Why is Khalistan leader, fugitive Amritpal Singh’s aides lodged in Assam jail? What did Assam CM say?

The 4 aides of the Khalistani sympathizer who are lodged at the Dibrugarh Central Jail are -- Sh Sarabjeet Singh Kalsi, Sh Bhagwant Singh, Sh Gurmeet Singh Gill AND Sh

Even as the massive manhunt for pro-Khalistan separatist leader Amritpal Singh intensifies, an Assam angle has been added to this fast evolving global plot.
Four of the close aides of Amritpal Singh, the fugitive Khalistani sympathiser and self-styled preacher, has been flown in to Assam earlier in the day today and are now lodged in the high security Dibrugarh Central Jail. They were flown in by a special air force aircraft escorted by a team of over 30 Punjab Police personnel including Inspector General, Prisons.
The supporters of the radical leaders was flown from Amritsar in an AN32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force.
The 4 aides of the Khalistani sympathizer are–Sh Sarabjeet Singh Kalsi, Sh Bhagwant Singh, Sh Gurmeet Singh Gill and Sh Basant Singh.

Why have the aides been brought to Assam?

Reacting to the development Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said,”There was a time when arrests were made in Assam, and we had sent the people (accused) to Bhagalpur Jail in Bihar for security reasons. The Punjab Police might think that they (4 aides of Amritpal) stay in Assam. This is police-to-police cooperation. So I dont have to speak much more on this.”

It may be mentioned that all of this is a part of the Punjab Police and the Centre’s crackdown against ‘Waris Punjab De’ members who caused widespread unrest in Amritsar last February for the release of Lovepreet Singh. Amritpal and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, broke through barricades and barged into the Ajnala Police Station on the outskirts of the Amritsar city, and clashed with police. During the incident, six policemen including a Superintendent of Police rank officer had suffered injuries.
Punjab Police have so far arrested 78 members of the organisation and are questioning them about Amritpal’s whereabouts who is absconding since then.

On Saturday, Amritpal Singh managed to escape an arrest by the Punjab police. Amritpal was chased by police for about 20-25 kms but he managed to escape and continues to be on the run. He was last spotted in Amritsar riding a bike.

Who is Amritpal Singh?

30 year old Amritpal Singh who hails from Jallupur village in Punjab’s Amritsar is a follower of the slain Sikh militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in Punjab.

Amritpal was just another Punjabi man influenced by the Western lifestyle who didn’t even wear a turban until February 2022. He was in Dubai to support a relative’s transportation company and spent his time on social media.

However things have changed when actor and political activist Deep Sidhu who was the founder of Waris Punjab De (a radical group originated in Punjab) died in a road accident in February last year.

Amritpal Singh, who was observing the situation from Dubai returned to India to fill the void left by Sidhu’s death and declared himself the new chief of Waris De Punjab.

What is Waris Punjab De?

Amritpal’s radical outfit Waris Punjab De has been wreaking havoc in various parts of Punjab for several years and is one of the outfits spreading Khalistani ideology in the state. Members of Waris Punjab De have been known to frequently clash with the police and have been linked to a variety of illegal activities.

The outfit was founded by late Deep Sidhu in 2021. After Deep’s death, and Khalistan sympathizer Amritpal Singh took over Waris Punjab De, He made the decision to reshape the organisation in line with the beliefs of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who was an Indian militant and is described as the face of the Khalistan movement.

What is the Khalistan movement?
The Khalistan movement seeks to establish a distinct, independent Sikh state in modern-day Punjab (both India and Pakistan). Over the years, it has survived in various forms, in various places and amongst different populations.

Following Operation Blue Star (1984) and Operation Black Thunder (1986 and 1988), the movement was put down in India, but it still inspires sympathy and support among certain Sikhs, particularly in the Sikh diaspora in nations like Canada, the UK, and Australia.

When did the movement start and why?
The movement’s origins can be seen in India’s independence and its religion Partition. Millions of people fled the Punjab province, which was split between India and Pakistan, as a result of some of the worst intergroup violence: Muslims in the east fled west, while Sikhs and Hindus stuck in Pakistan’s west hurried to the east.

The historic Sikh Empire’s capital, Lahore, as well as sacred Sikh landmarks like Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak, moved to Pakistan. While the majority of Sikhs ended up in India, they were a tiny minority there, making up only around 2% of the population.

Around the time of Independence, the Punjabi Suba Movement, which aimed to establish a state that spoke Punjabi, marked the beginning of the political struggle for greater autonomy. The States Reorganisation Commission rejected this petition in its 1955 report, but after years of opposition, the state of Punjab was reorganised in 1966 to take into account the Punjabi Suba demand.

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