The brand new home safety concern within the area bordering Pakistan was the newest occasion of accelerating turbulence related to the Sikh separatist motion often known as Khalistan over the previous 5 years.
The problem has develop into a diplomatic flash level, with protests in help of Amritpal happening in america, Britain and Canada — a few of which had led to vandalism of Indian embassies. A photograph of him towered over a sea of supporters in New York Metropolis’s Occasions Sq. in March.
For a lot of within the state of Punjab, the current occasions hark again to a interval of intense violence within the Nineteen Eighties, ignited by the Indian Military’s raid on the faith’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, through which the Sikh militant chief Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was killed. The incident and its subsequent traumatic years, together with anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, nonetheless reverberate in deep reminiscence at the moment.
Bhindranwale was born within the village that Amritpal was arrested in on Sunday morning, in one more signal of Amritpal attempting to evoke recollections of some of the salient figures in Punjab.
A video that circulated on social media instructed that Amritpal had determined to give up to authorities. “I’ve determined to show myself in. My arrest isn’t the top however a brand new starting,” he said within the video. The Washington Put up couldn’t independently confirm the footage.
Punjab police appeared to offer a distinct model of occasions. Police Inspector Basic Sukhchain Singh Gill informed a news conference that “relentless stress” on this “particular operation” had led to intelligence on Amritpal’s whereabouts, and police surrounded him within the village of Rode in Moga district. Amritpal shall be detained distant, within the northeastern state of Assam, alongside a few of his different jailed associates, the inspector normal added.
The state’s chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, said: “Motion shall be taken towards those that attempt to disrupt the nation’s peace and regulation. We is not going to disturb any harmless particular person. We don’t do vendetta politics.”
The 30-year-old Sikh preacher from Punjab briefly lived in Dubai earlier than returning to Punjab final yr, based on officers, restyled in a turban and beard mimicking Bhindranwale.
Punjab is likely one of the wealthiest Indian states however has been saddled with a menacing drug epidemic and crippling debt, resulting in an exodus overseas. In a vacuum of management, Amritpal was capable of rise, state residents and consultants say. A number of officers and residents mentioned that on a go to to the state in early April, Amritpal appeared to seem out of “nowhere,” harnessing social media and tapping right into a base of unrest by espousing an anti-drug marketing campaign.
He rose to a brand new stage of prominence in February when he led a bunch to storm a police station within the Amritsar district, forcing the police to launch his shut aide. In discussing Sikh grievances, he has referred to as for the “freedom” of Punjab, saying in media interviews that Khalistan — a separate Sikh homeland — will “end suffering.”
Through the month-long hunt for Amritpal, tv reporters chronicled his each transfer via CCTV digicam leaks traversing a number of Indian states and all the way in which into Nepal, whereas Amritpal himself launched movies of calls to motion on social media. “I’m not a fugitive, however a insurgent,” he mentioned in a single video. “I’m not going to run away from the nation. I’ll are available in entrance of the world quickly.”
In a dramatic chase on the finish of March that concerned round 100 automobiles in Punjab’s countryside, Amritpal managed to flee police seize by switching automobiles, based on native studies.
Bhindranwale’s picture — which had been faraway from Sikh temples, or gurdwaras, and siloed into non-public areas through the insurgency period — has resurged in Punjab, even entering the made-in-China provide chain. His picture could carry Khalistani sentiments or could be a reminder of a Sikh assertion towards historic injustices, relying on whom you ask.
Equally, relying on whom you ask, Amritpal is a creation of the nation’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Social gathering, the Aam Aadmi Social gathering-led state authorities, the Pakistani intelligence company or Sikh diaspora teams. “Punjab has been a playground for political conspiracies,” mentioned Amritsar Police Commissioner Naunihal Singh.
Whereas help for Amritpal and Khalistan stays fringe within the state, the anger towards the federal government simmers palpably, largely due to the drug epidemic that’s usually blamed on police and authorities collusion. Shashi Kant, the retired director normal of the Punjab police, mentioned that whereas officers have succeeded in a single battle, “now the actual process begins. They’re the larger challenges forward.”
Many fear that the police crackdown through the seek for Amritpal could stoke fires additional. “As soon as you set them in jail, you’ve gotten radicalized them for all times,” mentioned Kiranjot Kaur, granddaughter of Tara Singh, a key Sikh political celebration chief and a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which acts like a gurdwara supervisor and Sikh parliament.
“In the mean time, Punjab is in deep disaster. … It’s a simmering anger going from one era to the following,” she mentioned.
Anant Gupta contributed to this report.
