|
| |
Babbar Khalsa International
Formation
Even after the terrorist-secessionist
movement for Khalistan was comprehensively defeated in 1993, there remain
a handful of terrorist outfits chiefly supported by Pakistan and some
non-resident Indian Sikh groups who continue to propagate the ideology
of Khalistan. One of the most prominent among them is the Babbar Khalsa
International (BKI). It is among the oldest and most organised Khalistan
terrorist groups.
The BKI traces its origin
to the Babbar Akali Movement of 1920 and is believed to have assumed
its present form after the Baisakhi 1978-clashes between the Akhand
Kirtani Jatha and Nirankaris and more particularly when some followers
of Bibi Amarjit Kaur brought out some leaflets styling themselves as
Babbar Khalsa after the killing of Nirankari chief Gurbachan Singh,
on April 24, 1980. Subsequently, the outfit started targeting all those
who sympathised with the Nirankaris.
Sukhdev Singh Babbar and
Talwinder Singh Parmar were the founding members of this organisation.
The first unit of the BKI was founded in Canada in 1981 under the leadership
of late Talwinder Singh Parmar. The outfit at present is active in the
USA Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland and
Pakistan. Talwinder Singh Parmar, a co-founder of the BKI, formed the
Babbar Khalsa (Parmar) faction in 1992, when he split from the BKI after
serious differences erupted between him and its leadership of. The Parmar
faction has a presence in the UK, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.
Objective
The BKI wants an independent
Sikh state called Khalistan.
Organisation and leadership
Currently,
Wadhwa Singh, who is reportedly hiding in Pakistan, heads the outfit.
Mehal Singh is the deputy chief of BKI. Both of them are among the 20
terrorists whom India wants Pakistan to extradite.
Wadhwa
Singh is reported to have personally supervised the assassination of
Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh on August 31, 1995. He is also believed
to have masterminded the January 2004 escape of the assassination-accused,
Jagtar Singh Hawara, from the Burail jail in Chandigarh.
External Linkages
Available evidence suggests
that the Babbar Khalsa is part of a terrorist network sponsored by Germany-based
terrorist groups as well as Pakistan’s external intelligence agency—the
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI)—to revive terrorism in the Indian
Punjab.
Media reports in August
2001 said a joint committee was formed in Germany to coordinate the
activities of major terrorist organisatoins abroad. Gurdial Singh Lalli
of the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), Resham Singh of Babbar
Khalsa and Harmeet Singh of Kamagata Maru Dal of Khalistan are the prominent
leaders of this committee. The ISI is also reportedly keen on forging
coordination between Khalistani terrorists, terrorists operating in
Jammu and Kashmir and some fundamentalist groups.
Interestingly, the Pakistan
government appointed Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Javed Nasir, a former chief of
the ISI, as the Chairman of Pakistan Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee
(PGPC), the body that administers Sikh shrines in Pakistan. The PGPC
was formed in 1999. According to intelligence reports, Sikh terrorists
camping in Pakistan are working under the direct supervision of General
Nasir. Media reports in April 2002 said the ISI has entrusted the Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT)
with the task of reviving terrorism in Punjab. The LeT will impart arms
training to groups like the BKI, the ISYF and the Khalistan Zindabad
Force (KZF). Reports also said the LeT has opened at least eight camps
in Pakistan to train the Khalistanis. These are at Kot Lakhpat, Chakwal,
Gujranwala, Mianwali, Peshawar, Attock, Shahidan Da Banga and Gulbarg
in Lahore.
Available evidence also
suggests that the BKI has established a nexus with Dawood Ibrahim, the
fugitive Indian underworld kingpin residing now in Karachi. The terrorists
were liasoning with the Dawood Ibrahim gang in Mumbai through whom they
disposed of stolen cars and trucks to amass money, which was then sent
to Wadhwa Sigh for procuring arms and ammunition.
Some
reports have indicated that efforts were made by the ISI to help the
BKI establish bases in China, but these initiatives were reportedly
thwarted by the Chinese, who were not enthused by the project.
Reports
in February 2004 indicated that India has initiated efforts to secure
the return of Mehal Singh from the French capital Paris. One of the
two principal leaders of the group, he is alleged to have left for France
from Pakistan during the later part of 2003. Official sources said that
his decision to leave Pakistan was influenced by differences with Wadhwa
Singh.
