Internet services were suspended across the state of Punjab on Saturday and are still suspended as of now on Sunday, officials confirmed. According to press sources, Amritpal Singh, the leader of Waris Punjab De and a supporter of the Khalistani movement, has been the target of Punjab Police operation.
The Department of Home Affairs and Justice, Government of Punjab, stated that all mobile internet services, all SMS services (aside from banking & mobile recharge), and all dongle services provided on mobile networks, aside from voice calls, shall be suspended. The Punjab Police today conducted a large crackdown on “Waris Punjab De,” detaining 78 activists in the Jalandhar area in response to criticism regarding the allegedly worsening peace and order situation in the state. Amritpal Singh, a pro-Khalistan activist, evaded capture despite a significant police presence in the Jalandhar neighborhood of Shahkot. The police asserted that they had taken 373 ammunition, a revolver, seven 12-bore rifles, and one 315-bore rifle from the demonstrators.
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Is Amritpal Singh still on the run?
The radical preacher Amritpal Singh is still on the run, according to the Punjab Police, who also stated that a big search operation has begun to apprehend the leader of the Waris Punjab De organization.
The statement followed earlier today’s media reports that stated Singh and a number of his allies had been detained by the Punjab Police.
According to a statement from Punjab Police, the state has begun extensive Cordon and Search operations against Waris Punjab De members.
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What led to the Crackdown?
On Thursday, in an anomalous course of events, a group of men armed with swords and guns stormed a police station in Ajnala, on the outskirts of Amritsar, demanding the release of Lovepreet Singh, also known by his alias “Toofan,”.Singh was being held on kidnapping charges and assault on a Chamkaur Sahib-based resident Varinder Singh. Lovepreet Singh alias Toofan, who is a close associate of “Waris Punjab De” leader Amritpal Singh, had turned to activism during the farm agitation at the Delhi border. Lovepreet Singh, a Sikh preacher, and modest farmer has long advocated for Sikh causes.
Amritpal Singh, 30, who has gained notoriety in Punjab over the past six to seven months as a Sikh preacher and infamous sympathizer for Khalistan, was at the epicenter of these events. He claims to be a devoted follower of Bhindranwale, a militant leader who supported Khalistan and was assassinated in the infamous operation Blue Star on June 6, 1984.
Lovepreet Singh was released from jail the following day, but this entire incident has raised numerous issues with Punjabi politics, government, and law and order.
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Who is Amritpal Singh?
Born in 1993, Amritpal Singh Sandhu hails from Jallupur Khera village in Baba Bakala tehsil of Amritsar district. He is said to have studied up to the plus two levels before he left for Dubai for work in 2012. Singh, a 29-year-old Dubai-returned Sikh who recently moved to Punjab, has abruptly entered the religiopolitical scene after taking control of Waris Punjab De, an organization that actor-activist Deep Sidhu founded before his supposed accident caused death in February 2022.
“We (Sikhs) have become a community of slaves” – this is a message Amritpal Singh, the head of Waris Punjab De, is heard proclaiming in most of his speeches.
His surrounding social media activity suggests that he had been advocating for Sikh causes for at least the previous five years or so. He joined the anti-farm law demonstrations, notably the Deep Sidhu-related faction of the movement. According to Deep Sidhu’s statements at the Shambhu Border, his branch of the movement was distinct from the farm unions since he advocated for a more comprehensive political and social reform of Punjab rather than just the repeal of agricultural regulations. He believed that the movement should’ve been carried forward even after the repelling of the controversial farm laws.
According to Quint, apparently, Amritpal never met Deep Sidhu and the two interacted only through social media.
However, the ministry of home affairs is reported to have told the Punjab government to keep a watch on his activities. Captain Amarinder Singh has asked the government to take action against him and a Shiv Sena faction wants him booked under UAPA. His Twitter account was withheld in India on 7 October 2022, reports The Quint.
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What does the Socio-Political scene in Punjab look like?
There have been a number of political responses to this, with the Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar denouncing the crackdown while the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress supported it. Following the announcement of the crackdown on Singh, a number of political figures from various parties have pleaded for peace in Punjab. However, the general public’s perception of him is sharply divided, with supporters applauding his efforts to resuscitate Sikhi and his anti-drug campaign in addition to the enormous crowds at his events. Critics, on the other hand, charge him of usurpation and with attempting to destabilize Punjab.
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Anxieties over the rise of a potential militancy in Punjab?
The Khalistan movement, which was previously seen as more of a foreign diaspora concern, is currently making news in India due to farmer protests, but the subject is becoming more prominent due to the recent series of events and the emergence of Amritpal Singh as a pro-Khalistan leader. Anxieties are being risen along the lines of this crisis turning into a potential threat of militancy in Punjab.
Harjeshwar Pal Singh, an assistant professor of History based in Chandigarh thinks that it will not lead to a rise in militancy because there has been strong criticism within the community against the ways adopted by Amritpal Singh.
Author of Panjab: Journeys through fault line, Amandeep Sandhu enunciates the larger problems which have been plaguing the state and which might have come into the forefront with such issues. The rise of someone like Amritpal Singh, in Sandhu’s opinion, is evidence that numerous governments have historically failed to address various issues at their root.
While the state has been apparently working to put Punjab’s violent history of bloodshed and militancy behind it, these images have brought back memories of those times. Anxieties are being risen along the lines of this crisis turning into a potential threat of militancy in Punjab.
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