South Asia Terrorism Portal
Sikh Diaspora: The Gangs of Khalistan Ajai Sahni Editor, SAIR, Executive Director, SATP and ICM
On June 18, 2023, (8.27pm local time), the Canada-based Khalistani leader and ‘chief’ of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was shot dead by two unidentified youth outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, in the British Columbia Province of Canada.
On June 15, 2023, (12.45am IST), Avtar Singh Khanda, ‘chief’ of the banned Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) and a radical mobilizer and activist, died in a hospital in Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK), initial reports suggested, of cancer.
On May 6, 2023, wanted Khalistani terrorist and ‘chief’ of the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), Paramjit Singh Panjwar aka Malik Sardar Singh, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at Lahore in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Panjwar, along with his guard, was in a park at Sun Flower Housing Society in the Jauhar Town of Lahore, when assailants opened fire on them and escaped on a motorcycle. His guard was also hurt and died later that day.
Three deaths of Khalistani leaders in rapid succession in countries other than India – two manifest killings, and a third that has been brought into dispute – have created a storm of speculation regarding the possibilities of covert operations by India’s external intelligence agency, R&AW, as well as a wave of abusive triumphalism by Hindutva nationalist on social media. Most of the commentary is devoid of context, and its tone and content is based entirely on the sentiments and affiliations of the ‘analysts’.
While the death of three Khalistani extremists in widely dispersed locations abroad over a relatively brief period of 45 days is certainly surprising and may call for close scrutiny, it does fit into a broader context of criminal alliances and activities that have seen numerous incidents of violence – including fatal violence – in the past. While the possibility of covert operations by state agencies cannot automatically be ruled out, the sudden acquisition of capability and intent, and its abrupt operationalisation in multiple cases, would fit poorly into the profile of any intelligence agency of long-standing.
It is useful, at the outset, to separate the death of Avtar Singh Khanda from the two obvious killings. While several fanciful theories, including some recalling the poisoning of Russian dissidents abroad by radioactive or nerve agents, have been put forward to support imagined conspiracies of Khanda’s ‘poisoning’ by R&AW, the claims have little credibility outside a Khalistani sub-culture desperate to find new ‘martyrs’ to the cause. Moreover, while Khanda’s terrorist lineage is impeccable – his father, Kulwant Singh Kukhrana, was a KLF terrorist who was gunned down by Security Forces in 1991, and his mother was related to Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala, the KLF ‘chief’ killed in 1992 – his own involvement in what could strictly be defined as terrorism is, at worst, dubious. While Indian state agencies have tended to bandy the term ‘terrorist’ somewhat loosely in the recent past, the hard allegations against Khanda relate to a ‘violent’ demonstration orchestrated at the Indian High Commission in London on March 19, 2023 (the Indian flag was torn down, but there were no casualties), as well as support to Amritpal Singh, another dubious ‘terrorist’ in the new Indian lexicon. Amritpal Singh involved in widespread and often disruptive Khalistani mobilization in Punjab between August 2022 and March 2023, was eventually arrested on April 23, and is presently incarcerated at Dibrugarh in Assam in India's northeast. Crucially, reports indicate that Khanda had been hospitalized for two weeks for treatment of a (as yet publicly unidentified) ‘blood cancer’. Significantly, an early Sikh Federation UK (a Khalistani advocacy group) Tweet confirmed that he died after being diagnosed with ‘blood cancer’; however, the Khalistani Diaspora quickly seized upon the propaganda potential of the death – particularly after the Nijjar killing in Canada barely three days later, to whip up a storm of allegations of Indian state mischief. The present investigation into the death will now allow such inflammatory speculation to flourish for weeks, and up to six months, till the issue is finally settled by the Coroner’s Inquest report.
