UK allows platform for Khalistan call to arms

Chandigarh : The US based advocacy group, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), has been crying hoarse that “Referendum 2020”, which is aimed at demanding a separate homeland for the Sikhs, is a peaceful movement. The British Government, too, has “ignored” requests by the Indian Government to block the event to be held at Trafalgar Square in London on Sunday, saying peaceful demonstration of views is within the law. However, reports by Indian security agencies, accessed by The Tribune, reveal that there is a “definite call to arms and violence”, by those organising the event. A videotape shot by Harmeet Singh alias Rana Singh (social media name), a confidant of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal adviser to SFJ, shows him inciting the Sikhs to “take up arms” and teach the “terrorist (Indian) government” a lesson. The video was accessed by security agencies from the phone of Dharminder Singh of the Territorial Army, arrested for being a part of a terror module in Batala subdivision of Gurdaspur. The video was received on his mobile on May 24, days before two liquor vends were set afire. Investigations by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Punjab Police revealed that Dharminder and his associate Kirpal Singh were provoked by Harmeet Singh into doing so. Their interrogation revealed they were radicalised, indoctrinated and funded by foreign handlers, including US-based Harmeet Singh, UK-based Paramjit Singh Pamma and Mann Singh, and Malaysia- based Deep Kaur. “This is proof of the SFJ trying to propagate terrorist acts in Punjab,” said a senior Intelligence officer. This proof of “call to arms” was shared by the Indian security agencies with their counterparts in the UK. But the British Government refused to “block the event”, citing the right that allows people to gather and to demonstrate their views, “provided they do so within the law”.