The arrest of terrorist organization Sikhs For Justice’s (SFJ) Jaswinder Singh Multani came as a good sign for India’s fight against the radical Khalistani movement. Multani was arrested by the German Police after India used the highest levels of diplomatic relationships to convince the German authorities for the arrest. Now, the story behind the arrest is slowly coming to light, explaining how the arrest was the result of over 72 hours of hectic diplomacy by the Union Government under PM Modi.
Reports suggest that the Indian government had made it clear it would hold Germany accountable in case any bomb blast took place in Delhi or Mumbai, the cities that were under threat of an attack being arranged by Multani. A report in Hindustan Times stated that the Modi government presented actionable intelligence to the German embassy in India. The information provided by the Indian government was enough to convince the Federal Police in Berlin about the urgency of the matter.
The officials of the Indian embassy that had gone for the Christmas holidays were called back to the office by the Ministry of External Affairs. It showed the German authorities that the matter at hand was urgent and serious as there was a possibility of a terror attack on Mumbai. The GoI provided evidence to show Multani had sent explosives to Mumbai and was assembling a terror team to initiate the terror attack.
The German Police are currently interrogating the SJF terrorist. On the other hand, the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian Security Agencies, and officials are known to matter are not revealing any more details.
Can India’s success in Germany put pressure on UK and Canada?
Khalistani radicals and sympathizers, including those linked to SFJ, are a major national security issue that India is trying to address in several countries, including UK and Canada. There are several Khalistani sympathizers in Canada and UK that are being backed by Pakistan. India’s success in convincing German authorities to arrest SFJ terrorists is going to put pressure on UK and Canada to take action against the radicals.
It is noteworthy that both Canada and UK are strategic partners of India, and the Indian Security agencies have time-to-time alerted the two nations about the radicals who are trying to create unrest in India. However, the two nations have not taken are drastic steps against the radicals. It was only recently that Sikhs For Justice’s Hounslow based office was raided by UK security agencies where they recovered electronic devices and documents related to the ‘Punjab Referendum’.
The Police recovered documents that sought to inflate the number of voters in the so-called referendum. An individual with links to Pakistan was also detained in the process. According to sources quoted by News18, the outfit created fake identity cards using electronic devices.
Pro-Khalistani radicals linked to SFJ and other extremist organisations abroad are causing problems
There are many Khalistani terrorists and sympathizers living abroad who fled the country after the crackdown against them in India. Several pro-Khalistani organizations like Sikhs For Justice, Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Zindabad Force, and others are either openly active or working behind the curtains in these countries.
It is noteworthy that many pro-Khalistani leaders have made it to the top positions and become lawmakers in UK and Canada. The best examples of such leaders would be Jagmeet Singh ( MP Canada), his brother Gurratan Singh (MLA Ontario, Canada), Preet Kaur Gill (MP UK), and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (MP UK). All these leaders have tried to use their position as lawmakers to influence the governments of their respective countries against India.
Recently in November, a special team of the National Investigation agency also visited Canada. The team provided information about Khalistani terrorist organizations, including Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), to the Canadian authorities.
The team reportedly pressed for the execution of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty to fast-track the information-sharing mechanism related to anti-India activities. The agency went equipped with funding sources routed from the US, the UK, France, Australia and Germany.
It can be recalled that Khalistani terrorists had bombed Canada bound Air India flight 182 Kanishka killing 329 people in June 1985. It is considered to be the deadliest mass murder in Canadian history. Despite such a history against Canada, pro-Khalistani elements have managed to find a safe haven in Canada.
Multani was planning terror attacks in Punjab
Recently, Multani came under security agencies’ radar as he had arranged consignments of weapons including explosives, pistols and hand grenades to the state using his Pakistani links and arms smugglers. Several arrests were made recently in Punjab that was linked to Multani.
On February 7, 2021, Punjab Police apprehended local radical Khalistani supporters from Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Amristar districts. They recovered eight country-made pistols and ammunition from them. The pistols were procured from Sikligar Sikhs based out of Madhya Pradesh and other sources to carry out terror attacks in Punjab.
Later, the Punjab police also arrested Jeevan Singh from Mansa, who was directly linked to Multani. He had radicalized Jeevan on social media to target Balbir Singh Rajewal, a key farmer union leader. Multani had arranged funds for Jeevan to procure locally made weapons to target Rajewal. In August, one more arrest was made by the Punjab Police linked to Multani. Saroop Singh from Johal Dhaiwala, district Tarn Taran was apprehended by the Police. Two hand grenades were recovered from him.
It was revealed during the investigation that Singh was approached by Surrey on Facebook, who turned out to be Multani. He also contacted Singh on WhatsApp. Money was sent to Singh via Western Union, and grenades were delivered at Amritsar-Harike road via Pakistan. Multani had shared a photo of the location with Singh and instructed him to collect bombs from there.
Multani has been named in the recent Ludhiana court blast case as well. There are two FIRs registered against Multani in Amritsar and SAS Nagar. He is linked to all core members of Sikhs For Justice.
