Cops: He’s face of Khalistan in Pak

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 29

At the centre of the controversy over posting his pictures with Navjot Singh Sidhu, Pakistan-based Sikh leader Gopal Singh Chawla is allegedly involved in planning terror acts in Punjab.

For the last six months, Chawla, sources say, has been in the forefront of a separate Sikh homeland movement being allegedly run from Pakistan. He twice stopped officials of the Indian High Commission from attending functions of the visiting Sikh pilgrims.

Video-recordings of his speeches propagating Khalistan and supporting the ‘Sikh Referendum 2020’ are available on social media.

Intelligence sources claimed he was operating at the behest of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. His name cropped up during investigation of a terror module busted last month by the counter-Intelligence wing and Patiala police following the arrest of a 24-year-old youth, Shabnamdeep Singh.

As per the police claims, Chawla had got in touch with Shabnamdeep over Facebook and succeeded in radicalising him. Shabnamdeep revealed that Chawla had shown him six or seven AK-47 guns during a video-chat and planned to send these to him. He also prevailed upon him to carry out terror attacks during the Diwali festival celebrations.

“Chawla is the face of the Khalistan movement and terror plans in Punjab, while Harmeet Singh alias Happy PhD works in the background. We have prepared a detailed dossier on him and shared it with the Indian government to take up the matter. Chawla is inciting violence in Punjab,” said a senior Punjab Police official.

Chawla had resigned earlier this month from the membership of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.