Tribune Exclusive: SFJ inciting Sikh personnel in Army, Christians in Manipur, claims intel

The banned terror outfit, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), allegedly incites Sikh personnel in the Army and the police forces to desert the forces, and has been inciting Christians from Manipur, and Muslims and Tamils to secede from India.

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These observations were a part of a background note — circulated by intelligence agencies to a tribunal that recently upheld an order declaring the SFJ an unlawful organisation for another five years till 2029. The tribunal had been set up to review the extension of ban.

The note alleged the SFJ also supported dissolution of India into several smaller states such as Punjab (Khalistan), Kashmir, South India (Dravidstan), Muslim state (Urduistan), and separate state for Christians from Manipur. Dividing people on communal lines by provoking minority communities against the other communities has become a major tool for the SFJ to push its anti-India agenda, the note alleged further.

“The SFJ urged the Dalits of India to extend support to its secessionist exercise, citing their ‘persecution’ in the hands of the Indian Government. The outfit has been involved in provoking farmers of Punjab and Haryana over the farm bills,” it added.

The 290-page order by the tribunal, which was released last week, has listed several cases that have been filed in police stations, mainly in Delhi and Punjab, against the SFJ in the past five years, to label it as an unlawful organisation for a further period of five years.

The dossier provided to the tribunal said the SFJ’s activities were usually carried out from the office of its legal adviser, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. It added Pannun had instigated the protesting Indian farmers to arm themselves and fight the Indian forces and stated that the weapons would reach them from across the border.

Besides, the SFJ has been colluding with gangsters, terrorists and other radical elements, including Kashmiri separatists, and continues to receive support from Pakistan, the note said. It further pointed out that the outfit also stakes claim for a separate Sikh nation under the UN Charter. Currently, 104 cases have been registered against SFJ activists or sympathisers in India.

This development comes days after a committee — set up by the Centre to probe inputs received from Washington on an alleged plot to kill Pannun — had submitted its report and recommended legal action against “an individual”.

Though a press statement issued by the Home Ministry had not identified the individual, it is learnt that the person was Vikas Yadav, a former intelligence official. Yadav was indicted by the US Department of Justice in connection with the plot.