The brand new home safety concern within the area bordering Pakistan was the newest occasion of accelerating turbulence related to the Sikh separatist motion often known as Khalistan over the previous 5 years.
The problem has develop into a diplomatic flash level, with protests in help of Amritpal happening in america, Britain and Canada — a few of which had led to vandalism of Indian embassies. A photograph of him towered over a sea of supporters in New York Metropolis’s Occasions Sq. in March.
For a lot of within the state of Punjab, the current occasions hark again to a interval of intense violence within the Nineteen Eighties, ignited by the Indian Military’s raid on the faith’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, through which the Sikh militant chief Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was killed. The incident and its subsequent traumatic years, together with anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, nonetheless reverberate in deep reminiscence at the moment.
Bhindranwale was born within the village that Amritpal was arrested in on Sunday morning, in one more signal of Amritpal attempting to evoke recollections of some of the salient figures in Punjab.
A video that circulated on social media instructed that Amritpal had determined to give up to authorities. “I’ve determined to show myself in. My arrest isn’t the top however a brand new starting,” he said within the video. The Washington Put up couldn’t independently confirm the footage.
Punjab police appeared to offer a distinct model of occasions. Police Inspector Basic Sukhchain Singh Gill informed a news conference that “relentless stress” on this “particular operation” had led to intelligence on Amritpal’s whereabouts, and police surrounded him within the village of Rode in Moga district. Amritpal shall be detained distant, within the northeastern state of Assam, alongside a few of his different jailed associates, the inspector normal added.
The state’s chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, said: “Motion shall be taken towards those that attempt to disrupt the nation’s peace and regulation. We is not going to disturb any harmless particular person. We don’t do vendetta politics.”
The 30-year-old Sikh preacher from Punjab briefly lived in Dubai earlier than returning to Punjab final yr, based on officers, restyled in a turban and beard mimicking Bhindranwale.
Punjab is likely one of the wealthiest Indian states however has been saddled with a menacing drug epidemic and crippling debt, resulting in an exodus overseas. In a vacuum of management, Amritpal was capable of rise, state residents and consultants say. A number of officers and residents mentioned that on a go to to the state in early April, Amritpal appeared to seem out of “nowhere,” harnessing social media and tapping right into a base of unrest by espousing an anti-drug marketing campaign.
He rose to a brand new stage of prominence in February when he led a bunch to storm a police station within the Amritsar district, forcing the police to launch his shut aide. In discussing Sikh grievances, he has referred to as for the “freedom” of Punjab, saying in media interviews that Khalistan — a separate Sikh homeland — will “end suffering.”
Through the month-long hunt for Amritpal, tv reporters chronicled his each transfer via CCTV digicam leaks traversing a number of Indian states and all the way in which into Nepal, whereas Amritpal himself launched movies of calls to motion on social media. “I’m not a fugitive, however a insurgent,” he mentioned in a single video. “I’m not going to run away from the nation. I’ll are available in entrance of the world quickly.”
In a dramatic chase on the finish of March that concerned round 100 automobiles in Punjab’s countryside, Amritpal managed to flee police seize by switching automobiles, based on native studies.
Bhindranwale’s picture — which had been faraway from Sikh temples, or gurdwaras, and siloed into non-public areas through the insurgency period — has resurged in Punjab, even entering the made-in-China provide chain. His picture could carry Khalistani sentiments or could be a reminder of a Sikh assertion towards historic injustices, relying on whom you ask.
Equally, relying on whom you ask, Amritpal is a creation of the nation’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Social gathering, the Aam Aadmi Social gathering-led state authorities, the Pakistani intelligence company or Sikh diaspora teams. “Punjab has been a playground for political conspiracies,” mentioned Amritsar Police Commissioner Naunihal Singh.
Whereas help for Amritpal and Khalistan stays fringe within the state, the anger towards the federal government simmers palpably, largely due to the drug epidemic that’s usually blamed on police and authorities collusion. Shashi Kant, the retired director normal of the Punjab police, mentioned that whereas officers have succeeded in a single battle, “now the actual process begins. They’re the larger challenges forward.”
Many fear that the police crackdown through the seek for Amritpal could stoke fires additional. “As soon as you set them in jail, you’ve gotten radicalized them for all times,” mentioned Kiranjot Kaur, granddaughter of Tara Singh, a key Sikh political celebration chief and a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which acts like a gurdwara supervisor and Sikh parliament.
“In the mean time, Punjab is in deep disaster. … It’s a simmering anger going from one era to the following,” she mentioned.
Anant Gupta contributed to this report.
