Punjab Assessment - Year 2008

The north-west Indian State of Punjab remained peaceful through 2007, though it was marred by a single and significant terrorist strike at Ludhiana in October. This is the 14th consecutive year the State has remained relatively free of major political violence after the widespread terrorist-secessionist movement for ‘Khalistan’ was comprehensively defeated in 1993.

Central intelligence sources, however, indicate that a concerted attempt to revive militancy in the State is under way. Sources disclose that Pakistan-sponsored terrorist cells are plotting to trigger sectarian violence, and that there had been a three-fold increase of narcotics and arms trading into Punjab from Pakistan. The Intelligence Bureau has reportedly indicated that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, had chosen five groups in Pakistan, including the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), to train Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) militants. The BKI has reportedly set up a common office with the LeT in Nankana Sahib, in West Punjab, Pakistan. There is also a substantial amount of overseas funding and support for the militant groups, coming primarily from Khalistani operatives in Germany, US, UK and Canada, a trend that has been sustained since the separatist movement was defeated.

On January 10, 2008, the Director General of Police in Punjab, N. P. S. Aulakh, stated that the ISI was behind the regrouping of the BKI in Punjab. Addressing a Press Conference at Chandigarh, he claimed the that the BKI had engineered the Ludhiana bomb blast, and had planned the elimination of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, Baba Bhaniarewala and certain other heads of religious sects operating in Punjab. He added that the BKI operatives arrested by the Ludhiana Police had revealed that they secured arms training in Pakistan. The Punjab Police chief further disclosed to the media that the Police had identified a new terrorist group in the name of the International Liberation Revolutionary Force (ILRF) working in the Malwa region and had arrested all the six persons behind the formation of this outfit, along with one AK 47 rifle and other weapons.

The most significant among the surviving leaders of the Khalistani militant groups and many cadres are currently hosted by the ISI in Pakistan, and there is a constant effort to revive recruitment and terrorism in Punjab, as well as a continuous vigil for opportunities that may help provoke a favourable extremist mobilisation. In early May 2007, for instance, intelligence agencies revealed that the LeT and the ISI were trying to revive militancy in Punjab through sympathisers of Sikh militant groups like the BKI, the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and Khalistan Commando Force (KCF). Information was reportedly sent to the Punjab Police about plans to target towns in the Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Pathankot regions. Instructions had, at this junction, been issued to the authorities to monitor the activities of sympathisers of these groups, who were allegedly sending funds through hawala (illegal money transfers) to "re-launch their separatist movement."

The revival of forgotten slogans for ‘Khalistan’ was again witnessed on the ‘lunatic fringes’ of the State’s politics in 2007. A constant campaign was re-orchestrated by the radicals against the Dera Sacha Sauda – a group regarded as ‘heretic’ by orthodox Sikhs – and its head, Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, accused of ‘blasphemy’ and of ‘hurting Sikh sentiments’. The Dera had published advertisements with Ram Rahim Singh dressed as the Tenth Sikh Guru, Gobind Singh. The controversy had dovetailed into party political conflicts, since the Dera had supported the Congress Party in the Legislative Assembly Elections in February 2007, helping the Congress secure 37 of 65 seats in the Malwa belt, where the Dera boasted hundreds of thousands of followers. The Congress Party was, nonetheless, defeated in the Assembly Elections, but the victorious Shiromani Akali Dal, a party that secured its mandate from its claim to represent Sikh interests, was left with an issue to pick with the Dera. Further, intelligence sources did confirm that the troubles had started from the Gurudwara at Talwandi Sabo after "a significant amount of ‘chatter’ between priests there and Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence handlers as well as Wadhawa Singh, the Babbar Khalsa International ‘chief’, who is being retained in comfort – with a small surviving rump of cadres – at Karachi."

There was only one terrorist attack in Punjab during 2007 – Sikh militants did manage to trigger a bomb blast inside a cinema hall in Ludhiana, killing seven persons, including a 10-year old child, and injuring 40 others on October 14, 2007. The victims were identified as migrants from other States, who were watching a Bhojpuri language film at the city’s Shringaar Cinema. Two days after the blast, on October 16, National Security Advisor (NSA) M.K. Narayanan stated that attempts were being made in Pakistan to revive Sikh extremism in Punjab. On board Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s aircraft, the NSA stated, "There has been a manifest attempt in Pakistan to build up a radical Sikh environment. Sporadic blasts were creating sensation, but the desired effect of sustained tension was not working. We had intelligence about four to six months back that a lot of effort was going into attempts to foment militancy." He added further, "We have tracked intelligence information, we have studied the way such attacks take place and we can read a pattern. We have also seen signs of resuscitation of militant groups in Canada, US and Germany. We had been bracing for such a move by such elements."

