Khalistani terrorist Lakhbir Singh Rode, who was accused of bombing an Air India aircraft Kanishka in 1985, has died of a heart attack in Pakistan.
According to his brother Jasbir Singh Rode, Khalistani separatist leader Lakhbir Singh Rode has died in Pakistan.
Lakhbir Singh Rode has been reported to have been operating out of Lahore while leading the banned Khalistan Liberation Force* (KLF) outfit from Pakistan.
Lakhbir Singh Rode: Khalistan Liberation Force Leader
The 72-year-old self-described leader of the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), which has branches in over a dozen countries in Western Europe and Canada, and the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), two outlawed organisations, had been managing his affairs from Pakistan for many years.
Lakhbir Singh Rode was the nephew of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a Khalistani terrorist who was killed by Indian security forces during Operation Blue Star, directed by the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
In accordance with India’s Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, Lakhbir Singh Rode was classified by the Indian government as an “individual terrorist”.
Air India 182 Bombing
Babbar Khalsa International leader Talwinder Singh Parmar, apprehended by Punjab police in 1992, during a confession claimed that “Around May 1985, a functionary of the International Sikh Youth Federation came to me and introduced himself as Lakhbir Singh and asked me for help in conducting some violent activities to express the resentment of the Sikhs”.
Talwinder Singh Parmar identified in his confession Lakhbir Singh as the mastermind of the Air India 182 bombing. This claim hasn’t been validated yet, however.
Smuggling Arms to India
The Indian government’s dossier on Lakhbir Singh claims that he was in charge of smuggling and supplying explosives and weapons to Punjab across the border in order to target VVIPs throughout India.
The son of Lakhbir Singh, Bhaggu Brar, currently resides in Canada and is facing allegations of engaging in terrorist activities in Punjab. In the past, he would frequently visit Pakistan to give his father money and weapons. Furthermore, he has been charged with encouraging anti-Indian activities in Canada.
*Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) – an organisation prohibited in India, was led by Lakhbir Singh Rode. In addition, he was the main organiser of the Khalistan Zindabad Force cell, which was in charge of causing unrest close to the border between India and Nepal.
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