The brand new home safety concern within the area bordering Pakistan was the newest occasion of accelerating turbulence related to the Sikh separatist motion often known as Khalistan over the previous 5 years.
The problem has develop into a diplomatic flash level, with protests in help of Amritpal happening in america, Britain and Canada — a few of which had led to vandalism of Indian embassies. A photograph of him towered over a sea of supporters in New York Metropolis’s Occasions Sq. in March.
For a lot of within the state of Punjab, the current occasions hark again to a interval of intense violence within the Nineteen Eighties, ignited by the Indian Military’s raid on the faith’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, through which the Sikh militant chief Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was killed. The incident and its subsequent traumatic years, together with anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, nonetheless reverberate in deep reminiscence at the moment.
Bhindranwale was born within the village that Amritpal was arrested in on Sunday morning, in one more signal of Amritpal attempting to evoke recollections of some of the salient figures in Punjab.
A video that circulated on social media instructed that Amritpal had determined to give up to authorities. “I’ve determined to show myself in. My arrest isn’t the top however a brand new starting,” he said within the video. The Washington Put up couldn’t independently confirm the footage.
Punjab police appeared to offer a distinct model of occasions. Police Inspector Basic Sukhchain Singh Gill informed a news conference that “relentless stress” on this “particular operation” had led to intelligence on Amritpal’s whereabouts, and police surrounded him within the village of Rode in Moga district. Amritpal shall be detained distant, within the northeastern state of Assam, alongside a few of his different jailed associates, the inspector normal added.
The state’s chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, said: “Motion shall be taken towards those that attempt to disrupt the nation’s peace and regulation. We is not going to disturb any harmless particular person. We don’t do vendetta politics.”
The 30-year-old Sikh preacher from Punjab briefly lived in Dubai earlier than returning to Punjab final yr, based on officers, restyled in a turban and beard mimicking Bhindranwale.
Punjab is likely one of the wealthiest Indian states however has been saddled with a menacing drug epidemic and crippling debt, resulting in an exodus overseas. In a vacuum of management, Amritpal was capable of rise, state residents and consultants say. A number of officers and residents mentioned that on a go to to the state in early April, Amritpal appeared to seem out of “nowhere,” harnessing social media and tapping right into a base of unrest by espousing an anti-drug marketing campaign.
He rose to a brand new stage of prominence in February when he led a bunch to storm a police station within the Amritsar district, forcing the police to launch his shut aide. In discussing Sikh grievances, he has referred to as for the “freedom” of Punjab, saying in media interviews that Khalistan — a separate Sikh homeland — will “end suffering.”
Through the month-long hunt for Amritpal, tv reporters chronicled his each transfer via CCTV digicam leaks traversing a number of Indian states and all the way in which into Nepal, whereas Amritpal himself launched movies of calls to motion on social media. “I’m not a fugitive, however a insurgent,” he mentioned in a single video. “I’m not going to run away from the nation. I’ll are available in entrance of the world quickly.”
In a dramatic chase on the finish of March that concerned round 100 automobiles in Punjab’s countryside, Amritpal managed to flee police seize by switching automobiles, based on native studies.
Bhindranwale’s picture — which had been faraway from Sikh temples, or gurdwaras, and siloed into non-public areas through the insurgency period — has resurged in Punjab, even entering the made-in-China provide chain. His picture could carry Khalistani sentiments or could be a reminder of a Sikh assertion towards historic injustices, relying on whom you ask.
Equally, relying on whom you ask, Amritpal is a creation of the nation’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Social gathering, the Aam Aadmi Social gathering-led state authorities, the Pakistani intelligence company or Sikh diaspora teams. “Punjab has been a playground for political conspiracies,” mentioned Amritsar Police Commissioner Naunihal Singh.
Whereas help for Amritpal and Khalistan stays fringe within the state, the anger towards the federal government simmers palpably, largely due to the drug epidemic that’s usually blamed on police and authorities collusion. Shashi Kant, the retired director normal of the Punjab police, mentioned that whereas officers have succeeded in a single battle, “now the actual process begins. They’re the larger challenges forward.”
Many fear that the police crackdown through the seek for Amritpal could stoke fires additional. “As soon as you set them in jail, you’ve gotten radicalized them for all times,” mentioned Kiranjot Kaur, granddaughter of Tara Singh, a key Sikh political celebration chief and a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which acts like a gurdwara supervisor and Sikh parliament.
“In the mean time, Punjab is in deep disaster. … It’s a simmering anger going from one era to the following,” she mentioned.
Anant Gupta contributed to this report.
