Reviving Punjab terror, how UK, Italy, Pakistan is playing a role in Referendum 2020

The Khalistan movement may be dead, but not a single day passes without an effort being made to revive the movement. Following the crackdown on militancy in Punjab, the top brass heading organisations such as the Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Zindabad Force moved into Pakistan seeking shelter.

The ISI was glad to welcome them and provide shelter. In the past twenty years, the ISI invited several Sikh militants over, sheltered and trained them. Over the years, the Sikh militants with the help of the ISI set up modules not just in India, but in UK, Canada, Germany and Italy. These modules were used as training centres and also fronts to raise funds to revive the movement.

Recently the Punjab police busted a Khalistan module in Punjab in which attempts were being made to revive the movement through a slogan known as Referendum 2020. The referendum was being promoted by some Punjab youth at the behest of the ISI on the social media.

Counter Intelligence officials tell OneIndia that this was the beginning of something bigand was part of the overall plan to revive terrorism in Punjab. With regard to Referendum 2020, the police learnt that the four youth who were arrested were planning on going big during the IPL matches to be held in Mohali. The plan was to get together all like-minded persons and make a declaration during the IPL matches. They were planning a mass movement and were inviting people for the same on Facebook, investigations also revealed.

During the protest and declaration, the youth had also planned on setting buses and shops of fire. With this they proposed to begin a mass movement and they had fixed the 2020 deadline to declare Punjab as a Khalistan nation.

They were getting support from Europe and Pakistan as well. The Facebook page Referendum 2020 was set up by an ISI agent who went by the alias Fateh Singh, the police also learnt. It was he who roped in the four youth to popularise the page. Further it was also learnt that the four youth were in talks with like minded people and were attempting to spread the word around in various parts of the state.

Killing to disturb peace:

Recently when the National Investigation Agency took over the probe into the killing of an RSS worker in Punjab, it made a startling revelation. The central agency said that this was a plot that was hatched in Pakistan. Funds came from Canada, UK and Italy, the NIA had also said. In Punjab, the ISI-Khalistan forces which work together have specifically targeted religiously important persons.

On their radar was a Christian Priest Father Sultan Masih who was killed in Ludhiana on July 15 2017. In Punjab there have been such murders galore and the year 2017 has seen five such incidents. In 2016, there were two such incidents. The NIA probe into these incidents suggest that the mastermind is a person called Gursharanbir Singh who is a British national. He is the one who roped in Ramandeep and Hardeep Singh and directed them to kill Hindu leaders.

The handlers who directed the killing of RSS and other Hindu leaders have been traced to Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom. The Punjab police which is probing the case learnt that there is a systematic approach that has been followed to eliminate Hindu leaders by ISI agents.

The motive behind the killings is to destabilise the state, the police say. The ISI wants to cause communal tension in Punjab. Once the state becomes volatile then it could be used as a platform to launch the Khalistan forces, the police also said. The police got information about the modus operandi following three very high profile arrests.

The Italian connection:

Recently the NIA took over the probe into the killing of two persons-Satpal Sharma and his son Ramesh Kumar at Ludhiana. An NIA officer explained to OneIndia that the during the investigation it was found that killings of Satpal Sharma, his son Ramesh Sharma and Durga Gupta were part of trans-national conspiracy hatched by senior leadership of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF).

Eight incidents of such killings were executed as part of this conspiracy between January, 2016 and October, 2017 in Punjab. The objective of the conspiracy was to destabilize the law and order situation in Punjab and to revive the fledgling terrorism in the state.

It was found that the conspiracy had its foot-prints in several countries including, Pakistan, UK, Australia, France, Italy and UAE. As part of the conspiracy, large amounts of funds were supplied through Italy, Australia and the UK to the perpetrators of the Killings/ Attempted Killings, viz. Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh. These funds were used by them to purchase weapons for executing the killings and other logistics.

The conspiracy included recruitment and training of Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh in Italy, Dubai and UAE. Accused Hardeep Singh is the permanent resident of Italy while accused Ramandeep Singh belongs to Ludhiana. Both these persons were trained by one Gursharanbir Singh, a UK national. Another UK national, Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been arrested in the case was involved in the funding of the conspiracy. Day to day co-ordination of the conspiracy was done by Pakistan based Harmeet Singh @ PhD.