New Delhi: Delhi Police arrested three accused for allegedly painting pro-Khalistan graffiti at the Singhu Border, purportedly at the behest of terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, official sources said on Saturday.
According to police sources, the offensive slogans and graffiti were painted on walls at the Singhu Border, between the states of Delhi and Haryana, on September 6.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the chief of the banned group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), had claimed responsibility for the act in a post on ‘X’.
Investigators obtained clues about the accused from CCTV footage at the Singhu Border, based on which the police team arrested all three individuals.
The police have also recovered the car used by the accused.
According to police sources, one of the accused was in direct contact with Pannu.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police has registered a First Information Report (FIR) and initiated an investigation into the matter.
This comes after pro-Khalistan outfits operating in foreign countries altered their operational framework under direct instructions from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), shifting focus from violent crime towards political campaigning to evade international law enforcement crackdowns, Intelligence officials say.
With the international agencies now working closely with the Indian authorities on the Khalistan issue, these groups have decided to change their modus operandi.
The Khalistan movement abroad is increasingly shifting towards a political campaign rather than a violent one.
The Pakistani spy agency that controls this movement has clearly instructed the pro-Khalistan groups not to openly engage with the gangsters as they have been doing all these days.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that the shift comes amid the close coordination between Indian and international security agencies.
This has led to a severe crackdown, which has made operations hard for these groups.
“The crackdown was possible as these Khalistani groups were indulging in violence, extortion rackets, and money laundering. Their close nexus with the criminal gangs abroad gave the agencies the leeway to act tough on them as heinous crimes, which included murders, narcotic smuggling and money laundering,” the official said.
The ISI realises the importance of keeping pro-Khalistan groups such as SFJ relevant. They have been encouraged to pursue the issue as a purely political movement, organising referendums, holding marches and demanding a separate Khalistan carved out of Punjab.
(IANS)
