Khalistan terror camp in Canada plotting attacks in Punjab: India to Trudeau govt

CHANDIGARH: Almost six months after the Pathankot terror attack, intelligence agencies have sent an alert to Canada’s Justin Trudeau government, saying that pro-Khalistan terrorists are running a camp near Mission city in British Columbia to carry out strikes in Punjab.According to a report prepared by Punjab intelligence sleuths, Canadian Sikh Hardeep Nijjar has taken over as the operational head of Khalistan Terror Force (KTF) and formed a module comprising Sikh youths to carry out the attacks.The Punjab government has already submitted the report to the ministry of external affairs and ministry of home affairs to seek Nijjar's extradition.The report makes a reference to the January 2 Pathankot airbase attack, saying Nijjar “was to arrange weapons from Pakistan but due to high alert on the border in the wake of Pathankot incident, it could not materialise”.Nijjar, a baptized Sikh staying in Surrey since 1995 on a Canadian passport (QK139247), is a proclaimed terrorist in Punjab and wanted in connection with the 2007 Shingaar cinema blast in Ludhiana in which six people were killed.These disclosures were made in the report after an alleged KTF member, Mandeep Singh, was arrested from Chak Kalan village in Ludhiana two weeks ago following his phone calls to Pakistan-based terror outfit Dal Khalsa International’s (DKI) chief Gajinder Singh and Nijjar.“Nijjar has been imparting arms training to his group in Canada after the arrest of former KTF chief Jagtar Tara in Thailand by Interpol last year. He took Mandeep Singh and three more Sikh youths recently for AK-47 training in a range near Mission where they were made to fire for four hours daily," the report said.(Passports of Mandeep Dhaliwal and Hardeep Nijjar)The report has even disclosed that Thai authorities had detained Nijjar when he was flying back “from Lahore to Vancouver via Bangkok last year”.Both Mandeep and Nijjar have made frequent visits to Pakistan for arms training with the ISI, says the report. It has also attached their recent photographs brandishing AK-47s outside Nankana Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan.“Mandeep came to India in January 2016 from Canada with a specific plan to target police officers, Shiv Sena leaders and dera chiefs. While in India, he was in constant touch with Nijjar and Gajinder Singh in Pakistan. He was doing a recce of targets in Patiala and Ludhiana while Nijjar was to arrange weapons from Pakistan," claims the report.Recently, there were attacks on leaders of Shiv Sena and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) in Ludhiana and Jalandhar.The report has said Mandeep was in touch with DKI boss Gajinder Singh, who had masterminded the hijack of a Srinagar-Delhi Indian Airlines flight in 1981.