Indian police on Sunday arrested a separatist leader who resurrected calls for an independent Sikh homeland and secession of India’s northern Punjab state, which has a history of violent uprisings.
Amritpal Singh has been on the run since last month after drawing national attention in February when lots of of his followers stormed a police station in Ajnala, a town in Punjab state, with wood clubs, swords and guns, demanding the discharge of a jailed aide.
Punjab State Police tweeted on Sunday that Singh had been arrested in Moga, a town within the state.
Sikh religious leader Jasbir Singh Rodde said Singh had surrendered to the police after saying morning prayers at a Sikh temple in Moga. Then the police arrested him and took him away,” he said.
Police officer Sukhchain Singh Gill said police surrounded the local village based on intelligence that Singh had been to the temple. “The relentless pressure exerted by the police over the past 35 days has left Singh with no selection,” Gill told reporters.
He said the police didn’t enter the temple, suggesting that Singh was arrested after he left. The officer declined to substantiate that Singh had surrendered to the police, in line with his supporters.
The officer said Singh had been taken to Dibrugarh in northeast India where he can be held until he was delivered to trial to face charges.
![Singh gallops in a yellow turban outside a house with his followers in Jallupur Khera village, near Amritsar, India, Saturday, January 7, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Amritpal-Singh-3.jpg?w=1024)
Punjab suffered a bloody rebellion within the Nineteen Eighties that led to the assassination of then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her official residence in Recent Delhi.
Her assassination sparked bloody riots by her Hindu supporters against the Sikhs in northern India.
Ashwini Dubey, a lawyer from the state of Punjab, said Singh’s arrest would help police dismantle the separatist network and their supporters.
Tavleen Singh, a political commentator and former journalist who covered the Punjab rebellion within the Nineteen Eighties, said: “The police took this man away, which is nice because in the event that they went into a gurdwara (Sikh sanctuary) and commenced shooting, you’ll have the response of most people. Sikhs occur to be very vulnerable to gurdwar attacks.
![Police announce Singh's arrest after a massive manhunt that lasted more than a month, Indian police announced on April 23, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Amritpal-Singh-2.jpg?w=1024)
Sikhs are a religious minority in India and claim to be discriminated against by most Hindus.
Greater than 3,000 people were killed by extremists during an rebellion within the Nineteen Eighties in a prosperous agricultural state. The rebellion was crushed by Indian forces by 1990.
Punjab borders Indian-controlled Kashmir and Pakistan. India accuses Pakistan of supporting, training and arming the rebels, which Islamabad denies.
Police deemed Singh, a 30-year-old preacher, a fugitive and charged him and his aides with creating discord within the state.
The police accused them of spreading disharmony among the many people, attempted murder, assaulting police officers, and obstructing public officials from performing their lawful duties.
Authorities deployed 1000’s of paramilitary troops to the state and arrested nearly 100 of his supporters.
Singh’s wife was prevented from leaving India last week.
Little was known about Singh until he arrived within the state of Punjab in 2022 and commenced leading marches calling for the protection of the rights of Sikhs, who make up about 1.7% of India’s population.
Singh says he draws inspiration from Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a Sikh militant leader accused by the Indian government of leading an armed rebellion in Khalistan within the Nineteen Eighties.
Bhindranwale and his followers were killed in 1984 when the Indian army stormed the Golden Temple, probably the most sacred shrine within the Sikh religion.
![Waris Punjab De supporters shout slogans favoring their boss and separatist leader Amritpal Singh and other arrested activists during a meeting at the Akal Takht Secretariat of the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, India, March 27, 2023.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/Amritpal-Singh-1.jpg?w=1024)
Singh styled himself Bhindranwale, with a long flowing beard. He also dresses like Bhindranwale.
Singh also heads Waris Punjab De, or Punjab’s Heirs, a corporation that was a part of a massive campaign to mobilize farmers against controversial agricultural reforms pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The laws sparked a yr of protests starting in 2020 when farmers – mostly Sikhs from the state of Punjab – camped outside Recent Delhi throughout the harsh winter and devastating coronavirus wave. The protests ended after the Modi government withdrew the law in November 2021.
Waris Punjab De was founded by Deep Sidhu, an Indian actor who died in a road accident in 2022.
Singh’s speeches have gotten increasingly popular amongst supporters of the banned Khalistan movement in India.
Officials view it and related groups as a threat to national security. Although the movement has waned over time, it still has some support in Punjab and beyond – including in countries reminiscent of Canada, the USA and the UK, that are home to a sizable Sikh diaspora.
Last month, supporters of the movement hoisted the Indian flag in front of the country’s high commission in London and smashed the constructing’s windows in a demonstration of anger against the move to arrest Singh.
India’s foreign ministry condemned the incident and summoned the UK’s deputy high commissioner in Recent Delhi to protest what it called a security breach on the London embassy.
Supporters of the Khalistan movement also vandalized the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, United States.