This leaves the remaining two fatalities. These are far from the first high-profile deaths/killings of Khalistani activists or terrorists abroad. Recently, for instance, on November 19, 2022, a prominent Pakistan-based operational commander of the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Harvinder Singh aka Rinda, died at a military hospital in Lahore, allegedly due to a drug overdose. Rinda was among the foreign based ‘masterminds’ of the Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attack on the Punjab Police Intelligence Headquarters at Mohali in Punjab, on May 9, 2022. The incident has also been linked to several gangsters abroad, crucially including Lakhbir Singh aka Landa in Canada, Satbir Singh aka Satnam Singh in Greece, and Yadwinder Singh in the Philippines.
The Mohali RPG attack illustrated the increasing incidence of the Khalistani-gangster networks operating across multiple borders, as well as the deep involvement of Khalistani terrorists and activists in a range of other criminal activities. Rinda was a key figure in the drugs and weapons supply chain from Pakistan into India.
On January 27, 2020, another arms and drug dealer, as well as the then ‘chief’ of the KLF, Harmeet Singh alias ‘Happy PhD’, was killed at the Dera Chahal Gurdwara near Lahore, apparently because of a financial dispute over drug deals with another local gang. Indian Police sources indicated that Harmeet Singh was involved in a chain of killings in Indian Punjab between 2016 and 2017, which also had a prominent footprint in the Khalistan-gangster networks abroad.
It is within the murky milieu of the Khalistani-narcotics-gangs network, patronized and substantially controlled by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), that the killing of Paramjit Singh Panjwar needs to be assessed. Panjwar was deeply involved in the smuggling of heroin, weapons and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) from Pakistan, even as he sought to keep the KCF alive with the revenues generated from these activities. However, his significance as a terrorist and trafficking facilitator had been progressively diminished, as younger and more aggressive players arrived on the scene. There is, yet, no clarity on who killed Panjwar, and the case is unlikely to be ‘solved’ in Pakistan, where Panjwar’s existence is not even acknowledged, and where his death was reported as the killing of ‘Malik Sardar Singh’, the identity he had been given by the ISI. However, Panjwar, with several far more active Islamist and Khalistani terrorists operating from Pakistan, Panjwar would not be a very high priority target for Indian agencies, were they to begin to draw up any ‘hit lists’ in that country.
Nijjar, however, has certainly been high among India’s concerns about Khalistani elements in the Western Diaspora. He is accused of the killing of a self-styled godman, Baba Bhaniara, in 2014; of the murder of Manohar Lal, a Dera Sacha Sauda follower in 2021; of attempts to kill a Hindu priest, Pragya Gyan Muni, also in 2021, as well as several other conspiracies to target Hindu elements as well as other followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda. Indian intelligence also claims Nijjar organised a terrorists training camp in Canada in 2015 (a trainee, Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal, was subsequently sent to Punjab to target Shiv Sena leaders there; Dhaliwal was arrested in June 2016).
With little traction on the ground in Punjab, Nijjar linked up with gangster Arshdeep Singh aka Arsh Dalla, to provide the logistics and manpower for several of these operations in Indian Punjab. Dalla has now been placed on a list of Khalistani terrorists abroad, who are sought by India’s National Investigation Agency.
Nijjar was also prominent in the Sikhs for Justice ‘Khalistan Referendum’ campaign, and organised its most successful event at Brampton on September 19, 2022.
Crucially, Nijjar has long been associated with an often-violent Gurudwara politics in Canada. He was also engaged in a long-drawn confrontation with the principal architect of the IC 182 Kanishka Bombing of 1985 in which 329 persons were killed (as well as two luggage handlers in a second explosion at Narita Airport, Japan), Ripudaman Singh Malik. Nijjar had objected to the printing and distribution of copies of the Guru Granth Sahib by Malik, and had seized these copies, as well as Malik’s printing unit. After Malik was ‘turned’ by Indian intelligence agencies he began criticizing “anti-India elements”, and accused Nijjar of “obviously working at the behest of some agencies of a foreign government” – a reference to Pakistan. On January 23, 2022, at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in Surrey, Nijjar ranted against Malik for over an hour, describing him as a “Qaum da gaddaar” (traitor to the nation) and an “agent”, adding that he should be “taught a lesson.” Malik was killed in a gang-style hit – with eerie similarities to Nijjar’s own subsequent killing – by two men on June 22, 2022. Investigations into the Nijjar killing are also likely to head into a dead-end, as did investigations into the Ripudaman Singh Malik hit.
