Incidents and Statements involving Babbar Khalsa International: 2015

Date

Nature of incident

January 5

Chonburi, Thailand

Bathinda Court (Punjab) extended KTF chief Jagtar Singh Tara's Police remand by another two days. Previously, Tara was produced in court on February 9 and was sent to four-day Police remand. Police also produced one Amarjit Singh of Dusarna village in Mohali District and accused him of having links with Tara. Arrested on February 12, Amarjjit was also sent in two-day Police remand. Tara is accused of making way for Bathinda-based Ramandeep Singh alias Sunny in getting arms training in Bangkok. Bathinda Police on November 9, 2014 had arrested Ramandeep and claimed that he was member of terror organization KTF headed by Jagtar Singh Tara. Police had recovered explosive material, a revolver and 5 letterheads of BKI. Bathinda District attorney Iqbaljit Singh Kingra said, "During interrogation, Ramandeep confessed that he had gone to Thailand to get arms training on Tara's insistence and had met him in Thailand." Kingra said that Ramandeep also told that Tara had got terrorist training at Pakistan and encouraged him to toe the same path.

The UMHA has decided to take a fresh look into the case against Balwant Singh Rajaona, a BKI terrorist who was sentenced to death after his conviction in the case pertaining to the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. The development follows the arrest of another BKI operative Jagtar Singh Tara, who was recently extradited from Thailand. Rajaona himself has refused to petition either the State Government or the Supreme Court for a stay on his death sentence. He is currently lodged in a Punjab jail. Sources said UHM Rajnath Singh has asked ministry officials to examine Rajaona's case afresh in the light of new facts that could emerge after Tara's interrogation. "Since Rajaona has refused to petition any authority for clemency, Home Ministry has decided to look into his case afresh. Since Tara has been extradited from Thailand and is presently in the custody of Punjab Police, new facts could emerge in the case. Even if there is a fraction of a chance that Rajaona was involved in the assassination case, the entire case has to be relooked into," said a senior Home Ministry official. Tara, a co-accused in the case, was facing trial for allegedly assassinating Beant Singh when he escaped along with three others through a tunnel dug inside the jail, where they were lodged in 2004. Two of the three others have been arrested, while the third is still at large.

Punjab

Failing to get UT administrator's nod for suspension of notification prohibiting BKI terrorist Jagtar Singh Tara's (the alleged assassin of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh) movement from Burail jail in Chandigarh, the jail authorities failed to produce him before court on the second consecutive day and have now sought time till February 27. UT Police had put in place elaborate security arrangements in view of producing Tara before the court of Additional District and sessions judge Shalini S Nagpal, but they failed to produce him as the state failed to obtain suspension of the notification under section 268 of the Code of CrPC prohibiting transportation of Tara from Burail jail. Jail authorities stated before the court that Tara's movement from Burail jail was prohibited as Section 268 of the CrPC (person shall not be removed from prison till the completion of the trial) imposed on the assassination accused, was still valid. Stating that the notification could only be suspended by the UT administrator, who was currently out of the city, the jail authorities sought time till February 27.

Failing to get UT administrator's nod for suspension of notification prohibiting BKI terrorist Jagtar Singh Tara's (the alleged assassin of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh) movement from Burail jail in Chandigarh, the jail authorities failed to produce him before court on the second consecutive day and have now sought time till February 27. UT Police had put in place elaborate security arrangements in view of producing Tara before the court of Additional District and sessions judge Shalini S Nagpal, but they failed to produce him as the state failed to obtain suspension of the notification under section 268 of the Code of CrPC prohibiting transportation of Tara from Burail jail. Jail authorities stated before the court that Tara's movement from Burail jail was prohibited as Section 268 of the CrPC (person shall not be removed from prison till the completion of the trial) imposed on the assassination accused, was still valid. Stating that the notification could only be suspended by the UT administrator, who was currently out of the city, the jail authorities sought time till February 27.

Amritsar

Pakistani intelligence agency ISI is funding pro-Khalistan groups in India and abroad, according to intelligence inputs. The report said a group of 22 Sikh youths who were recently found raising pro-Khalistan slogans on the periphery of the Golden Temple near Akal Takht in Amritsar, were instructed to take help from Pakistan to spread violence in India. The report further said that the ISI is also funding Sikh radical outfits including Babbar Khalsa in India, US, Germany and Canada.

According to a report the Pakistani spy agency can also use the ultras of four Khalistan terrorist groups - Ranjit Singh Meeta - headed Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), Jagtar Singh Tara-headed Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), Wadhawa Singh-led Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Harminder Singh Minto-led Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) - to revive militancy and launch terror strikes in Punjab. The ISI and the radical Sikh groups are trying to lure unemployed youths to join terror groups, it added.

