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Kejriwal NIA row: What is ‘Sikhs for Justice’?
Formed in 2007, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) is a US-based group seeking the formation of ‘Khalistan’, a separate homeland for Sikhs.
Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Monday recommended a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe against jailed chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly accepting political funding from banned pro-Khalistan terror outfit 'Sikhs for Justice'.
LG had received a complaint that Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP had received huge funds - USD 16 million - from the extremist Khalistani groups for facilitating the release of Devendra Pal Bhullar and espousing Pro-Khalistani sentiments.
Bhullar, who is in Amritsar Central Jail, was convicted in connection with the killing of nine people in a bomb blast in 1993 in Delhi. He is undergoing life imprisonment after the Supreme Court commuted his death sentence.
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The principal secretary to LG Saxena wrote a letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs that mentions a “clandestine meeting” between Arvind Kejriwal and “pro-Khalistani Sikhs at Gurudwara Richmond Hills, New York”, in 2014.
The Aam Aadmi Party has claimed that the allegations are part of "yet another conspiracy against Kejriwal at the behest of BJP".
Here's what we know about the ‘Sikh for Justice’ outfit
- Formed in 2007, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) is a US-based group seeking the formation of ‘Khalistan’ – a separate homeland for Sikhs.
- The group was founded by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. It has been pushing for “Referendum 2020” for the self-determination of Sikhs as part of its separatist agenda.
- On July 10, 2019, the pro-Khalistan group was banned by the Centre for its anti-national activities under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
- A year later, on July 1, 2020, the Centre designated Pannun as a terrorist under provisions of the UAPA.
- “In the garb of the so-called referendum for Sikhs, SFJ is actually espousing secessionism and militant ideology in Punjab, while operating from safe havens on foreign soils and actively supported by inimical forces in other countries,” the union home ministry had said while banning the organisation.
- The National Investigation Agency, Punjab Police and Uttarakhand Police have registered as many as 12 cases against activists of SFJ in India.
