Babbar Khalsa

Babbar Khalsa International (BKI, Punjabi: ਬੱਬਰ ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, [bəbːəɾ xɑlsɑ]), better known as Babbar Khalsa, is a Sikh terrorist organisation whose main objective is to create an independent Sikh country, Khalistan.[3] It operates in Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.[4][2][5][6]

Babbar Khalsa International
ਬੱਬਰ ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ
Also known asLions of the True Faith[1]
FoundersTalwinder Singh Parmar †
Sukhdev Singh Babbar †
LeaderWadhawa Singh Babbar
FoundationApril 1978 (1978-04)
MotivesCreation of an independent state of Khalistan for Sikhs in the Punjabi speaking region of South Asia.
Active regionsCanada, Germany, Pakistan, United Kingdom[2]
IdeologySikh nationalism, Punjabi separatism
Notable attacksBombing of Air India Flight 182
Bombing of 1985 Narita International Airport
Assassination of CM Beant Singh
StatusActive
Part ofInsurgency in Punjab, India
Opponents

BKI was created in 1978 after clashes with the Nirankari sect of Sikhs.[7] It was active throughout the 1980s in the Punjab insurgency and gained international notoriety in June 1985, for killing 329 civilians (mostly Canadians) in Air India Flight 182 in Canada's worst case of mass murder[8][9] and for the associated 1985 Narita International Airport bombing – a bungled attempt at mass murder on a second Air India flight on the same day.[10] Its influence declined in the 1990s after several of its senior leaders were killed in encounters with Indian police.[7]

The organisation employs armed attacks to accomplish its goal[11] and is officially banned and designated as an international terrorist organisation by the United States,[12][13] Canada,[14][2] the United Kingdom,[15] the European Union,[16][17] Japan,[18] Malaysia,[19] and India.[20]

Origin

The name Babbar Khalsa is taken from the Babbar Akali Movement of 1920, which fought against the British Rule of India. The modern-day BK was created in 1978 by Talwinder Singh Parmar and Sukhdev Singh Babbar after the 1978 Sikh–Nirankari clash. On 13 April 1978, while observing the founding day of the Khalsa, the Sant Nirankari Mission clashed with the Damdami Taksal and the Akhand Kirtani Jatha, aggravated by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale[21][22][23] and Fauja Singh in which 15 people died.[24][25] BK was formed with the support of Bibi Amarjit Kaur with Talwinder Singh as the president.[26][24]

A criminal case was filed against sixty-two Nirankaris by the Akali-led government in Punjab but all the accused were acquitted.[25] The Punjab government Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal decided not to appeal the decision.[27] The case of Nirankaris received widespread support in the media.[25] Soon an environment was created against the Nirankaris, perceived as the enemies of Sikhism.[28] The chief proponents of this attitude were BK , Akhand Kirtani Jatha, Damdami Taksal and the All India Sikh Students Federation, which was banned by the government.[25]

Activities

Babbar Khalsa started targeting people who sympathised with the Nirankaris.[24] In the subsequent years following this clash, several murders took place in Punjab and the surrounding areas allegedly by Damdami Taksal and the BK.[25] After carrying out attacks, BK members would retreat to the Golden Temple. Police did not enter the temple complex to avoid hurting the sentiments of Sikhs.[25]

1980s

According to C. Christine Fair, Babbar Khalsa was opposed to Bhindranwale and more concerned with propagating sectarian violence and enforcing Sikh personal law than supporting Khalistan movement. BK kept up a low level of activity until 1983.[26]

On 24 April 1980, the Nirankari head, Gurbachan Singh was murdered.[29] Initially, associates of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and members of BK were suspected,[30] but in 1983, a member of the Akhand Kirtani Jatha, Ranjit Singh, surrendered and admitted to the assassination three years later, and was sentenced to serve thirteen years at the Tihar Jail in Delhi.[31]

On the morning of November 19, 1981, Police Inspector Pritam Singh Bajwa and Constable Surat Singh were gunned down in Daheru village nearby Khanna in Ludhiana district while attempting to apprehend Tarsem Singh Kalasinghian and his associates hiding at the residence of Amarjit Singh Nihang, all members of BK. This act gained BK and its chief Talwinder Singh Babbar notoriety.[32]

