Cracking down on the violence, arson, and terror unleashed by the Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) under the guise of Referendum 2020, the Punjab Police on Thursday busted a Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) sponsored terrorist module, Khalistan Gadar Force, with the arrest of one person identified as Shabnamdeep Singh from Patiala.

Shabnamdeep was planning to attack police stations and crowded places during the ongoing festival season, an official spokesperson of the police said. A pistol, hand grenade, CT-100 Bajaj Platinum black motorcycle, and letter pads belonging to Khalistan Gadar Force and other banned terrorist organisations have been recovered from Shabnamdeep.

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With this arrest, the Punjab Police has blown up Pakistan’s ISI’s nexus with Gurpatwant Singh Pannu’s campaign for Sikh Referendum 2020, and the conspiracy hatched by ISI-backed SFJ to spread mayhem in Punjab and other parts of India, the Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora said.

The arrest of Shabnamdeep proves once again that SFJ continues to spearhead and promote the “Sikh Referendum 2020” campaign through violence and arson, he said. The DGP said the organisation is patently preying on the poor, illiterate, and devout Sikh youth from Punjab’s countryside and radicalising them.

The youth are being exploited by SFJ, which is using their poverty and innocence as the cannon fodder to unleash violence and promote secessionist acts in the state, said the DGP, appealing to Punjab’s youth not to fall into the trap of such anti-national and secessionist forces out to destroy their lives by pushing them into violence and arson.

Shabnamdeep’s arrest, and that of his associates found to be working for SFJ leaders, has also once again proved wrong the claims of Gurpatwant Singh Pannu that their campaign for self-determination did not have any room for violence, and that SFJ and its leaders were not funding any terrorist activity in Punjab, said the DGP.

Giving details of Thursday’s operation, Arora said Shabnamdeep Singh alias Maninder Lahoria, who hails from Village Daftari Wala Burar, Samana in Patiala district, was currently out on bail in a petty crime case in Rajasthan. It has been found that Shabnamdeep was operating a Facebook account under the pseudonym of “Lahoria Jatt Gill” with the profile picture of “Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale”.