Indian police arrest Khalistan movement leader Amritpal Singh following a month-long hunt, according to a state police officer on Sunday.
Singh, a preacher from the northwest state of Punjab, has been campaigning for Khalistan, an independent Sikh country, reigniting talk of secession and instilling fear of further violence. He is the leader of an organization called Waris Punjab De, and he was charged with attempted murder, obstruction of law enforcement, and causing discord after he and his supporters assaulted a police station with swords and pistols, seeking the release of one of his aides.
Singh was apprehended at a Sikh temple under the National Security Act, which allows for the incarceration of people regarded as a threat to national security for up to a year without prosecution.
The arrest of Amritpal Singh and the crackdown on his supporters come amid increasing concerns in India about the revival of Sikh separatist violence. The Sikh minority, which accounts for only around 2% of India’s population, has a long history of advocating for greater autonomy or even independence, with some even advocating for the establishment of Khalistan.
Amritpal Singh Sandhu is a radical Indian Khalistani separatist and a self-styled Sikh preacher. After living in Dubai for a decade, he returned to Punjab in September 2022 — having been controversially appointed as the leader of Waris Punjab De (lit. “Heirs of Punjab”) — and started a campaign that encouraged youth to refrain from the drug, adopt a traditionalist form of Sikhism, and advocated a sovereign Sikh state (“Khalistan”).
Also read: Who is Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh?
