Khalistani Groups Reactivate Pak Camps, Eye Narco Funding for Terror

In addition to this, the Indian agencies have learnt that four training camps that were reporting very limited activity have suddenly become active. According to estimates, there are around 300 people as part of the Khalistan movement who are being trained at these camps, an official said.

The Khalistan networks with the help of the ISI and Jaish-e-Mohammad managed to rope in several people to be part of their outfit.

It has been learnt that the facilities that are at Kot Lakhpat and Attock are being used to train those who are part of the narco-smuggling racket. There are camps at Chakwal and Gurjanwala which are exclusively used to train terrorists in the use of arms, ammunition and bomb making. Further the Khalistani elements are also trying to prepare death squads to be used in Punjab, an official said.

The emphasis for now would be high on narcotics smuggling. The ISI has instructed these terror groups to just focus on raising funds. Newer routes are also being explored through which drugs can be smuggled and huge sums of money can be raised.

The sudden increase in activity is because the activities of these Khalistani elements are being curbed heavily in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom. These countries have agreed to work closely with India on the issue as the threat is both internal as well as external.

With international activity under the scanner, the ISI decided that it is time to enhance operations within Pakistan and then focus on hitting Punjab. The Khalistanis are clearly in desperate need for funds and hence they would try and go on an overdrive mode to enhance narco-smuggling, another official said.

The Khalistan movement was being overseen by five people who had been given shelter by Pakistan. The top five, as the Indian agencies describe them, were the ones who were in control of the entire network that spans across various countries in the world.

A dossier states that the top leader continues to be Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) chief, Wadhwa Singh Babbar. He functions out of the Gulbarg locality in Lahore and has the complete protection of the Pakistan establishment. The ISI has instructed him to ramp up activity at training camps and also plan on high-profile assassinations and terror attacks in and around Punjab.

The other top operative who is part of this rebuilding exercise is Harwinder Singh Sandhu alias Rinda. He has become active in recent months and is working along with Babbar in the ongoing operation.

The other prominent Khalistan terror group bosses were Gajinder Singh, founder of the Dal Khalsa, Lakhbhir Singh Rode, the head of the International Sikh Federation (ISYF) and Paramjit Singh Panjwar, the head of the Khalistan Commando Force. Singh reportedly died of a heart attack in 2024, while Rode's death was reported in 2023. Panjwar was shot dead in Lahore in May 2023.

The ISI had around six months back instructed these groups to work under a unified command, so that the chances of disagreements and carrying out operations individually could be avoided. Currently, according to an Intelligence Bureau official, the big boss of this syndicate is Wadhwa Singh Babbar. The official said that the BKI is one of the most lethal groups and hence it is leading the operations from Pakistan.

Officials say that these elements would wait for an opportune time and then ramp up drug smuggling. The BKI would be using both drones and foot soldiers to increase narco smuggling into Punjab, the official also added.

- IANS