Khalistani conspiracy theorists also found some grist for the mill in the June 5, 2023, statement by Jody Thomas, Canada’s National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, identifying India as a source of ‘foreign interference in Canada’ – a curious inversion of reality, since it is from Canada that a continuous separatist campaign is being fuelled and funded by Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Indian origin, and where extremists openly flaunt their affiliations with terrorists as well as with terrorist organisations banned in Canada, as well as their close connections with Justin Trudeau’s ruling Liberal Party.
In partnering with gangsters involved in a range of activities, dominated by drug smuggling, but also including gun running, targeted killings and extortion in their country of origin, the Khalistani Diaspora has chosen a path fraught with danger. In Canada, in particular, the Punjabi gangster culture is rampant. 21 per cent of gangsters killed in gang wars or police operations since 2006 are of Punjabi origin, while just 2 per cent of the Canada’s population is Punjabi (1.4 per cent Sikh). On August 4, 2022, Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit – British Columbia released a poster “identifying 11 individuals who pose a significant threat to public safety due to their ongoing involvement in gang conflicts and connection to extreme levels of violence”. Nine of the 11 gangsters listed were of Punjabi origin. While the Punjabi gangs struggled against the Italian-Canadian Mafia and the Asian Triad gangs in past decades, they have now come to dominate organised criminal activity in the country, with fratricidal conflicts within the Punjabi gangs accounting for much of the present gang violence.
And while no possibility can be ruled out in the investigations into the Panjwar and Nijjar killings, as well as Khanda’s death, there are far more credible explanations within the vicious politics and criminal associations of the Khalistani Diaspora, than in the claims that India’s agencies are now ‘bumping off’ relatively low-level targets abroad, even as far more active and dangerous elements are allowed to flourish.
Chhattisgarh: Targeting Politics Deepak Kumar Nayak Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management
On June 21, 2023, a local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Kaka Arjun (52), was killed by Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres at Ilmidi village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur District. Arjun served as the Sarpanch (head of the Panchayat, village level local self-Government institution) of Ilmidi village Panchayat from 2016 to 2020. His body was found lying on the Kongupalli-Ilmidi Road in Bijapur, more than 400 kilometres from the state capital, Raipur. Arjun was the Secretary of the Scheduled Tribe wing of the BJP in Bijapur.
A pamphlet issued in the name of the ‘Madded Area Committee’ of the CPI-Maoist, taking responsibility for the killing, claimed that Arjun had been working for the BJP since 2014 and was against the Maoists. In the pamphlet, the Maoists also warned that any person who works against the CPI-Maoist would meet a similar fate.
On February 11, 2023, Ramdhar Alami (43), a BJP-supported Sarpanch of Hitameta village between 2015 and 2020, was hacked to death by a group of suspected Maoists at Barsoor in Dantewada District, while he was on his way home to Hitameta village.
On February 10, 2023, Sagar Sahu (47), vice president of BJP’s Narayanpur District, was shot dead at his home in front of his family members, by suspected Maoists in Narayanpur District.
On February 5, 2023, Neelkanth Kakkem (48), the BJP’s divisional head of Awapalli in Bijapur District, was killed when three suspected Maoists stabbed him with sharp weapons in Bijapur District.
On January 16, 2023, Budhram Kartam (35), was found dead near a culvert on National Highway-32, close to Kilepal village, in Jagdalpur, Bastar District. Kartam, a former Sarpanch of Kilepal, was the secretary of the BJP’s Bastar district unit.
