New Delhi: Against the backdrop of a major diplomatic tussle between India and Canada over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) has reiterated that Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operatives based in United Kingdom (UK) and Canada are funding its cadres in India to carry out terrorist acts.
The agency further said that BKI’s front organisations, including Sikh Organisation for Prisoner Welfare (SoPW), Akhand Kirtanee Jattha (AKJ) and Khalsa Aid are still providing funds to commit terrorist acts in India. On several occasions, India raised the issue of terror funding by BKI with authorities in the UK and Canada.
The Indian operatives are also getting active support from Pakistan-based BKI leaders, including Wadhwa Singh, Jagtar Singh Tara among others. BKI is a banned pro-Khalistani terrorist organisation. According to the latest dossier prepared by the NIA, the BKI has started recruiting fresh sleeper cells to carry out subversive activities.
“Furthermore, intelligence suggested that the money sent from the UK and Canada is also distributed among sleeper cell members as well as jailed terrorists,” the NIA noted in its dossier, which was seen by ETV Bharat. It is worth mentioning that a diplomatic fight between India and Canada erupted after the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Nijjar was killed by unidentified assailants in a Canada suburb in June. Canada accused Indian agents of the killing.
According to sources in the security establishment, BKI is working with pro-Khalistan elements, who are well-established in different nations across the world, to relocate its key members and executors abroad, especially in India. The NIA earlier in a charge sheet has said that BKI members targeted and attacked important security installations, including RPG terror attacks on the intelligence headquarters of Punjab Police in Mohali, RPG attack on Sarhali Police Station in Tarn Taran and an IED blast on Crime Investigating Agency (CIA), Ropar.
The BKI hired gangsters and criminals from other States, including Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, to execute their operations. NIA said that BKI chief Wadhwa Singh Babbar, currently hiding in Pakistan, is working hand-in-glove with Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). The NIA has also announced rewards for BKI associates namely Lakhbir Singh alias Landa and Harwinder Singh alias Rinda.
Evidence gathered by intelligence agencies also suggests that the BKI has established a nexus with Indian fugitive Dawood Ibrahim. Always working in close coordination with other Khalistani terrorist organisations, the BKI, apart from India, have made their presence in Pakistan, North America, Europe and Scandinavia. BKI is also active in the US, Canada, the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway and Switzerland.
Former to create an independent Sikh state called Khalistan, the BKI traces its origin to the Babbar Akali Movement of 1920 and is believed to have assumed its present form after the Baisakhi 1978-clashes between the Akhand Kirtani Jatha and Nirankaris and more particularly when some followers of Bibi Amarjit Kaur brought some leaflets styling themselves as Babbar Khalsa after the killing of Nirankari chief Gurbachan Singh, on April 24, 1980. Sukhdev Singh Babbar and Talwinder Singh Parmar were the founding members of BKI. The first unit of the BKI was founded in Canada in 1981 under the leadership of the late Talwinder Singh Parmar.
