india

Updated: Jul 18, 2019 23:22 IST

A 23-page dossier handed over to Islamabad on July 14 by Indian delegation during the Kartarpur Corridor talks at Wagah border details how pro-Khalistan groups have free run within Pakistan.

In the meeting, Pakistan had promised that it would not allow any anti-India activity.

The dossier, a copy of which has been seen by HT, gives details of anti-India activity being planned in Pakistan, especially to target Sikh devotees. Accompanied by photographic evidence, the dossier gives details of several pro-Khalistan groups, including Sikhs For Justice (SJF), operating freely in Pakistan

India had on July 10 banned the SJF for its alleged anti-national activities. The group’s primary objective is to establish an “independent and sovereign country” in Punjab.

The dossier also contains pictures of pro-Khalistan leader Gopal Singh Chawla meeting Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Sayeed, designated as a terrorist by the United Nations. As many as 166 people, including several foreigners, were killed and 300 injured when 10 Pakistani terrorists carried out attacks in the city on November 26, 2008.

In the document, India has listed the instances of pro-Khalistan activity in 2016 when Sikh devotees had visited Pakistan. It says on November 14, during the celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev’s birthday, pro-Khalistani radical Sikh groups set up the Khalistan stage at the Nankana Sahib. The meetings were held by radical leaders Avtar Singh Sanghera, Manmohan Singh Bajaj, Tara Singh, Joga Singh, Satinder Pal Singh and Gopal Singh Chawala.

The year after that in 2017, the dossier said, UK-based pro-Khalistan leader Manmohan Singh Bajwa was allowed to address gathering at the Gurdwara Panaja Sahib on the occasion of Baiksakhi on April 14. “They rasied pro-Khalistani slogans and unequivocally stated he was fighting for the cause of Khalistan,” the dossier said.

In 2018 and 2019, activities of pro-Khalistan groups significantly increased in Pakistan, according to the dossier. “Jagroop Singh @Ruoa who visited Pakistan along with a Jatha in November 2016 where he was imparted arms training by fugitive Sikh militant Lakhbir Singh Rode and Harmeet Singh @ PHD to carry out terror attacks in India,” it said.

The dossier has given instances where posters, slogans eulogising Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale — a militant Sikh preacher who was killed by Indian forces during Operation Bluestar in Amritsar’s Golden Temple — were displayed at various gurdwaras during Sikh festivals.

Pakistan had on Sunday agreed, in principle, to India’s requests of building a bridge across the river Ravi, visa-free travel for Sikh pilgrims, and an increase in the daily number of devotees, as both countries narrowed bilateral differences and committed to opening the Kartapur Corridor by November.

The 4.7-km stretch will link Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab, India, with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan.