Four Babbar Khalsa militants arrested in Delhi

New Delhi, Jan 4: Four suspected Babbar Khalsa militants have been arrested by the Delhi Police from Delhi today. A police spokesperson said all militants are residents of Punjab and have been indentified as Baljit Singh (Mohali), Bikar Singh (Sangrur), Kulwinderjeet Singh R (Ludhiana) and Trilochan Singh from Panchkula.

He also added that the militants were planning a terror strike in the capital. Four pistols and 124 rounds are also seized from their possession. Last year, 19 militants were arrested and four were killed in Delhi. Babbar Khalsa is a group considered to be among the oldest and most prominent of Sikh organisations calling for the formation of an independent Sikh state.

The envisioned state, called Khalistan (meaning Land of the Pure) by its proponents, would comprise of the territory in the Punjab, and Punjabi–speaking areas of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. Like other organisations, Babbar Khalsa was most active in the late 1970s and 1980s; the end of militancy in 1993 led to a dramatic fall in violence, although infrequent acts of terrorism are still attributed to it. It was, and continues to be, sponsored largely by expatriate Sikhs, particularly in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Babbar Khalsa is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United Kingdom, the Canada, India, and the United States. The United States has designated Babbar Khalsa responsible for the bombing of Air India Flight 182, although the alleged members deemed responsible were all acquitted in a Canadian trial in 2005 for the lack of evidence in the court.

ANI