According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least five political leaders or functionaries (all of the BJP) have been killed since the beginning of 2023 (data till June 25, 2023) in Chhattisgarh, all in the Bastar Division. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence across India, at least 65 political leaders or functionaries have been killed in Chhattisgarh of which 53 killings were recorded in the Bastar Division. Another 12 killings were reported from three district: eight in Raipur, three in Rajnandgaon and one in Surguja. The Bastar Division comprises seven districts – Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, and Sukma.
During this period, March 6, 2000, and June 25, 2023, at least 360 political leaders or functionaries have been killed and another 49 have sustained injuries in 362 incidents of Maoist attacks targeting political leaders or functionaries, across India.
Meanwhile, soon after the June 21, 2023, killing, Chhattisgarh BJP general secretary O.P. Chaudhary blamed the ruling Congress government in Chhattisgarh asserting,
On the other hand, Chhattisgarh Congress party spokesperson Dhananjay Singh Thakur stated that the killings were highly unfortunate and accused the BJP of politicizing the matter,
Earlier, on February 13, 2023, after four killings - one in January and three in February - BJP Member of Parliament from Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) and State Party President Arun Sao demanded an unbiased inquiry by an independent agency into the killing of the four BJP party workers in the Bastar region. Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha (the Lower House of Parliament), Sao argued,
On the same day, calling the killings of political leaders or functionaries unfortunate, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister (CM) Bhupesh Baghel noted,
The worst ever attack by the Maoists targeting the political leadership, across all Maoist affected regions in India, was the May 25, 2013, ambush in which 29 persons were killed, and another 30 injured, in the Darbha Ghati region of Sukma District of Chhattisgarh. Five Congress party leaders, eight Congress party workers, and eight Security Force (SF) personnel were among the 29 the persons killed. The BJP's Raman Singh was then Chief Minister in the state.
Soon after the attack, Congress party spokesperson Shailesh Trivedi had said,
More recently, on May 25, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel talking about the investigations in the Darbha Ghati attack alleged that the "the file of Jhiram Valley has been deposited in Raj Bhavan. The BJP is trying to hide something or the other" He asserted, "The day our government comes to power at the Centre, we will clear everything."
It is important, however, to note, that the Maoists do not specifically target any particular political party. They identify particular individuals as inimical to their activities, and carry out such killings to energize discouraged cadres and reinforce their diminishing impact. Statements of collusion with the ruling party in Chhattisgarh have not been borne out in the past, and are likely false in the present as well.
Meanwhile, according to a February 15, 2023, report, in the wake of the killings of party leaders and functionaries in the Bastar region, the Police have urged political leaders to provide advance details of their travel plans in the Maoist-affected areas, so that necessary security can be provided. In a meeting of all political parties organised by the Bastar Police on February 14, 2023, Sundarraj P., Inspector General of Police (IGP), Bastar Range, stated, “The meeting was to sensitise the office bearers of the political parties about the safety protocol to be followed during political rallies/meetings/movement in the Naxal-affected areas.”
Further, on February 16, 2023, Chhattisgarh Director General of Police (DGP) Ashok Juneja wrote a letter to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) requesting it to initiate a probe into the killings of public representatives in the Bastar region.
Maoist violence has declined sharply across the country due to continuous efforts and sacrifices by the SFs. Challenges of the crisis of capacities and capabilities in governance and security persist, and require attention in the Maoist-affected regions. It is, moreover, imperative that the issue of political distrust and incompetence be addressed, in order to create the environment that would enable a complete resolution of the Maoist problem. The lack of trust and opportunistic politics and posturing by the ruling establishment and the opposition parties could provide an impetus to rebel activities, and tends to undermine the efforts of the SFs and the civil administration in the trouble areas.