Some terrorists acts done in Canada, India and Germany have been claimed in the name of BK.[33] Parmar and Kalasinghian were both able to escape from India via the Nepal border and reach Canada.[32] During his residence in Canada, Talwinder Singh continued to lead BKI activities. He was involved in terror financing, recruitment and radicalization of Sikh youths, procurement of small arms and explosives, and the development and coordination of terrorist attacks.[34] After Operation Blue Star the organisation fell into disarray but was able to regroup and remained active.[26]

On June 23, 1985, Babbar Khalsa militants bombed Air India Flight 182 going from Montreal, Canada to New Delhi, India. An improvised explosive device placed inside the cargo hold of the Boeing 747 detonated and destroyed the plane at an altitude of 31,000 feet in Irish airspace and it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. All 329 passengers were killed, including 268 Canadian, 27 British and 24 Indian citizens.[34]

Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat were arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on explosive charges, linking the two to the Air India Flight 182 bombing and 1985 Narita International Airport bombing. Parmar was acquitted of all charges. Inderjit Singh Reyat admitted to building the bomb, was convicted in the Air India bombing.[35] Reyat a member of the ISYF, was found guilty of manslaughter for making the bombs and had to spend more than 20 years in prison at Canada, and is the only individual convicted in these attacks as of 9 Feb 2009.[36][37][38]

The Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182 concluded that, regarding Talwinder Singh Parmar, "[it] is now believed that he was the leader of the conspiracy to bomb Air India flights"[39]

Five BK members from Montreal were arrested May 30, 1986, for another plot to bomb Air India flights out of New York City. Newspaper editor Tara Singh Hayer was targeted with a bomb at his office in the same year. Just weeks later, Sikhs from the Hamilton temple along with Air India bombing suspects Talwinder Singh Parmar and Ajaib Singh Bagri were arrested after being wiretapped discussing blowing up the Parliament and kidnapping children of MPs in India. Visiting Punjabi Cabinet Minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu was ambushed in Canada, surviving being shot by four gunmen.[40]

1990s

On 8 January 1990, Khalistan Liberation Force in co-operation with Babbar Khalsa, killed DSP Gobind Ram in a bomb blast. On 15 April 1990, 11 civilians were killed and 39 civilians were injured in a bomb blast orchestrated by BK in a Delhi bound bus in Panipat.[41] Three months later, BK members assassinated M.L. Sikri, the Chief Engineer of the Sutlej Yamuna link canal. 5 months later, 2 BK terrorists assassinated the A.K. Talib, the station director of All India Radio Chandigarh.[42]

On 7 September 1991, eight BK militants had an encounter with CRPF personnel near the village of Maujiya. The encounter lasted for 24 hours.

After returning to India in 1992, both Sukhdev Singh Babbar and Talwinder Singh Parmar were killed in a gunfight encounter between Punjab Police and the duo.[43]

On 31 August 1995, Dilawar Singh Babbar assassinated Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh in a suicide bomb attack at the civil secretariat in Chandigarh. Dilawar claimed allegiance to the BK and four other members of the BK were named responsible for the killing of Beant Singh.[44][42]

2000s

In the 2000s, Punjab police was able to apprehend several Babbar Khalsa terrorists and was also able to prevent several potential terrorist attacks linked to the organisation.[41]

In 2004, several members of the BK, accused of being involved in the assassination of CM Beant Singh, broke out of the Burail Jail and escaped to Pakistan.[45][41] All the escapees were recaptured and sentenced to life sentence for the assassination.[46][47] One of these escapees, Jagtar Singh Hawara, along with another accused was sentenced to death for the assassination in 2007. Three others were sentenced for life in prison. In 2008, another 2 members were convicted and sentenced for 7 years in prison.[41] Hawara's death sentence was later commuted to life sentence in 2010.[48] In 2011, Central Bureau of Investigation moved against the commutation and argued in the Supreme Court of India that the case of Hawara was a "rarest of rare case". In 2010, Paramjit Singh Bheora was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010.[41]