Wadhwa
Singh's son-in-law Satnam Singh Malian operates from Germany, deflecting
surveillance from the former.
Major Incidents
2008
-
March 21: In a follow-up to the December 31, 2007-arrest
of four BKI militants, the Delhi Police on March 20 claimed to have
arrested two others of the same group from Jalandhar in Punjab.
Deputy Commissioner (Special Cell) Alok Kumar said Jaswant Singh
alias Kala (31) and Surender Singh alias Fauji (22) were arrested
on March 19 near Sutlej bridge in Jalandhar. One .30 Star make pistol
and one .22 Star make pistol with 11 live cartridges were recovered
from them. While Kala hails from Muktsar, Fauji is a native of Jalandhar
in Punjab, he said.
-
February 4: The BKI militants arrested in connection
with the blast at a cinema hall in Ludhiana on October 14, 2007,
have told the investigators that they had approached Naga outfits
for supply of arms and ammunition. During their interrogation, the
militants told the central security agencies that few Sikh youths
had been tasked to kill political leaders including Punjab Chief
Minister Prakash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir, president of the
All India Anti-Terrorist Front M. S. Bitta and former Punjab Director
General of Police K. P. S Gill, official sources said. The militants
also told the investigators that they had tried to contact NSCN
insurgents for procuring of weapons, the sources said without elaborating
whether the Punjab militants were able to strike a deal with NSCN
militants or not.
-
January 16: Police in Ludhiana arrested Mohammed
Ali a.k.a. Alia for allegedly supplying RDX to the proscribed BKI
militants in order to create disruption in Punjab.
-
January 10: Intelligence inputs on the movement
of BKI militants have indicated that fugitive Jagtar Singh Tara
who had escaped from the high-security Burail Jail in Punjab in
2004 and managed to cross over to Pakistan has moved up the ladder
in the hierarchy of the outfit and is now supervising operations
from there.
-
January 4: The Delhi Police claimed to have foiled
an attempt to kill Baba Pyara Singh Paniharewala, a Ropar-based
religious leader, with the arrest of four BKI militants, Baljeet
Singh, Bikkar Singh, Kulwinderjeet Singh and Tirlochan Singh. On
the hit list of the terrorists were four other prominent personalities
of Punjab, the police said. Four pistols and 124 live cartridges
were allegedly seized from their possession.
2007
-
December 13, 2007:
The Punjab Police foiled an attempt by BKI terrorists to assassinate
the Sirsa-based Sacha Sauda (a sect) chief, Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh,
and heads of two other sects. The Senior Superintendent of Police
(Kapurthala), Rakesh Aggarwal, informed that three members of the
BKI module, identified as Gurinder Singh, Zorawar Singh alias Zora
and Parmider Singh alias Babloo, were arrested and two Improvised
Explosive Devices assembled by using 9.75 kg high quality RDX recovered.
The police also seized 300 grams of RDX, two detonators, two timers,
40 cartridges of different bores, four boxes of other explosive
material, two kg of copper wire and two mobile phones along with
several other articles. Aggarwal disclosed that 12 other BKI gang
members, including its kingpin Gurpreet Singh, were still at large.
-
July 31, 2007: The
Additional District and Sessions Judge in Chandigarh awarded death
sentence to Jagtar Singh Hawara of the BKI and Balwant Singh, two
of the six declared guilty in the Beant Singh assassination case.
Three other convicts, Gurmeet, Lakhwinder and Shamsher Singh, were
awarded life imprisonment for their involvement in the criminal
conspiracy, while the sixth convict, Naseeb Singh, was given 10
years of 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.
-
June 11, 2007: Gurdip
Singh Rana, a Babbar Khalsa militant was sentenced to three years’
imprisonment after being convicted under the Arms Act at Kurukshetra
in the Haryana State. Wanted by the Punjab Police, Rana, who was
hiding in the Sujra village of Kurukshetra district, was arrested
on October 17, 2005.
-
June 6, 2007: Punjab
Police is reported to have traced the main conspirators of the May
22, 2005-bomb blasts in New Delhi, alleged to be members of the
pro-Khalistan outfit, Babbar Khalsa International, in Germany. The
police said it had moved an application before Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate Seema Maini in New Delhi for issuance of letters rogatory
seeking information about the suspects from the German authorities,
which was granted by the court. The letters rogatory (letter of
request) seek information about Satnaam Singh, son-in-law of Babbar
Khalsa chief Wadhwa Singh, his wife Sukhwinder Kaur and another
woman identified as Kanwaljit Kaur.
