New Delhi: A high alert has been sounded across the national capital after pro-Khalistan separatist group, Sikh For Justice (SFJ) circulated a video threatening to disrupt the forthcoming Republic Day as well as the Maha Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. The SFJ released the video footage where a pro-Khalistan activist was found raising an anti-national slogan in front of India Gate.
The video also shows him raising the Khalistan flag at Delhi Junction Railway Station ahead of Republic Day. In the video message, the SFJ chief and Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun claimed that one squad of Khalistan vigilantes is already stationed in Delhi for Republic Day, while another heads to Prayagraj to target the Maha Kumbh Mela.
“From January 26 to February 26, SFJ will disrupt Republic Day and the Maha Kumbh. The Khalistan flag will rise…,” Pannun claimed. According to a senior official, the Delhi Police is taking all precautions to ensure peaceful Republic Day celebrations. “We have intensified checking. Checking has been intensified at all entry and exit points to and from Delhi,” the official said.
As far as the route of the Republic Day parade is concerned, according to the official, high footfall areas were being surveyed with the help of the bomb disposal squad. Senior officials in the Home Ministry have recently set for a high-level meeting with senior police officers of Delhi and neighbouring states. “The meeting mainly discussed the issue of sealing the borders to restrict the influx of suspected elements,” the official said.
Pannun, who was designated a terrorist by the Home Ministry in 2020, on charges of sedition and secessionism, was also charged by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) with criminal conspiracy, promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, and various offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
India banned SFJ as an “unlawful association” for engaging in “anti-national and subversive” activities. In the first week of January, an Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) Tribunal chaired by Delhi High Court’s Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta announced Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) as an unlawful organisation for five years.
The tribunal ruled that the evidence given by the Centre established SFJ’s connections with Khalistani terror groups such as Babbar Khalsa International and Khalistan Tiger Force, as well as its collaboration with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to revive militancy in Punjab. After examining evidence, the tribunal found SFJ’s involvement in recruiting and radicalising youth using social media platforms, financing terrorism through smuggling networks to procure weapons and explosives, and issuing death threats to political figures.