In May 2005, BK terrorists bombed Liberty Cinema on the G. T. Karnal Road, Delhi during the screening of the Hindi Film, Jo Bole So Nihaal (film). One person was killed and 60 were injured. Several arrests were made in connection including the operatives who carried this attack out and the suppliers of RDX for the arrack. The attack was coordinated from Stuttgart, Germany on the directions of a nephew of the leader of BK, Wadhwa Singh.[41]

On 14 October 2007, BK militants bombed the Shingar Cinema Complex in Ludhiana, Punjab in which 6 people were killed and 37 wounded.[42] The perpetrators were arrested. The police also recovered 2 pistols, 5.10 kg of RDX and 3 detonators from them. The militants had gone to Pakistan with a Sikh Jatha for pilgrimage, where they received the training for making bombs. The group received explosive devices from Pakistan across the international border in Bikaner, Rajasthan.[49][50]

2010s

Four Babbar Khalsa members were arrested and later bailed in July 2010 in connection with the murder of a Sikh leader in Punjab, India.[51]

In March 2012, the execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana was stayed by the central government due to appeals by the SGPC. Later in 2013, Rajoana was additionally convicted of recovery of explosives and was sentenced for 10 years. In 2015, after a regime change at the center, Home minister Rajnath Singh ordered relooking to the case .[41]

In a probe by Indian authorities in 2012, it was revealed that Pakistan's intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) provides immense financial support to BK and has provided over INR 800 million (80 crore) till that date.[41]

On 30 September 2012, retired military general of the Indian armed forces, Lt. Gen Kuldip Singh Brar, who led the Operation Blue Star, was attacked with a knife on Oxford Street, London in an assassination attempt. BK was largely blamed for this attack.[52] On 8 October, 2 suspects were arrested.[53] Another man and a women were also arrested on the charge. The 4 suspects were brought to trial and convicted for the assassination attempt on 10 December 2013. 2 of them were sentenced for 14 years and 2 were sentenced for 11 years of imprisonment.[54]

On 5 Jan 2015, Jagtar Singh Tara, another accused in the assassination of CM Beant Singh was caught in Thailand and extradited to India.[41]

In March 2017, Balwinder Singh, the head of BK's operations in the United States, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Nevada U.S. district judge for conspiracy to launch a terrorist attack in India in 2013.[55] Singh pleaded guilty to providing funding and materials to a co-conspirator, who was to travel to India to assassinate or maim an Indian government official. The target government official was to be determined upon the co-conspirator's arrival.[11][41]

Between 2017 and 2023, many operatives, members and smugglers of BK were arrested within the territory of India and imprisoned by Indian courts as Punjab saw a new rise in Khalistani presence in the state. The leadership of BKI operated primarily from UK, Germany and Pakistan.[41]

Financing

The group receives funds and support from its supporters within the Sikh community, that are largely located in Europe and North America.[56] Historically, to get the financial and material support needed for operating terrorist activities, Babbar Khalsa has used in-person meetings, public rallies and fundraising events. Babbar organized and featured at Sikh rallies and fundraisers across Canada. Babbar was instrumental in channeling financial support to BKI from overseas Sikh communities.[34] BKI is sponsored by Germany-based extremist organisations with an aim to revive an armed conflict in the Indian Punjab.[34]

Presence

Babbar Khalsa militants have their presence outside of India in Pakistan, North America, Europe and Scandinavia.[2] BKI at present is active in the US, Canada, the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and Pakistan.[24] BKI continues its operations from Pakistan with the support of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).[34] According to Indian sources the group has its headquarters in Lahore, Pakistan.[57][58]

In 1992, Talwinder Singh Babbar split from the BKI and formed the BK (Babbar) faction. This happened after serious differences erupted between Babbar and BKI's leadership. The Babbar faction has a presence in the UK, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.[24]

Bans

It is officially banned and designated as an international terrorist organisation by several countries.

See also

References
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