-
May 3, 2007: Intelligence
agencies reportedly said that the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba
(LeT) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s external
intelligence agency, are 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 has reportedly been
sent to the Punjab Police about the plans to target towns of Jalandhar,
Ludhiana and Pathankot region. Instructions have also been given
to monitor the activities of sympathisers of BKI-Hawara, ISYF-Rode,
KZF- Neeta and KCF, who are sending funds through hawala (illegal
money transfers) to "re-launch their separatist movement."
2006
-
July 2, 2006: A BKI
terrorist, Bachan Singh Sogi, accused of plotting to assassinate
the former Punjab Chief Minister, Prakash Singh Badal, his son Sukhbir
and former State Punjab Police chief, K.P.S. Gill, is deported by
Canada. Sogi was removed from the Riviere des Prairies detention
centre in north-end Montreal after Canada's Public Security Minister
Stockwell Day rejected his plea challenging a court order.
-
March 21, 2006: Four BKI terrorists
were arrested from Chandigarh in Punjab and one kilogram of RDX,
arms and ammunition were seized from their possession. Chandigarh
Police arrested the four from the Bus Stand in Sector 12 of the
city, Senior Superintendent of Police, Gaurav Yadav, told reporters.
Yadav said the arrested disclosed during preliminary interrogation
that they were part of the BKI module controlled by Jagtar Singh
Tara. The four, identified as Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukhi alias
Bullet, Dilbagh Singh, Ranjit Singh, all residents of Ropar district
in Punjab and Balbir Singh alias Nepali, a resident of Solan district
in Himachal Pradesh, were in contact with other BKI activists and
were one of the several modules raised by the outfit for the revival
of terrorism.
-
March 20, 2006: Paramjeet Singh Bheora,
'head of operations' of the Babbar Khalsa International in India,
and two of his accomplices who were planning to set up base in Delhi
were arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police near G T Karnal
road. Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police (Special Cell), Karnal
Singh, said Paramjeet and his accomplices Jasbir Singh and Bhupinder
Singh were arrested following an exchange of fire. The police official
added, "four kilograms of RDX, three detonators, one remote control
device along with a wireless set, one timer, three pistols, 39 live
cartridges and three fired cartridges were recovered from them.
The stolen Santro car in which they were traveling was also seized."
Paramjeet was allegedly involved in the assassination of Punjab
Chief Minister Beant Singh in 1995 and had taken over control of
Babbar Khalsa in India after its previous chief Jagtar Singh Hawara
was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 8, 2005.
2005
-
November 19, 2005: The Punjab Police
arrested three Pakistan-trained terrorists of the BKI in the Jagroan
district and foiled their plan of a major strike in crowded localities
in Chandigarh and Delhi. The police seized 1.2 kilogram of RDX,
one pencil bomb, 28 detonators, a timer, 55 AK-47 cartridges, 56
Mauser cartridges and four .9 mm cartridges.
-
July 17, 2005: Police arrested three
BKI terrorists near Madhopur Chowk in the Fatehgarh Sahab district
of Punjab. One AK-47 rifle, 25 live cartridges and some explosives
are recovered from them.
-
July 14, 2005: Two BKI terrorists are
arrested by the Delhi Police from the Old Delhi railway station
in connection with the May 22 blasts at two cinema halls. The terrorists
are identified as Dilbagh Singh, a close relative of the Pakistan-based
BKI chief Wadhawa Singh, and Surender Singh Kanda, a Kenya-based
non-resident Indian, who reportedly worked as a visa agent.
-
June 16, 2005: The Punjab Police arrested
two close associates of Jagtar Singh Hawara from the Ropar district.
Swarn Singh and Paramjit Singh alias Bhola were arrested along with
10 kg of RDX, a detonating device switch, 10 PE3A gelatin sticks,
two infusion sticks, nine ABCD timers, four highly sophisticated
grenades, nine clap switches, one live bomb and two .25 mm Chinese
made pistol.
-
June 8, 2005: Jagtar Singh Hawara,
'operations chief' of the BKI in India, was arrested along with
two other accused in the May 22, bomb blasts from the G.T. Karnal
Road in Narela Industrial Area of Delhi.