The Punjab Police registered a number of counter-terrorism successes in 2007, as had been the case in previous years. On April 14, Balbir Singh alias Beera, a Pakistan-trained terrorist, was arrested from his native Chak Thaliwal village in the Ferozepore District. He was part of Paramjit Singh Dhadi’s gang of the ISYF, and cases of terrorism, murder and kidnapping for ransom were pending against him. Again, on June 15, Punjab Police claimed to have foiled an attempt to reorganise the terrorist base in the State through a conspiracy to kill some high profile religious and political leaders. The General Secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal’s youth wing in Rupnagar District, Swaranjeet Singh alias Bobby of Bahadarpur, and a Bhindranwale Tigers Force (BTF) militant Gurcharan Singh alias Kala of Bawani village were arrested. Bobby and Kala had planned to assassinate religious leader Baba Piara Singh Bhaniarawale and had formed the Khalsa Action Committee, to recruit ‘like-minded persons’. In September 2007, 3.5 kilograms of RDX were recovered from a car owned by Jagraon resident Gurpreet Singh, son of a former terrorist. Police said that Gurpreet Singh, who is absconding, met BKI chief Wadhawa Singh earlier in 2007, after travelling to Lahore through Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The Punjab Police foiled another attempt by BKI terrorists to assassinate Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh, and heads of two sects other than the Dera Sacha Sauda, when three members of a BKI module were arrested along with explosives on December 13. The Senior Superintendent of Police (Kapurthala), Rakesh Aggarwal, disclosed that 12 other BKI gang members, including its kingpin Gurpreet Singh, were still at large.

The Additional District and Sessions Judge in Chandigarh Ravi Kumar Sondhi, on July 27, convicted six persons out of a group of nine accused in the assassination case of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. Jagtar Singh Hawara of the BKI, Shamsher Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, Balwant Singh and Gurmeet Singh were held guilty on charges of murder, attempt to murder, abetment to suicide, criminal conspiracy under sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Explosives Act. Nasib Singh who was also accused of murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and abetment to suicide, was acquitted on these charges, owing to lack of evidence, and was held guilty only under Section 5 of the Explosives Act. The only accused who was acquitted of all charges was Navjot Singh. Proceedings against Paramjit Singh Bheora, declared a proclaimed offender in the case, are still pending. The ninth accused, Jagtar Singh Tara, was still absconding. On July 31, the Judge awarded the death sentence to Hawara and Balwant Singh. Three other convicts were awarded life imprisonment for their involvement in the criminal conspiracy, while the sixth, Naseeb Singh, was given 10 years imprisonment under the Explosives Act, along with a fine of INR 10,000. However, since Naseeb, the oldest of the accused at 72, had already undergone more than the sentence awarded to him, he was freed soon after the sentencing.

Outside Punjab, a BKI militant, Gurdip Singh Rana, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on June 11, after being convicted under the Arms Act at Kurukshetra in the neighbouring State of Haryana. Wanted by the Punjab Police, Rana, who was hiding in the Sujra village of Kurukshetra District, was arrested on October 17, 2005.

In 2007, Punjab also became an extended area of operation for the banned Assam-based outfit the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). On August 13, 2007, two ULFA militants were arrested from Jalandhar following a joint operation by the Western Command Military Intelligence and Punjab Police. The duo was identified as Hemanta Roy and Jagdish Das. Roy, who hails from Shingrapara village in Assam’s Baksa District, is a member of the outfit’s ‘709th battalion’ and a relative of Hira Sarania, ‘commander’ of the unit. Das was reportedly living in Jalandhar for the past four months and was arrested from the Domariapull area. Roy had joined Das three months earlier, and was working as a waiter in the hotel, from where he was arrested. Senior Superintendent of Police Arpit Shukla stated that five driving licences, two PAN cards, a camera, defence maps and some sensitive documents, were recovered from the militants. An unidentified Army official involved in the operation disclosed, "This is perhaps the first time that we have had specific information on ULFA militants in Punjab. The cell could have been tasked with procuring guns from across the border or via Jammu and Kashmir or could have had nefarious designs to destabilise the region with the help of Pakistan’s ISI."