The IB briefed the UMHA on inputs related to the evolution of a quid pro quo agreement between pro-Khalistan and Pakistan's ISI backed militant outfits forged in the Kashmir valley over the last decade. According to an IB official, the UMHA was briefed about the likeness of July 27, Gurdaspur (Punjab) Attack to the massacre of 35 Sikh families in Chatti Singhpora near Anantnag in March 2000, which saw a group of 20 militants wearing Army fatigues forcibly removing residents from their homes on the pretext of a checking exercise before spraying bullets on them. "Following the attack, the pro-Khalistan forces and members of the JeM, LeT, sat across the table to bury the hatchet and decided to work in tandem. Several such meetings to iron out differences occurred in the years 2005, 2010 and most recently on the heels of the Kathua attack," said a source. The attack, according to sources in the IB, was part of a plot hatched jointly by the BKI in association with the Kashmir Tanzeem of LeT and "seemed to have been four years in the making".

ISI has mobilized terrorists belonging to groups like LeT, JeM and HM as well as Sikh militants associated with BKI and KZF remnants based on its soil, for possible joint strikes in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi or other parts of India.

The Indian security agencies have compiled an elaborate document on how Germany has become a meeting point of BKI and other terrorist groups of late. There have been massive Germany-based recruitments in BKI in recent months, agencies have been informed.

As per the document, BKI modules have been under immense pressure from Pakistan's ISI to attack Indian establishments. The latter has even asked BKI to coordinate with outfits like LeT. As per an intelligence communique circulated among agencies a few months ago, BKI's Pakistan-based commander Wadhwa Singh and his counterpart from LeT held a number of meetings in Choburjee, Lahore. They have been trying to orchestrate a "synchronized attack" on Punjab and Delhi, sources said.

Intelligence inputs generated less than a month ago indicated ISI officials in Pakistan had met terrorists from jihadi outfits like LeT together with Sikh militants associated with BKI and KZF remnants, to plot strikes in Punjab, J&K and Delhi. Nearly 15-20 terrorists who were trained by ISI, which also issued funds for the anti-India strikes, were acquainted with Sikh traditions and Gurmukhi script at Kartarpur Sahib, a gurudwara in Pakistan, with the help of KZF's Ranjit Singh. They were also briefed on the topography of Punjab.

The operations cell of the Chandigarh Police filed a detailed chargesheet against BKI militant Jagtar Singh Tara, charging him with escaping from Police custody, sedition and waging war against the country in the Burail jailbreak case. The chargesheet included the copies of Pakistan-made fake ID card of Tara and four FIRs registered against him after his escape from the jail for spreading terrorism in Punjab. It was filed in the court of CJM Anubhav Sharma.

Punjab

Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI, recently held a meeting with terrorist outfits, including LeT, JeM, Babbar Khalsa and KZF, to revive the Khalistan movement in Punjab and execute more Gurdaspur-style terror attacks to destabilise peace in the state.

KZF 'chief', Ranjeet Singh alias Neeta, is said to be working closely with the ISI to carry out terror attacks in Punjab. According to intelligence inputs, Neeta has provided two-month-long language training to LeT's Fidayeens (suicide bombers) near Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib near Lahore, in Punjab (Pakistan). "The terrorists have been trained by Neeta in the Sikh tradition and Gurumukhi script. They are likely to be disguised as locals following infiltration. Local police departments and state law enforcement agencies have been put on high alert," intelligence input based on intercepted communication revealed

ISI and terror groups sheltered by the Pakistani state authorities have been systematically trying to revive the militancy in Punjab with the help of Babbar Khalsa and outfits such as the KZF. The Pakistan-based outfits are also getting financial support from sympathisers in Germany and the UK.

According to sources, there are currently 43 Sikhs on the government's blacklist, while four have a lookout circular pending against them. The 'negative list' of pro-militancy Sikh leaders maintained by the high commissions and embassies in countries like the UK, Germany and Canada has hundreds of names. The IB, in its comments on the discussion paper regarding end to travel ban on pro-Khalistan sympathizers, has opposed a 'blanket' relaxation allowing all blacklisted Sikhs to make the journey to their country of origin, and instead batted for a case-by-case clearance. This is purportedly in view of the attempts by Pakistan-based jihadi groups to tie up with remnants of Khalistani outfits like BKI to stoke militancy fires in Punjab.

Alleged pro-Khalistan elements including Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) have stepped up efforts to prevent the deportation of BKI terrorist Paramjeet Singh 'Pamma', arrested in Portugal last week, to India. According to intelligence reports, around INR 25,00,000 has been raised from gurudwaras in France and UK over the past few days, apparently to help Paramjeet engage a formidable legal defence to contest his deportation. The intelligence agencies have reported that one Avtar Singh of Sikhs for Justice, a New-York based Sikh rights outfit, arrived in Paris from Canada on December 20, 2015 a couple of days after Paramjeet--wanted for 2010 twin bomb blasts in Patiala and Ambala and murder of Rashriya Sikh Sangat leader Rulda Singh in 2009, was arrested by the Portugal Police.

A senior officer of the Indian security establishment told that the Sikhs for Justice was under the radar of the intelligence agencies for aiding terrorists and funding of terror, and that the governments of Canada and UK would be contacted to act against the outfit.

Paramjeet was reportedly based in England on 'political asylum' since 1994-95. An Interpol Red Corner Notice subject, he was tracked while staying at a hotel in Portugal. Paramjeet was reportedly the main fundraiser for BKI and later associated with KTF.