Amritpal calls for Sikh conclave from hideout

Radical pro-Khalistan preacher Amritpal Singh issued a video message online on Wednesday and called for sweeping protests led by Sikhism’s highest priest, breaking his silence 11 days after Punjab Police launched a massive manhunt for the Waris Punjab De chief

Radical pro-Khalistan preacher Amritpal Singh issued a video message online on Wednesday and called for sweeping protests led by Sikhism’s highest priest, breaking his silence 11 days after Punjab Police launched a massive manhunt for the Waris Punjab De chief.

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The six-minute video, which was circulated on social media websites on Wednesday, is the first communication from the 30-year-old since he allegedly gave the police the slip in a dramatic operation in Mehatpur town on March 18. It appeared to confirm that Singh, who is accused of links to secessionist activities and other crimes, continues to be on the run and is not, as was speculated earlier, in the custody of authorities.

Singh called on the Sikh community to protest against the government.

“If you want to solve your issues, if you want to raise the protest against the arrests of innocent youth under NSA (National Security Act), participate in Sarbat Khalsa,” he said. A Sarbat Khalsa is an open house congregation of Sikhs called in times of hardship or conflict.

“I appeal to the Akal Takht Jathedar to come forward to lead the Sarbat Khalsa,” he added.

The state government, the police and the Akal Takht were yet to issue responses to the video till the time of going to press. Hindustan Times reached out to officials involved in the probe, but did not get a response till late Wednesday night.

The video was undated, but senior police officers said it appears to be “a few days old”.

Dressed in a white shirt with a grey shawl draped across, Singh said he was safe and managed to keep himself away from the police and survived “in tough times”. The account was immediately withheld in India.

“It was only because of the special blessings of the Satguru that I managed to escape the heavy circle of police,” said Singh, adding that he was “in high spirits”.

The video marks the biggest twist in the Waris Punjab De saga since the crackdown on Singh and his supporters began on March 18 when a police cavalcade intercepted Singh’s car near Mehatpur town when he was on his way to Bathinda to address a gathering. But Singh changed cars and managed to mount a dramatic escape on a motorcycle, halting for a short while at a local gurdwara before getting away with the help of two accomplices.

Since then, police have detained 357 people linked with Waris Punjab De, including alleged associates of Singh who were booked under the stringent NSA and sent to Assam for interrogation. Of these, around 250 have been released, government officials have said.

Singh was also booked under NSA.

The radical preacher and his followers are facing nine first information reports (FIRs) across Punjab involving allegations of spreading communal disharmony, attempt to murder and attacking policemen. The most prominent among them is related to the February 23 siege by thousands of Singh’s supporters of a police station in Ajnala town that forced the state government to free a key aide who was accused of abduction.

Singh, 30, who has fashioned himself after radical leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, has since been linked to a larger conspiracy involving the Khalistani secessionist movement, with intelligence agencies saying he was fast radicalising young men in the border state. Police told the Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday that authorities were closing in on the leader and conducting the operation in close coordination with intelligence agencies.

In his video, Singh referred to his alleged aide “Pardhanmantri” Bajeke, who was arrested on March 18 under NSA and sent to Dibrugarh central jail in Assam hours later.

“A common man like Bajeke was booked under NSA only because he became baptised. Many of my supporters were sent to Assam and other jails. The way we have chosen, we know we have to bear all these atrocities. But to speak against it is the duty of our community,” said Singh.

He suggested that the police were not looking just to arrest him. “The way the police arrested our innocent youth, abused women and didn’t even spare the handicapped, it proved to be the same police action the way things had happened to Sikhs during Beant Singh’s government,” Singh said.

He appealed to Sikhs living abroad to contribute to the Sarbat Khalsa and attend it to discuss long-pending demands of the community. The case has already sparked protests abroad with pro-Khalistan elements vandalising Indian missions in US, UK and Canada.

“This Sarbat Khalsa should be like a Sarbat Khalsa which was called by Sikhs against Ahmad Shah Abdali’s massacre of Sikhs…If you want to save the youth of Punjab, let’s participate in Sarbat Khalsa and take our rights,” said Singh.

A Sarbat Khalsa was called for the first time in centuries in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star on January 26, 1986.

Hours after Singh’s video surfaced, Punjab leader of opposition and Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa said the dramatic appearance of Singh has debunked the government’s claims that the police were close to apprehending him. “It has been proved beyond doubt that there’s no semblance of a government in Punjab and life and property of the people is at the mercy of god,” he tweeted.

The government sounded a high alert in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda, and Anandpur Sahib following intelligence inputs that Singh might enter a Sikh shrine before offering his surrender to Punjab Police.

Special intelligence teams were deployed outside the Golden Temple after inputs that Amritpal Singh may enter the Darbar Sahib complex in a woman’s attire, an official familiar with developments said.