Why Amritpal Singh was a no-show at the end of it

Following a five week chase, radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh was arrested by the Punjab Police.

A movement which many thought would spiral out of control has been brought to a close with his arrest. An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that the manner in which the entire episode unfolded only went on to show that Amritpal was a no-show. His aides were arrested with ease and when it finally came to Amritpal, the head of the Waris Punjab De, his supporters and followers had vanished. Not only incident of violence had been reported in Punjab ever since the chase began and this only went on to show that he did not have the clout that he would have hoped he had.

The official cited above said that the manner in which the entire incident panned out, it becomes clear that there is no traction for the Khalistan sentiment in Punjab any longer. Punjab has witnessed a bloody history when Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had wrecked havoc. It is clear that the people of the state are not ready to go back to the 1980s any more, the official cited above said.

Amritpal following his arrest was shifted to a jail in Assam as the state Intelligence had told the cops that if were to be lodged in a jail in Punjab then there could be attempts of a jail break.

Another official said that from the outset it was clear that Singh was a plant. Many in Punjab have realised that and hence, he was not able to drum up the Khalistan sentiment. Further, many in Punjab did not like the fact that the Indian High Commissions in London and San Francisco were attacked following the crackdown on Amritpal. The fact that his supporters brazenly attacked the Ajnala police station with arms and ammunition also did not go down too well with the general public.

While he has been arrested, a big challenge that lies ahead is to establish his links with the ISI and the Pakistan deep-state. The official cited above said that for this the National Investigation Agency would come into the picture. The agency is already probing the gangster-terror nexus case. It is through this case that the NIA would need to establish the funding that Singh may have received from foreign agencies. As of now it is clear that groups such as the Sikhs for Justice, which has been declared a terror group by the Indian government was behind the propaganda and funding. It has also used gangsters settled abroad to further their activities in Punjab, by using local goons to carry out attacks on the state run establishments.