Pro-Khalistan separatist leader Amritpal Singh, currently lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh Central Jail has purportedly written a letter demanding that the status of ‘martyr’ be accorded to dreaded Khalistani terrorists Hardeep Singh Nijjar and Avtar Khanda.
Last month, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in Surrey, Canada four days after, Khalistani terrorist Avtar Khanda mysteriously died in a UK Hospital.
The ‘Waris Punjab De’ allegedly handed the handwritten letter to his wife Kirandeep Kaur when she met him in jail on July 6. The letter which was written in the Gurumukhi script and dated July 5 was addressed to the Sikh community and signed by all nine of his associates also detained in Dibrugarh jail.
In the four-page letter, a copy of which is being widely circulated on social media, Amritpal Singh made an appeal to the Sikh community to bestow the status of “Quomi Shaheed” (community martyrs) upon dreaded Khalistani terrorists Avtar Khanda and Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Amritpal Singh and his supporters said that the Indian government had attempted to hide the reality by portraying Avatar Singh Khanda’s ‘martyrdom’ as the result of his “illness.” They also claimed that similar efforts had been made to characterise Sandeep Singh’s (Deep Sidhu) ‘martyrdom’ as a “road accident.”
“Despite these futile efforts, the collective consciousness of the Sikh community bestowed upon Deep Sidhu the title of “Quomi Shaheed” (community martyrs). Similarly, Avatar Singh Khanda and Hardeep Singh Nijjar deserve the revered status of “Quomi Shaheed”, and the Sikh Quom should declare them “Quomi Shaheed”.
In the letter, Amritpal Singh and his aides also incited the Sikhs to foment violence by urging them to take up arms against the government.
Falsely accusing the Indian government of fostering the persecution of Sikhs in the country, the pro-Khalistani separatist brazenly provoked the Sikh community to revolt against the central government.
“The Sikh community in Punjab is experiencing mass migration due to the targeted killings of Sikhs in India. The responsible Indian state is fostering Sikh persecution, which is drawing global attention towards the Sikh cause. Countries that claim to uphold human rights are turning a blind eye to the bloodshed inflicted upon Sikh activists by Indian intelligence agencies. Is the silence of these nations an implicit endorsement of the actions of the Indian government? Will these countries continue to sacrifice human rights for their own economic interests?!” he wrote.
While the purported letter has been doing the rounds on social media, some local media reports have quoted Biswajit Pegu, the Deputy Commissioner of Dibrugarh as saying that while Amritpal Singh’s wife visit him this week, there was no information about a letter.
He said that in order for a letter to be handed over to anyone from within the jail, a certain set of rules are to be followed.
Notably, earlier, Kirandeep Kaur claimed that her husband and his associates were on a hunger strike to protest the “deplorable facilities in the jail.” the Dibrugarh district administration refuted the claim of Amritpal Singh, Chief of ‘Waris Punjab De,’ being on a hunger strike in Dibrugarh Central Jail, as asserted by Kirandeep Kaur.
Who is Amritpal Singh?
Amritpal Singh Khalsa, a Sikh preacher and current chief of late actor Deep Sidhu’s organisation ‘Waris Punjab De’, is walking across the state under the banner of ‘Khalsa Vaheer’ or ‘Khalsa March’. The pro-Khalistani preacher took over the organisation after Sidhu’s demise in an accident on February 15, 2022. Sidhu formed ‘Waris Punjab De’ in September 2021 intending to “protect the rights of Punjab and raise social issues”. Amritpal Singh even dresses like Bhindranwale and is accompanied by armed men 24×7, much like the slain terrorist. There is very little information available about his past.
On April 23, pro-Khalistani separatist leader Amritpal Singh surrendered at Sant Khalsa Gurudwara in village Rode, district Moga, Punjab. Amritpal Singh and his aides are taken to the British-era Dibrugarh Central Jail in Assam. The prison complex has high security and is fortified as it once held high-profile ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) terrorists when the militancy was at its peak in the Northeast. As of now, nine of Amritpal’s aides – Daljit Singh Kalsi, Papalpreet Singh, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, Varinder Singh Johal, Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala, Harjit Singh, Bhagwant Singh, Basant Singh and Gurinderpal Singh Aujla are lodged in the Dibrugarh Central Jail.