-
June 5, 2005: A joint team of the Delhi
and Punjab Police arrested two BKI activists from Nawanshahar district
in Punjab. Bahadur Singh and Gurdip Singh alias Kaka were arrested
during raids on their houses at Malpur village and both were associates
of Jaspal, an accused in the May 22 cinema hall blasts in Delhi.
Two slabs of RDX weighing one kilogram, 11 detonators and cordex
wires were recovered from the arrested activists.
-
June 1, 2005: A day after police arrested
BKI activists, Balvinder Singh and Jaganath Yadav, in connection
with the blasts at the Liberty and Satyam cinema halls on May 22,
the Delhi Police (DP) seized illegal arms and ammunition from a
hideout of a BKI terrorist, who is still at large. The DP conducted
a raid at the hideout of Jaspal Singh at Inderpuri and recovered
1 kg of RDX, a timer, detonator, a.303 rifle, 20 rounds of ammunitions,
a uniform of a Punjab Police head constable and several fake driving
licenses.
-
May 31, 2005: Two BKI terrorists are
arrested in connection with the May 22-bomb blasts at two cinema
halls in the national capital New Delhi. While Balwinder Singh was
arrested from a village at Nawanshahar in Punjab, the other accused,
Jagannath, was arrested from Madipur in Delhi. Rupees 2.94 lakh
in cash, a kilogram of RDX and two kilograms of gold was recovered
from the latter's house.
-
May 22, 2005: Two explosions are triggered
by crude devices at two cinema halls in the national capital Delhi,
during the screening of the Hindi film, Jo Bole So Nihal, killed
one person and injured at least 60 others. In the first incident
at Liberty Cinema on the G. T. Karnal Road, the device reportedly
exploded under a seat in the sixth row. The second bomb exploded
at the toilet of Satyam Cinema in Patel Nagar.
-
January 3, 2005: A BKI terrorist who
was involved in an assassination attempt on a senior police official
in Punjab and wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
for various crimes in the US is arrested by the Delhi Police. Prem
Pal Singh had stayed in the US, UK, Germany and Thailand for over
16 years using fake passports, said Deputy Commissioner of Police,
Deependra Pathak. He was reportedly arrested at a passport office
in Delhi when he was approaching agents to procure a US visa on
its forged passport. A resident of Bassi Pathana in Fatehgarh Sahib,
Prem Pal worked as a Government employee before joining the BKI
in 1985.
2004
-
September 21, 2004: The Punjab Police
re-arrests BKI terrorist, Gursewak Singh alias Babla, from a hospital
in the Raikot area of Ludhiana district. Babla had escaped from
police custody in the national capital Delhi on August 22 while
being taken to be produced before a court in connection with a 1998
case relating to sedition and violation of the Explosives Act.
-
September 8, 2004: Police stationed
in the Tarn Taran district of Punjab seized one AK-47 assault rifle
from Didar Singh alias Dari, a BKI terrorist, who was arrested in
connection with the murder of Baba Jagtar Singh, head of the Dera
Akal. According to district police chief Gurkirpal Singh, two magazines
and 30 cartridges were recovered from Didar, who is allegedly involved
in nine cases of heinous crimes.
-
April 30, 2004: The US includes the
BKI in its Terrorist Exclusion List.
-
January 22, 2004: Four undertrials,
including three accused in the Beant Singh assassination case, escape
from the high security Burail jail in Chandigarh. Those escaped
included BKI terrorist Jagtar Singh Hawara, Jagtar Singh Tara and
Paramjit Singh, the three main accused in the assassination.
2002
-
April 29, 2002: Police thwart a major
conspiracy of the BKI to attack Wassan Singh Zaffarwal, VIPs and
shakhas (branches) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with
the arrest of five BKI terrorists in Gurdaspur, Punjab. A huge cache
of arms and ammunition is seized, too.
2001
-
August 31, 2001: Punjab police arrest
a BKI terrorist. He confesses of plans to revive terrorism in Punjab
through setting-off explosions at public places. He also reveals
to his interrogators that terrorist leaders based in Britain and
Germany, as well as those sponsored by the ISI and residing in Pakistan,
were involved in the planning.
-
August 18, 2001: Under the leadership
of the BKI and other groups, pro-Khalistan activists and sympathiseers
hold a protest demonstration in front of the Indian consulate in
Frankfurt, and burn the Indian tricolour.
