On September 5, Gajinder Singh, the co-founder of Khalistani terrorist organization Dal Khalsa and an accused hijacker of a 1981 Indian Airlines flight revealed his current location as Punjab province of Pakistan. The revelation was made after he published a photograph of himself posing in front of a gurudwara on his Facebook profile. The gurudwara in the background is Gurudwara Shri Panja Sahib Ji, located in Hasan Abdal, Pakistan.
It is noteworthy that this was not the first time he published a photograph of the Gurudwara with himself in the shot. A similar photograph was published on September 1, where his side profile was visible. That photograph was clicked during nighttime.
1981 Indian Airlines plane Hijack
On September 29, 1981, terrorists hijacked an Indian Airlines aircraft headed to Amritsar and forcibly diverted it to Lahore. The Indian Airlines Boeing 737 domestic passenger aircraft had departed from Delhi airport and was scheduled to land in Amritsar. However, five terrorists of Dal Khalsa hijacked it and diverted it to Lahore, Pakistan. As per reports, they were armed with hand grenades and daggers. The plane was carrying 111 passengers.
The hijackers demanded the formation of a separate State for Sikhs, what they call “Khalistan”. Gajinder Singh was the leader of the hijackers. They demanded the release of the leading face of the Khalistani movement, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Another demand that they made was delivery of USD 5,00,000 while talking to the Indian envoy to Pakistan, Natwar Singh.
Pakistan ran a trial in the case and sentenced the hijackers to life imprisonment. However, in October 1994, they were released from prison. Gajinder Singh has been on the most wanted list in India since 2002. The government of India has repeatedly tabled an official request to Pakistan to deport Gajinder Singh, but the neighbouring country kept denying that he lived in Pakistan. However, the recent revelation made on social media speaks a different story than what Pakistan has been telling India.
Khalistan, and only Khalistan: OpIndia’s deep dive into Gajinder Singh’s social media accounts
OpIndia looked into the public posts of Gajinder Singh’s social media account on Facebook and Instagram. We found out that the previous Facebook account of Gajinder Singh was suspended recently, after which he created a new ID. It cannot be surely said how many ‘Khalistan’ supporting posts were made in his previous ID and how many such posts are non-public on his current profile.
Gajinder fanned Khalistani narrative in Arshdeep controversy
After India lost the Asia Cup match to Pakistan on August 5, well-oiled propaganda surfaced on social media platforms where it was insinuated that Indians were defaming Arshdeep by calling him a ‘Khalistani’. Later, it was revealed the trend had Pakistani links, and the likes of Mohammed Zubair of Alt News fanned it in India.
Gajinder Singh also took advantage of the controversy and published a post on his Facebook account. In Punjabi, he wrote, “Arshdeep Singh, the Sikh player of the Indian cricket team, has been in a lot of discussions for two days. Arshdeep’s missed catch during India’s match against Pakistan, in which India lost, led to a campaign against him by Indian nationalists calling him a ‘Khalistani’.”
He further added, “The best answer to this Indian campaign is that we all say openly, ‘I am also Khalistani’ or ‘I am proud to be a Khalistan. How nice it would be if Arshdeep Singh and other Sikh sportsmen would openly say that they are proud to be Khalistani.”
‘Cows are the same as other animals for Sikhs’
In another post, he talked about the clash between Nihang Sikhs and Dera Radha Soami Beas followers. Though he stood by Nihangs for obvious reasons, he propagated hate towards Hindus. He said, “I do not understand the connection between Nihangs and cows. Hindus worship cows as a mother. Sikhs do not. For us, cows, buffalos, goats, etc., are the same. What kind of matters are our Sikhs getting into?”
Gajinder Singh ‘proudly’ published his photograph with Air India flight
On August 29, Gajinder Singh published an old passport-size photograph of himself in the background of an Air India flight on his Facebook profile. Along with the image, he wrote a poem in Punjabi suggesting he wanted to raise “the flag” [of Khalistan] high in the sky next to the stars.
Gajinder’s Instagram account also has a lot of posts linked to the Khalistani movement, and he regularly uses his social media presence to lure the Sikh community to “fight for the establishment of Khalistan”.
