India
Attack on former Punjab dy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal shows rise of radical fringe | India News – Times of India
According to an ex-IPS officer from Punjab, the sensational assassination attempt was made by a terrorist who has been involved in serious crimes like murder, attempt to murder, possession of weapons and explosives and militancy in the past and was in constant contact with the leadership of Sikh terrorists in Pakistan, was the manifestation of the discontent and religious extremism that had been simmering in Punjab for almost two decades.
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Especially between 2007 and 2017, when the ‘moderate’ Badals were in power, the voices of the ‘radical fringes’ in the Sikh diaspora became more strident. They used social media as a means to influence and indoctrinate a new generation, who have no living memory of how their families had suffered at the height of the Sikh terror and who only feed the romanticized, pro-Khalistani propaganda online seemed to have seen them appear.
“The sense of ‘radical extremism’ seems to have gained momentum only in the wake of the farmers’ protests/unrest, dominated by farmers from Punjab,” another officer added.
In recent years, Pakistan has not only protected the leadership of prominent pro-Khalistan groups like Babbar Khalsa International and Khalistan Tiger Force, but also continued to push the pro-Khalistan pedal through projects like the Sikhs for Justice’s ‘Khalistan Referendum 2020’ .
The Sikh diaspora, in which the extremists appear to have the upper hand, provided funding and resources for pro-Khalistan elements even as Pakistani-backed actors fueled intercommunal tensions and provided a steady supply of weapons. That even laws like the UAPA could not stop terrorists like Chaura for long, allowing him to get help from the courts and return to extremist activities, made the threat of radicals crushing all moderate voices even more real.
“Those born after 1993, when Sikh militancy had disappeared due to police crackdown and dominance of moderate voices, have been fed lies for the past two decades that 1.5 lakh people were killed in the battle era, when the actual number of deaths increased. was approximately 22,000, including 1,800 police personnel. Radical voices like Simranjit Singh Mann built a popular base by fighting the polls and the rise of radical leaders like Waaris Panjab Chief Amritpal Singh is proof that pro-Khalistan sentiments are rising in Punjab,” said a former intelligence officer.
The solution, several officers told TOI, lay in promoting moderate voices to neutralize the “radical fringe”, strengthening the police to tackle extremists and strengthening anti-terror laws.
