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| India-Pakistan |
| ISI, Khalistan forces will try taking advantage of instability in Punjab |
| 2021-10-02 |
| [OneIndia] Pakistan is known to use to its advantage any instability in India. Be it protests or political issues, the ISI has known to engineer trouble and take advantage. In Punjab, the situation is volatile courtesy the political circus following the ouster of Captain Amarinder Singh and later on the resignation of. Navjot Singh Sidhu. It is a well known fact that the ISI has been trying to bolster the Khalistan movement in Punjab. While the Khalistan movement has not been re-kindled the way the ISI would have wanted, the fact remains that the activities of these groups have only been on the rise off late. The stability in the politics of Punjab has been one reason why the democratic set up could not be shaken in the state. In this backdrop, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said what does it mean when this is happening in a border state to the Congress party. It is an advantage for the ISI in Pakistan. We know the history and the rise of extremism in the state. We know that the forces across the border exploit the situation to create unrest. It is these forces that are a threat to our country Sibal also said. Zulfikar Bhutto had once said that Pakistan will also have a Bangladesh carved out of India, but it would be on the Pakistan border. This was a reference that he made to Khalistan. The ongoing farmer protests have gained support from the global Khalistan movement. Thousands of protesters gathered outside the Indian High Commission in the United Kingdom and displayed Khalistan flags. Paramjeet Pannun, closely associated with the ISI funded Sikhs For Justice and members of the Sikh Federation, UK, which is associated with the Khalistan movement were part of the protests. The ISI has for the past two decades made attempts to revive the Khalistan movement in India. Intelligence reports amidst the farmer protests also indicated that Pakistan based Khalistan groups are being pushed by their handlers to exploit the farmers' agitation in a bid to revive militancy in the state. Since the early part of this decade, Pakistan has been funding the SJF launched Referendum 2020 movement. In 2018 a module was busted in Punjab. It was found that this group was promoting Referendum 2020 and had planned on mass targeting. They even had their eyes set on an IPL game in Mohali. Senior officials tell OneIndia that while the Khalistan movement has not gained the traction that Pakistan would have desired, the issue however continues to persist. The ISI will continue to fund the movement and will look for fragile situations and make use of it. In the past few months several outfits such as the Babbar Khalsa, Khalistan Liberation Force, Khalistan Zindabad Force, ISYF and Khalistan Commando Force have come under the scanner. A meeting at the Nankana Sahib in Pakistan between these elements and the ISI also came under the scanner. |
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