NEW DELHI — Indian police on Sunday arrested a separatist chief who has revived requires an unbiased Sikh homeland and the secession of India’s northern Punjab state, which has a historical past of violent insurgency.
Amritpal Singh had been on the run since final month after capturing nationwide consideration in February, when tons of of his supporters stormed a police station in Ajnala, a city in Punjab state, with wood batons, swords and weapons to demand the discharge of a jailed aide.
Punjab state police stated on Twitter on Sunday that Singh was arrested in Moga, a city within the state.
A Sikh spiritual chief, Jasbir Singh Rodde, stated Singh surrendered after providing morning prayers at a Sikh shrine in Moga.
Police officer Sukhchain Singh Gill stated police had surrounded the village on intelligence that Singh was within the shrine. “Relentless strain constructed by the police over the previous 35 days left Singh with no selection,” Gill informed reporters.
He stated the police didn’t enter the shrine, implying that Singh was taken into custody after he left. Gill declined to verify whether or not Singh surrendered as claimed by his supporters. Singh was flown to Dibrugarh in India’s northeast, the place he will probably be detained till he is dropped at courtroom to face fees.
Punjab suffered a bloody insurgency within the Eighties that led to the killing of India’s then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her official residence in New Delhi. Her assassination in 1984 set off bloody rioting by her Hindu supporters towards Sikhs in northern India.
Ashwini Dubey, a lawyer in Punjab state, stated Singh’s arrest would assist police dismantle the separatist community and its supporters.
Tavleen Singh, a political commentator and former journalist who lined the Punjab insurgency within the Eighties, stated: “The police took this man out, which is nice as a result of had they gone right into a gurdwara (Sikh shrine) and began capturing you’d have had a response from the final populace. The Sikhs occur to be very delicate to gurdwaras being attacked.”
Sikhs are a spiritual minority in India and say they’re discriminated towards by the bulk Hindus. Greater than 3,000 individuals had been killed by extremists throughout the Eighties insurgency within the affluent farming state. The insurgency was crushed by Indian forces by 1990.
Punjab borders Indian-controlled Kashmir and Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of supporting, coaching and arming insurgents, a cost Islamabad denies.
Police declared Singh, a 30-year-old preacher, a fugitive and accused him and his aides of making discord within the state. Police accused them of spreading disharmony amongst individuals, tried homicide, attacking police personnel and obstructing public servants’ lawful discharge of responsibility.
Authorities have deployed 1000’s of paramilitary troopers within the state and arrested practically 100 of his supporters. Singh’s spouse was prevented from leaving India final week.
Little or no was identified about Singh till he arrived in Punjab state in 2022 and started main marches calling for the safety of rights for Sikhs, who account for about 1.7% of India’s inhabitants.
Singh claims to attract inspiration from Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a Sikh militant chief accused by the Indian authorities of main an armed insurgency within the Eighties. Bhindranwale and his supporters had been killed in 1984 when the Indian military stormed the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine within the Sikh faith.
Singh has styled himself after Bhindranwale, with a protracted, flowing beard. He additionally attire like Bhindranwale.
Singh additionally heads Waris Punjab De, or Punjab’s Heirs, a corporation that was a part of a large marketing campaign to mobilize farmers towards controversial agriculture reforms being pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities. The laws set off a 12 months of protests that started in 2020, as farmers — most of them Sikhs from Punjab state — camped on the outskirts of New Delhi by way of a harsh winter and devastating coronavirus surge. The protests ended after Modi’s authorities withdrew the laws in November 2021.