NEW DELHI: India has repeatedly warned countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom about the Khalistan terror menace. Both countries have been complicit when it comes to taking action against the Khalistani terrorists operating on their soil.
The problem is also persistent in the United States, and these elements have managed to get away under the garb of free speech. While they state that their demand is the creation of a separate Khalistan nation carved out of India, in reality, these elements are notorious gangsters, terrorists, arms smugglers, and drug lords.
Earlier, they would operate by using their own networks in these foreign nations. The Khalistani terrorists also have a wide network of gangsters operating in India. These persons indulge in hit jobs, terror acts, and narcotic smuggling.
However, in recent times, the Khalistani elements have teamed up with Latin-American drug cartels and the Chinese network as well. These connections were exposed after the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) revealed that there was a Khalistan connection to the Chinese and Latin-American cartels.
The busting of these networks, which also have an ISI link, led to the arrest of an Indian-Canadian gangster, Opinder Singh. There has not been any link with the Chinese elements and Khalistani terrorists.
However, the security agencies suspect that China may have started to promote these elements following a request by the ISI. In a bid to gain the support of the Chinese, the ISI roped in Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the head of the proscribed group, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ).
Intelligence agencies say that the proximity between the Chinese and Khalistani elements may have begun when India and China were locked in a tense standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). It was at that time that Pannun had written to Chinese President Xi Jinping, in which he justified China’s stand against India.
"We consider China's counter-military action against India as legitimate and justified to protect its territorial integrity under international laws, " he had written.