Pro-Khalistan terrorist groups have infiltrated gurdwaras in Pakistan’s Lahore under a “new game plan” by India’s neighbour in a bid to promote extremism in the Indian Sikh community against Hindus and the central government, intelligence sources said.
According to intelligence inputs, the alleged hijacker of the Srinagar-Lahore flight in 1984 was seen meeting Akal Takht jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh in Panja Sahib Gurdwara in Lahore. Pakistan’s game plan as such is to keep Khalistani extremists in gurdwaras in Lahore so that they can “radicalise” Sikh devotees, sources said.
Intelligence sources further said the alleged flight hijacker Ravinder Singh Pinka and his associates were meeting Sikh devotees from India, who have gone to Pakistan to observe the 100th anniversary of Saka Panja Sahib. Pinka deliberately clicked a photo with Giani Harpreet Singh, which was accessed by CNN-News18.
Later, however, when officials of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) were informed about Pinka, the video was immediately taken down from the SGPC website.
Sources also said the jathedar belonged to the entire community and nobody was prohibited from meeting him, and that Giani Harpreet Singh might not even know or recognise Pinka.
Intelligence sources said such radical elements were everywhere in Lahore and deliberately contacted Indians coming for darshan to these gurdwaras to radicalise them.
CNN-News18 has earlier accessed video and audio of Lahore-based Khalistani elements like Ranjeet Singh, alias Neeta, who is the chief of Pakistan-based Khalistani Zindabad Force, as well as Akashdeep Singh alias Akash Randhawa, who was arrested in Tarn Taran in September. Both were allegedly involved in the delivery of arms and ammunition from Pakistan via drones.
There are many reports of pro-Khalistan terrorist groups in Lahore, which are raising funds for operations and organising weapon shipments across the border. In September, a photograph of another alleged hijacker, Dal Khalsa chief Gajinder Singh, was mistakenly released on Facebook, exposing his whereabouts. While Indian authorities have long known about Gajinder’s presence in Lahore, the photo was an example of ISI’s links to terrorism in Pakistan’s Punjab.
India is looking for such Lahore-based pro-Khalistan leaders, who are accused of assassinations, terrorist bombings and hijackings. They also run online anti-India propaganda through poems and Facebook posts.
Last year, a blast at the Ludhiana court complex that killed one person and injured at least five was also carried out by Lahore-based pro-Khalistan terrorists using local gangsters, as per intelligence inputs.
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