The principal base of active Khalistani terrorist groups remains in Pakistan, with several groups enjoying the active patronage of the ISI, which has also assisted in the coordination of their activities with Islamist terrorist outfits such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, as well as with organised crime operators, and drug and weapons’ smugglers who have assisted in the movement of men and materials across the border into Punjab. The principal groups currently hosted by Pakistan include:

1. BKI: Wadhawa Singh Babbar, Chief of Babbar Khalsa continues to operate from Pakistan. A large number of youth associated with Babbar Khalsa and its religious wing Akhand Kirtani Jatha have under gone training from time to time in Pakistan, with the objective of using them as reserve force at appropriate time. The BKI been most active in executing terrorist strikes in Punjab over the past decade.
2. Khalistan Commando Force (KCF)-Panjwar: Headed by Paramjit Singh Panjwar who has been camping in Pakistan for over 13 years. This group currently has limited striking potential. Nevertheless its alliance with ISYF, Sikh Youth of America and Sikh Youth of Belgium makes it a numerically large group, adding to its influence. KCF-Panjwar has a number of sympathisers in U.K., Germany, Belgium, USA and Canada. About 100 youth in small batches belonging to these countries have undergone training in the handling of weapons and explosives from time to time. Panjwar’s links with smugglers and Islamist terrorist groups are old and well-known. Panjwar has failed to muster dependable support within India.
3. ISYF-Rode: Lakhbir Singh Rode, the nephew of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, is the coordinator of this group, and has links with Islamist terrorist groups such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Rode played a major role in shaping the Khalistan-Kashmir International, a joint platform for strikes by Sikh and Islamist extremist in the aftermath of the setback received by terrorists on the K2M (Khalistan-Kashmir-Muslim militancy) front, which was the pioneer platform for joint strikes by Punjab militants, J&K militants and Islamist terrorist elements in the early 1990s. ISYF under Lakhbir Singh Rode has its branches spread over a dozen countries in western Europe and Canada.
4. Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF): Ranjit Singh Neeta, hailing from Poonch area in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), is the head of this outfit, which had an operational alliance with ISYF & BKI in the past, is now operating independently. Neeta’s associates were responsible for a series of explosions in running trains and buses in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana & J&K. Neeta emerged as a leading terrorist not only in the context of Punjab militancy but developed operational alliances with splinter groups of J&K militants. Neeta is presently very active and transferred a number of consignments of explosives, small weapons, ammunition and fake currency to his associates in Punjab over the years. With an estimated dozen-odd active associates in Punjab, he retains some striking potential, and has executed a number of strikes in the State, including the Jalandhar bus terminus blasts in April 2006 and the Goraya railway track explosions near Goraya in January 2004.
5. Dal Khalsa International: Headed by Gajinder Singh ‘Hijacker’, tried to float a joint group with J&K militants, indications of which surfaced in 1997-98. This group is one of the most active, with substantial funding available through Khalistani elements abroad. Kanwarpal Singh Bittu remains Dal Khalsa’s principal point man in Punjab with excellent contacts with disruptive and subversive elements in the State and beyond.
6. The Council of Khalistan, represented by Balbir Singh Sandhu, has probably the longest stay in Pakistan.

The ISI supports and coordinates its operation with a number of active Diaspora groups across the world, using its embassies and consulates as points of contact, coordination and recruitment. SAIR noted in an earlier assessment:

In violence-afflicted South Asia, Punjab is the rare exception where the state recovered territorial and administrative control after extremist violence had led to a near-complete breakdown of governance. However, the Sikh militants’ calculus, as of their supporters and sponsors in Pakistan and among Diaspora elements, is that, at some stage, "a convergence of political incompetence, an emotive public issue, and public discontent, will abruptly catalyse a resurgence of terror." Although such a resurgence of terror in Punjab remains a remote possibility, there are compelling reasons not to lower the guard in this strategically crucial State.

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