Yet again: Happy Malaysia's name in Ludhiana blast exposes international support for Khalistanis

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The Khalistan forces are known to have support in several countries such as Italy, Canada, United Kingdom and even in the US. However, the primary support comes from Pakistan.

New Delhi, Sep 09: The naming of Harpreet Singh alias Happy Malaysia in the Ludhiana court bomb blast case only shows the extent of international coordination the Khalistani terrorists have.

At first, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) named Germany-based Khalistani terrorist Jaswinder Singh Multani in the same case. The NIA alleged that he had coordinated sending in the explosives to Punjab via a drone from Pakistan. On December 23 last year, a powerful blast took place at the Ludhiana court complex. A cop who had planted the bomb died in the blast while six others were injured.

The NIA in a note said that Happy Malaysia is presently residing in Malaysia and is associated with the International Sikh Youth Federation. A cash reward was announced for any information relating to the terrorist.

The fact that the Khalistani terrorists are committing acts of terror in India and taking shelter abroad has been exposed by the NIA several times. The crackdown by the NIA on these elements began a couple of years back.

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The NIA has busted over 20 modules and arrested over a 100 terrorists linked to these modules. Intelligence Bureau officials tell OneIndia that more attempts would be made to revive the movement and the challenge has not ended.

Several forces from other countries would use the Khalistan and other terror modules to meddle with the Indian elections. The idea would be to cause an extreme amount of instability especially in Punjab.

The Khalistan forces are known to have support in several countries such as Italy, Canada, United Kingdom and even in the United States. However, the primary support for the terror modules comes from Pakistan.

In a bid to gain traction, the Khalistan terrorists have not only used Punjab, but held events in other parts of the world as well. One of the most spoken about events was the one held in London in August 2018.

The event was held at the Trafalgar Square on August 12 and was organised by the SJF or the Sikhs for Justice a proscribed terror group. The SJF, a New York based organisation, organised the event and several reports in India prepared by the various agencies clearly suggest that it is a pro-Khalistan front. It has been instrumental in undertaking both pro-khalistan and anti-India activities, both in the US and other countries.

Earlier this year Harmeet Singh, a top Khalistan terrorist involved in the killing of several Hindu leaders in Punjab was killed near Lahore. Harmeet alias Happy PhD took over as the chief of the Khalistan Liberation Force in 2014 after the outfit's boss Harminder Mintoo was arrested by the Punjab Police from Thailand. Mintoo had managed to escape from jail, but he was arrested again. He died of a cardiac arrest in 2018.

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In Punjab, there have been such murders galore and the year 2017 alone witnessed five such incidents. In 2016, there were two such incidents. The NIA probe into these incidents suggested that the mastermind is a person called Gursharanbir Singh who is a British national. He is the one who roped in Ramandeep and Hardeep Singh and directed them to kill Hindu leaders.

The handlers who directed the killing of RSS and other Hindu leaders have been traced to Italy, Canada and the United Kingdom. The Punjab police which is probing the case learnt that there is a systematic approach that has been followed to eliminate Hindu leaders by ISI agents. The motive behind the killings is to destabilise the state, the police say.

The ISI wants to cause communal tension in Punjab. Once the state becomes volatile, it could be used as a platform to launch the Khalistan forces, the police also said. The police got information about the modus operandi following three very high profile arrests.

Recently, the NIA took over the probe into the killing of two persons - Satpal Sharma and his son Ramesh Kumar at Ludhiana. An official explained that during the investigation, it was found that killings of Satpal Sharma, his son Ramesh Sharma and Durga Gupta were part of trans-national conspiracy hatched by the senior leadership of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF).

Eight incidents of such killings were executed as part of this conspiracy between January 2016 and October 2017 in Punjab. The objective of the conspiracy was to destabilise the law and order situation in Punjab and to revive the fledgling terrorism in the state.

It was found that the conspiracy had its footprints in several countries including, Pakistan, UK, Australia, France, Italy and UAE. As part of the conspiracy, large amounts of funds were supplied through Italy, Australia and the UK to the perpetrators of the Killings/ Attempted Killings, viz. Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh.

These funds were used by them to purchase weapons for executing the killings and other logistics.

How ISI bonded its terrorists and Khalistan forces to activate the K2 deskHow ISI bonded its terrorists and Khalistan forces to activate the K2 desk

The conspiracy included recruitment and training of Hardeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh in Italy, Dubai and UAE.

Accused Hardeep Singh is a permanent resident of Italy while accused Ramandeep Singh belongs to Ludhiana. Both these persons were trained by one Gursharanbir Singh, a UK national. Another UK national, Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been arrested in the case was involved in the funding of the conspiracy. Day to day co-ordination of the conspiracy was done by Pakistan based Harmeet Singh @ PhD, the NIA had said.

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Story first published: Friday, September 9, 2022, 12:02 [IST]