-
June 9, 2001: In a protest demonstration
staged at the Indian Consulate in Frankfurt, Germany, against Operation
Blue Star, BKI leaders says no Khalistan terrorist should
surrender. The rally had allegedly been extended support by Pakistan’s
Consulate in Frankfurt.
-
May 22, 2001: Punjab Police foil an
attempt by terrorists to disrupt Ram Navami (Hindu religious celebration)
with the arrest of four terrorists and seizure of 3kg of RDX and
some arms and ammunition from Harchowal village, Batala district.
Manjit Singh, a close associate of BKI’s Mohal Singh had trained
the terrorists, to target the Ram Navmi procession. During interrogation,
the terrorists reportedly confessed to having crossed over to Pakistan
a number of times to bring in arms and ammunitions and to step-up
subversive activities in Punjab and Kashmir.
-
February 28, 2001: British government
proscribes Babbar Khalsa, as per the provisions of the new UK Terrorism
Act 2000, which became operational since July 2000.
2000
-
October, 27 2000: Ajaib Singh Bagri
and Ripudaman Singh Malik, two BKI terrorists arrested by Canadian
police for their involvement in the mid-air explosion of Air India
flight-182 Kanishka, off the Irish coast.
-
October 14, 2000: The Central Bureau
of Investigation and Delhi Police seize a huge quantity of arms,
ammunition and 30 kg of RDX, in Libaspur locality in the national
capital, Delhi. Official sources believe they were stored there
to be passed-on later to a Babbar Khalsa terrorist in Punjab.
-
August 30, 2000: BKI terrorist arrested
in Jalandhar district, Punjab, and a cache of 3.9 kg of PETN high
explosives and timers is seized. Official sources say they had been
tasked by Wadhwa Sigh to target VIPs in Punjab.
-
February 2000: Following the June-arrests
in Delhi the Babbar network is traced to Ahmedabad and other areas
in Gujarat, particularly the border districts.
-
Gujarat Police arrest a Canada-based
Babbar terrorist, who disclosed the BKIs’ underworld connection.
Nearly six more suspected Babbar terrorists are arrested subsequently
and a BKI plot to abduct former Gujarat Chief Minister Chhabildas
Mehta is unearthed and folied.
-
January 17, 2000: At a meeting in Sacramento,
USA, leaders of the BKI discuss the declining interest in the idea
of Khalistan among the Sikh community. The modalities for involving
the younger Sikh generation, especially those employed in low-paid
jobs in the US, is also discussed.
-
January 6, 2000: A Pakistan based BKI
terrorist, who had consented to become a human bomb, is arrested
in Jaipur, Rajasthan and 5 kg of RDX, arms and ammunition are recovered
from him.
-
January 2000: Gujrat Police arrest
five Babbar Khalsa International terrorists from the Narol locality
in the State capital Ahmedabad, following a tip-off from Punjab
Police and union intelligence agencies. The terrorists were in Gujarat
to raise funds for the revival of Khalistan movement through abductions
for ransom.
1999
-
February 26, 1999: Punjab Police arrest
four terrorists of the BKI and recover 10 kg of RDX, 1.5 kg of PETN,
half a kilogramme of heroin, an AK-56 rifle and a magazine
-
June 1999: Gujarat Police arrest three
suspected Babbar Khalsa terrorists and a local contact and recover
some arms and ammuntion.
-
In the same month a Babbar terrorist
is arrested in Hoshiarpur in Punjab. He confesses to his interrogators
that he and a Pakistani national entered India and had carried a
consignment of five AK-47 rifles and some explosives.
-
June 11,1999: Police in Baroda, Gujarat,
unearth an ISI module and arrest three BKI terrorist and a local
Sikh. A Chinese Pistol, two country-made pistols and some ammunition
are recovered.
-
June 1999: Delhi police arrest a suspected
suicide bomber, Richhpal Singh, on a mission to kill former Punjab
police chief KPS Gill.
-
July 1999: Delhi police arrest two
Babbar Khalsa terrorists with about two-kg of RDX.
-
June 23, 1999: Amritsar police arrested
two smugglers––close associates of Wadhwa Sigh and Mehal Singh.
Four kg of explosives is recovered from their possession.
1995
1992
-
Talwinder Singh Parmar, the alleged
mastermind of the mid-air explosion of Air India flight-182 Kanishka,
off the Irish coast, killed in Punjab.
1985
|
