Moga (Punjab) : In a Punjab Police-Intelligence Bureau joint operation, Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh is detained at Moga in Punjab this morning. After 36 days of manhunt, the fugitive Khalistani preacher is taken into police custody amid reports that he finally surrendered. The Khalistani separatist leader has been on the run ever since he gave a slip to the police on March 18 this year.
The police are making arrangements to shift the nabbed Khalistani preacher to the Dibrugarh jail in Assam. Already, some of the aides of Amritpal Singh are lodged in the Dibrugarh jail. Following this, the Assam jail is being turned into a fortress with the authorities taking additional security measures.
Amritpal is the current head of Waris Punjab De, a Sikh-separatist organisation which is committed to the cause of achieving an independent nation of Khalistan. After its founder Deep Sidhu passed away in 2022, Amritpal Singh took over its reins and became the centre of many controversies and attacks in Punjab.
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On February 23, 2023, the storming of the Ajnala police station brought the national spotlight on Amritpal Singh. The Waris De Punjab chief along with hundreds of his supporters attacked the police station to release his close associate named Lovepreet Singh Toofan. Both Amritpal and Lovepreet were accused in a complaint filed by a man who complained that he was kidnapped and beaten.
The Punjab Police faced a challenging test to nab the fugitive Khalistani revivalist till now as the searches in neighbouring States of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and other areas did not yield any results. Searches were also conducted in the border areas with Nepal. Now and then, Amritpal was seen in videos walking in the streets and riding vehicles. There were suspicions that Amritpal might have hidden in villages and small towns along the borders of Punjab with Haryana and Rajasthan.
The manhunt for Amripal Singh has sparked protests from Khalistani sympathisers in different countries around the world that led to confrontations with the Indian authorities. The Khalistani activists in London hoisted their flags at the Indian Embassy there that marked protests lodged by India with the Britain government. Similar protests by Amripal Singh supporters were witnessed in America and some other countries.
