Punjab Chief Minister Chief Minister Captain (Retd.) Amarinder Singh on July 11 described the ban on the pro-Khalistan outfit Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) as the first step towards protecting the nation from the anti-India and secessionist plans and designs of the Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)-backed organisation, reports India Today. He said the association should be declared a terror organisation.
According to top Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) officials, "Central government has today sent a strong warning to fringe groups operating from foreign soils that it will not tolerate secessionist activities, whether carried out in India or abroad, and will take strong action against such entities under law." Punjab Police and National Investigation Agency (NIA) have busted several modules of SFJ found indulging in various subversive activities in Punjab. Investigations revealed that the activists were radicalized and funded by abroad based SFJ handlers - Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Harmeet Singh, Paramjit Singh Pamma, etc. Ten cases have been lodged with Punjab Police while one case is with NIA in which 39 accused have been arrested.