The security forces have launched an all out operation against Khalistan elements in a bid to prevent any attempt that is being made to revive the movement.
Based on Intelligence assessments, the operations have been launched to put down the movement at its early stage itself. An Intelligence Bureau official told the Organiser that Pakistan has signalled that the movement be revived at this time itself.
The strategy is to keep Bharat busy with the ongoing developments in Bangladesh. The ISI is creating a situation in Bangladesh which threatens the security apparatus of Bharat. While on one hand, it would look to boost infiltrations in Jammu & Kashmir on the other it would keep the Bangladesh borders busy. This would create a diversion for the security agencies and the same could be used to their advantage to revive the Khalistan movement, the officer also said.
Khalistan Zindabad Force
The execute the operation, the ISI has been propping up the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF). The outfit was founded in 1993 by Ranjeet Singh Neeta who originally hails from the Simbal camp in Jammu. However following the crackdown in the 1990s he fled the country and took refuge in Pakistan with the blessings of the ISI.
Officials say that Neeta is one of the most trusted assets of the ISI and this made his outfit the natural choice to revive the movement in Punjab. Neeta began nurturing ties with the ISI in the 1980s itself. Even the operations that were carried out by the KZF in those days were all guided and orchestrated by the ISI.
Another reason why Neeta was chosen to revive the movement is because of his head-hunting skills. He has the knack of picking up youth in Punjab and nurturing them to be part of his KZF.
A dossier on Neeta and the KZF state that a sizeable population of Sikhs were recruited from the Simbal camp and R S Port. The youth would then be brainwashed into doing the KZF. In the 1990s the same youth were used extensively to target buses that were plying on the roads leading to Punjab, Delhi and Jammu.
Brief revivals
The KZF has been on and off in Punjab since militancy was wiped out in the 1990s. However the KZF re-surfaced in 2009 and undertook a spree of targeted killings. In 2009 the outfit murdered Rulda Singh the chief of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat. The same year it carried out the killing of Sant Ramanand of the Dera Sachkand Ballan in Vienna.
Following these killings the KZF vanished but returned in 2017. Neeta used the KZF operatives to target police facilities in Punjab. The role played by Neeta came to light following investigations into these incidents. On Monday in an encounter that took place at Uttar Pradesh, three cadres of the KZF were killed. The trio were involved in the targeting of police facilities in Punjab.
The police said that they were headed to Pilbhit where they were asked to recruit youth since this place has a large number of people from the Sikh community.
The Intelligence agencies have received several inputs that clearly state that the KZF is making another round to revive the outfit in Punjab. Further inputs suggested that the top brass of the terror group is in touch with its men based out of Germany, United States, Canada, Belgium, Austria and Nepal. It is trying to build a massive team to carry out attacks in Punjab. The foreign hands that the outfit has are tasked with propaganda and also raising funds.
The security agencies have collected enough material which point towards the sinister plan that the KZF has. Further the KZF at the behest of the ISI is trying to take advantage of the volatile situation along the Bangladesh and J&K border and spread its activities in Punjab.
Currently there is a coordinated effort by the police of various states around Punjab to flush out these elements and carry out Operation All Out against these Khalistan terrorists.
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