Weekly Fatalities: Major Conflicts in South Asia June 19-25, 2023
Civilians
Security Force Personnel
NS
Total
AFGHANISTAN
BANGLADESH
CHT
INDIA
Chhattisgarh
Jammu and Kashmir
Manipur
India (Total)
PAKISTAN
Balochistan
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
PAKISTAN (Total)
Total (South Asia)
Restrictions on Afghan women and girls should be removed, says UNHCR: On June 19, representatives from several countries at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) criticized the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan and urged the Taliban administration to remove the gender-based restrictions on women and girls. Rina Amiri, the US Special Envoy for Afghan Women, said, "The US condemns the Taliban's systematic discrimination against women and girls and stands with the people of Afghanistan to fight for human rights and dignity. The Khaama Press News Agency, June 20, 2023.
Don't support Taliban for temporary interests, say Afghan women protesters: In a letter addressed to the Human Rights Council on June 17, Afghan women protesters said global citizens should not support a terrorist group and reduce them to a political force for the sake of temporary interests. The letter further noted, "The oppressive, dictatorial, and terrorist regime of the Taliban has committed numerous human rights crimes in the past two years. Ethnic cleansing, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide have become daily activities in Afghanistan." Hasht e Subh Daily, June 20, 2023.
No one has the right to beat someone without the court's order, says Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid: A Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that no one has the right to beat someone without the court's order; even if it is a small physical action, the court should have ordered it. He further said that the court implements the orders based on Sharia. Others do not have the right to beat someone with a stick or whip. Tolo News, June 21, 2023.
Taliban is committed to inclusive Government, says acting Prime Minister Mawlawi Abdul Kabir: In a meeting with United Nations (UN) Special Coordinator and Independent Assessor Feridun Hadi Sinirlio?lu, acting Prime Minister (PM) Mawlawi Abdul Kabir said that the Taliban is committed to an inclusive Government. He further said that Taliban wants to have "positive relations" with the international community. Tolo News, June 25, 2023.
Militants using social media for recruitment, states ATU Chief and AIGP S. M. Ruhul Amin: Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) Chief and Additional Inspector General of Police (AIGP), S. M. Ruhul Amin on June 19, stated that militants are using social media for recruitment. "Militants are not sitting idle. They are very much active in recruiting new members and supporters using social media," he stated, adding, "The media has the opportunity to make the public aware of the danger of youth being inspired by militancy without understanding the danger."Dhaka Tribune, June 20, 2023.
Seven Kuki militants and two civilians killed in separate incidents of violence in Manipur: On June 22, at least seven Kuki militants were killed and two civilians and two Security Force (SF) personnel were injured in a gun battle that took place at Poljang/Boljang Village in Kangpokpi District in Manipur. On June 21, two civilians were killed and four others were injured in an Impoverished Explosive Device (IED) blast that occurred in a vehicle in south of Kwakta on the Bridge near Ward No. 9 in Bishnupur District of Manipure. The Sangai Express, June 21-23, 2023.
China blocks UNSC blacklisting of 26/11 accused and LeT operative Sajid Mir as a global terrorist: 'On June 20, China blocked a proposal by United States (US) and India to designate Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorist Sajid Mir, wanted for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The proposal was basically aimed to blacklist Mir under the UNSC's Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee. Kashmir News Observer, June 21, 2023.
57 blasphemy cases registered from January to May 2023 in Pakistan: At least 57 cases of alleged blasphemy have been registered in Pakistan from January to May 2023. The highest number of such cases, 28 in total, were reported in Punjab while Sindh followed with 16 cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with eight and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with five. ANI, June 21, 2023.
Not holding any talks with TTP, says Foreign Office: The Foreign Office on June 22 stated that Pakistan was not engaged in any talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The statement from Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch comes days after Taliban Information Minister Zabihullah Mujahid offered to mediate between the TTP and Pakistan due to escalating tensions, particularly after the former terminated a ceasefire last year. "If Pakistan wants us to mediate, and we know that it is beneficial, we will undoubtedly mediate as it benefits the region and we don't want war in the region," Zabihullah Mujahid said. Dawn, June 23, 2023.
The South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) is a weekly service that brings you regular data, assessments and news briefs on terrorism, insurgencies and sub-conventional warfare, on counter-terrorism responses and policies, as well as on related economic, political, and social issues, in the South Asian region.
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