NIA conducts searches at multiple locations in Punjab following information about Amritpal Singh’s cousin Amarjot: Crackdown following attack on Indian High Commission in Canada
The National Investigation Agency has carried out a number of raids across the Punjab state Friday on several premises that are connected to pro-Khalistan leader Amarjot whose brother-in-law is Amritpal Singh, the jailed preacher and lawmaker. Raids are said to be in connection with the probe into the violent attack on the Indian High Commission in Ottawa, Canada, in 2023.
NIA’s Pan-Punjab Crackdown
The NIA operation covered all the districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Patiala, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Tarn Taran, and Moga in the Punjab state in an effort to dig up more about Amarjot and his co-conspirators who carried out the attack. The agency informed that 13 locations linked to Amarjot were searched and incriminating documents, digital devices, and suspicious financial transaction records were seized.
The searches were a part of the greater inquiry into the violent attack on 23 March, 2023, when a pro-Khalistani mob stormed into the Indian High Commission in Ottawa, raising anti-India slogans and hurling two grenades inside the building. Diplomats were shocked as their threat got into evidence for growing influence for Khalistanis abroad.
Now, who is Amarjot?
Amarjot is the brother-in-law of Amritpal Singh, the fiery orator and the chief of the “Waris Punjab De” organisation. Amritpal Singh has a notoriety of being a votary of the Khalistan movement. He is often described as a contemporary avatar of militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who is now lodged in the Dibrugarh district of Assam under the NSA.
Amarjot Kaur and her husband, Amritpal Singh, who is such a controversial person for supporting and promoting the Khalistan movement – a separate Sikh state as an election Lok Sabha member from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib constituency. For whatever it is worth, the family relations between Amarjot and Amritpal have never brought these two under better scrutiny now for Amarjot has been named in the FIR filed by the NIA in June 2023.
The NIA probe further ascertained that Amarjot has been the leadership figure in mobilizing the protest for the Indian High Commission attack on March 2023 in Canada. It has been reported that he led the protesters, flying Khalistani flags, demanding an independent Sikh state. This suspected association of Amarjot with the incidence further reinforced his position as the chief leadership in the pro-Khalistan movement as well.
Digital Devices seized along with the Financial Records
While conducting the raids, teams of NIA have seized many digital items including mobile phones, SIM cards, pen drives, iPads, DVRs, hard drives, and memory cards. Officials of NIA are scanning all these devices very intensively in hope of collecting some leads about Amarjot’s network and his activities against India.
It is said that this has mainly concentrated on suspicious financial transaction records that connect to Amarjot and his other aides, bank transfers and other monetary movement that seem to be supporting pro-Khalistan activities or money for future attacks, all of which are under its scanner. Such records may reveal the international connections and the scale of financial backings which such Khalistani elements have that operate in India as well as outside.
Besides these digital devices and financial documents, it seems that several incriminating documents were seized by the NIA officials reportedly. It might throw further light on the organizational and coordinating efforts behind the attack on Ottawa, besides the overall goal pursued by Amarjot and his associates.
Ottawa Attack and its Aftermath
Protests relating to India-Khalistan ties were witnessed this time itself when the Indian High Commission in Ottawa came under attack on March 23, 2023. In the official statements, Amarjot is mentioned among the protesters who stormed the High Commission, shouted anti-India slogans, attached a Khalistani flag on the boundary wall, and hurled grenades inside the building.
Thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt in this attack, but this incident has given rise to the notion that Khalistan forces around the world, especially those in countries such as Canada with support groups belonging to pro-Khalistan factions, now hold much more significance. The investigation of the attack by the NIA has thrown more into limelight the Khalistani factions that function inside Punjab and outside the country and the consequences of their financial and logistics tie.
There have also been periodic complaints by the Indian government about the growing activities of pro-Khalistan forces in Canada, the United Kingdom, and other Western countries. At times, the issues have strained diplomatic relations between India and Canada, as New Delhi seeks stronger measures against anti-India forces operating from within Canadian territorial limits.
Amarjot and Amritpal Singh: The Wider Khalistan Movement
This reported connection to Amritpal Singh raises a concern in Indian intelligence and security circles. However, Amritpal Singh has been a contentious figure since long due to extreme views, and he has been projected as a successor to the killed Khalistan militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. His outfit “Waris Punjab De” under his leadership has been vociferous for an independent Sikh state and Amritpal has time and again and repeatedly used his position as an elected member to air these demands.
The arrest under the NSA of Amritpal Singh in the year 2023 has become a serious step by the Indian government against pro-Khalistan activities. Being behind the bars, the impact of Amritpal Singh on his followers is still massive and family relationship with Amarjot has worsened the condition further.
The Khalistan movement that reached its peak in the 1980s remains a sensitive topic for Indians in general and Punjab in particular as a small yet vocal section of people there support this idea of an independent Sikh state. It has been very well said that the Indian government will not tolerate any such revival of this movement and instead it has taken a strict stand against the followers of this movement.
Present Ongoing Investigations and Future Action by NIA
The round of raids by NIA in Punjab is simply a development of the investigation into the attack on Ottawa and its wider Khalistani activities pertaining to the case. While Amarjot is now finally behind bars, officials have hinted at further arrests and raids to come within days ahead.
The NIA most likely seizes digital gadgets, account and banking books, and documents to draft a more defined insight into the pro-Khalistan network that is operating in Punjab and abroad. The agency most likely would cooperate with International authorities, primarily in Canada, tracing the individual perpetrators and groups related to the Ottawa attack.
The ouster of the element standing for Khalistani by the Indian state does not seem to yield by the flow of this investigation. Those in authority have vowed to book the attackers because all who will be involved will be brought to justice. The arrests of Amarjot and his accomplices give clear evidence that the Indian state will act conclusively toward its interests in the prevention of the re-eruption of the Khalistan movement.
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