, the Border Security Force (BSF) and Punjab Police have recovered around 110 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and reported 593 drone sightings along the India-Pakistan border since 2019.
Sources in the government said that the security agencies are working on as many as three designs of the anti-drone technology and the final outcome could be three or a combination of all three. “The menace of smuggling in arms and narcotics from across the border, especially in Punjab through the use of drones will be over in the next six months. Definitely the anti-drone technology will be placed by then and currently the trial on the new technology is going,” the sources said.
Data provided by the MHA, shows that maximum drones have been seized from Amritsar sector with 52 and 31 from Ferozpur. In 2023, over 77.32 kg heroin, 3.58 drugs, three pistols, one AKM rifle, three magazines and 63 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the six sectors of Punjab.
According to officials, central agencies believe Pakistani smugglers are using the UAVs to finance and supply weapons to pro-Khalistan entities (PKEs) on the Indian side, who are reciprocating by offering help in establishing “cross-border linkages” and supporting Pakistan intelligence operatives (PIOs). “Pakistan’s ISI supports this narco-terrorism network and they are using drug smugglers as a weapons supplier. The narco smugglers are helping PKEs through weapons smuggling and financing, while PKEs are helping them with the support of cross-border linkage and Pakistan intelligence operatives (PIOs),” the official said, adding the central intelligence agencies have sufficient evidence to show the “nexus”.
In March last year, Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik had said the Ministry of Home Affairs has established Anti Rogue Drone Technology Committee under the supervision of the director general of the Border Security Force with the mandate to evaluate the technology available to counter rogue drones and certify its effectiveness in dealing with rouge drones.
According to the MHA’s annual report-2023 released last month, 10 states and three Central Armed Police Forces have attended the “drone and anti-drone” training at the NSG centre in Manesar.