Khalistani terrorist Avtar Singh Khanda, who was admitted to a hospital in Birmingham, UK, after an alleged ‘poisoning’ died yesterday. Khanda was 38. He has been booked by the NIA after his involvement in the attack on the Indian High Commission in London in March.
While some media reports say Khanda was poisoned, some reports mention that he had blood cancer.
Indian Express faux pass
The Indian Express, in its news report announcing Avtar Khanda’s death, forgot to remove the editorial note that had apparently asked the writer to address Khanda as a ‘militant’ and not a terrorist. The screenshot of the report was shared on Twitter by a user ‘Woke Janta’.
Hey @IndianExpress ,
— Woke Janta (@WokeJanta) June 16, 2023
Your team forgot to remove the editor's notes from the article.
At the end, you settled with "pro-Khalistan activist".#Shame pic.twitter.com/4ZM9eWpVam
The initial version of the report mentioned Avtar Khanda’s father and his association with Khalistani terrorist organization Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF). The article also took care to mention Khanda as a ‘student’ who had gone to the UK for ‘studies’.
Indian Express tried to make necessary edits to their article. However, the archived version of the original report can be read here.
The current version of the report mentions Khanda as a ‘well-known pro-Khalistan activist’.
Avtar Singh Khanda and his terror links
Avtar Singh Khanda, born in Punjab’s Moga district, was the son of terrorist Kulwant Singh Khukrana who was associated with the Khalistan Liberation Force and Khalistan Commando Force. He was also a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar.
He was also a member of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), a Khalistani terrorist group banned in several countries including Canada, the US, and the UK, apart from India.
Avtar Singh Khanda worked with other London-based Khalistani separatists like Joga Singh, Kuldip Singh Chaheru and Gursharan Singh, and was behind several Khalistani demonstrations in the UK.
The London-based Khalistani terrorist nurtured Waris Punjab De (WPD) chief terrorist Amritpal Singh. He mentored and prepared Amritpal to lead Waris Punjab De before sending the latter to Punjab. He also assisted Amritpal Singh in evading the Punjab police during the crackdown on WPD.
Indian media and their efforts of whitewashing terrorists
Indian Express has a habit of insisting that terrorists against the Indian State are not terrorists but mere ‘militants’. This is reflected in many of their earlier reports too. In a 2019 incident, where 2 Islamic terrorists were killed in Jammu and Kashmir, and despite the fact that the police statement had mentioned the word ‘terrorists’, the media outlet had gone ahead and used the word militant.
Not just Indian Express, but almost all mainstream media outlets in India have this habit of whitewashing terrorists by terms, narratives, and sometimes blatant denial. So terrorists are often portrayed as ‘students’, ‘headmaster’s son’, ‘young man who loved bikes’, and much more.
A detailed article on the UN definition of terrorists and acts of terrorism and how the term ‘militant’ tries to cover the crimes up, can be read here.
Essentially, the media frequently tries to paint terrorists as ‘those fighting oppression’ in order to ensure that the threat of radical Islam and terrorism in Kashmir, Khalistani terrorism in India and abroad that has killed hundreds of innocents and propagates the idea of war against the Indian State for a chunk of its territory, can be reduced to a mere armed resistance against the ‘oppression of the state’. Branding JeM terrorists as ‘militants’, terming Khalustani terrorists as ‘well-known activist’ etc are just another step in the project.