The brand new home safety concern within the area bordering Pakistan was the newest occasion of accelerating turbulence related to the Sikh separatist motion often known as Khalistan over the previous 5 years.
The problem has develop into a diplomatic flash level, with protests in help of Amritpal happening in america, Britain and Canada — a few of which had led to vandalism of Indian embassies. A photograph of him towered over a sea of supporters in New York Metropolis’s Occasions Sq. in March.
For a lot of within the state of Punjab, the current occasions hark again to a interval of intense violence within the Nineteen Eighties, ignited by the Indian Military’s raid on the faith’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, through which the Sikh militant chief Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was killed. The incident and its subsequent traumatic years, together with anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, nonetheless reverberate in deep reminiscence at the moment.
Bhindranwale was born within the village that Amritpal was arrested in on Sunday morning, in one more signal of Amritpal attempting to evoke recollections of some of the salient figures in Punjab.
A video that circulated on social media instructed that Amritpal had determined to give up to authorities. “I’ve determined to show myself in. My arrest isn’t the top however a brand new starting,” he said within the video. The Washington Put up couldn’t independently confirm the footage.
Punjab police appeared to offer a distinct model of occasions. Police Inspector Basic Sukhchain Singh Gill informed a news conference that “relentless stress” on this “particular operation” had led to intelligence on Amritpal’s whereabouts, and police surrounded him within the village of Rode in Moga district. Amritpal shall be detained distant, within the northeastern state of Assam, alongside a few of his different jailed associates, the inspector normal added.
The state’s chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, said: “Motion shall be taken towards those that attempt to disrupt the nation’s peace and regulation. We is not going to disturb any harmless particular person. We don’t do vendetta politics.”
The 30-year-old Sikh preacher from Punjab briefly lived in Dubai earlier than returning to Punjab final yr, based on officers, restyled in a turban and beard mimicking Bhindranwale.
Punjab is likely one of the wealthiest Indian states however has been saddled with a menacing drug epidemic and crippling debt, resulting in an exodus overseas. In a vacuum of management, Amritpal was capable of rise, state residents and consultants say. A number of officers and residents mentioned that on a go to to the state in early April, Amritpal appeared to seem out of “nowhere,” harnessing social media and tapping right into a base of unrest by espousing an anti-drug marketing campaign.
He rose to a brand new stage of prominence in February when he led a bunch to storm a police station within the Amritsar district, forcing the police to launch his shut aide. In discussing Sikh grievances, he has referred to as for the “freedom” of Punjab, saying in media interviews that Khalistan — a separate Sikh homeland — will “end suffering.”
Through the month-long hunt for Amritpal, tv reporters chronicled his each transfer via CCTV digicam leaks traversing a number of Indian states and all the way in which into Nepal, whereas Amritpal himself launched movies of calls to motion on social media. “I’m not a fugitive, however a insurgent,” he mentioned in a single video. “I’m not going to run away from the nation. I’ll are available in entrance of the world quickly.”
In a dramatic chase on the finish of March that concerned round 100 automobiles in Punjab’s countryside, Amritpal managed to flee police seize by switching automobiles, based on native studies.
Bhindranwale’s picture — which had been faraway from Sikh temples, or gurdwaras, and siloed into non-public areas through the insurgency period — has resurged in Punjab, even entering the made-in-China provide chain. His picture could carry Khalistani sentiments or could be a reminder of a Sikh assertion towards historic injustices, relying on whom you ask.
Equally, relying on whom you ask, Amritpal is a creation of the nation’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Social gathering, the Aam Aadmi Social gathering-led state authorities, the Pakistani intelligence company or Sikh diaspora teams. “Punjab has been a playground for political conspiracies,” mentioned Amritsar Police Commissioner Naunihal Singh.
Whereas help for Amritpal and Khalistan stays fringe within the state, the anger towards the federal government simmers palpably, largely due to the drug epidemic that’s usually blamed on police and authorities collusion. Shashi Kant, the retired director normal of the Punjab police, mentioned that whereas officers have succeeded in a single battle, “now the actual process begins. They’re the larger challenges forward.”
Many fear that the police crackdown through the seek for Amritpal could stoke fires additional. “As soon as you set them in jail, you’ve gotten radicalized them for all times,” mentioned Kiranjot Kaur, granddaughter of Tara Singh, a key Sikh political celebration chief and a member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which acts like a gurdwara supervisor and Sikh parliament.
“In the mean time, Punjab is in deep disaster. … It’s a simmering anger going from one era to the following,” she mentioned.
Anant Gupta contributed to this report.
