Sikh Youth From Overseas Being Trained by Pakistan’s ISI: Indian Govt

Sikh youth from abroad are being trained by Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to carry out terror attacks in India, according to a report by the Indian home ministry that was tabled in Parliament on March 19.

Some Sikhs living in Europe, Canada and the United States are being instigated against India with false and malicious propaganda, the report said. The ISI is pressuring “commanders” of terror groups in Pakistan to expand terror plant in Punjab and other parts of India.

“Sikh youth are being trained at ISI facilities in Pakistan. Interdictions and interrogations have revealed use of jailed cadres, unemployed youth, criminals and smugglers by Pakistan-based Sikh terror groups for facilitating terror attacks,” the report said, according to the Press Trust of India.

Radicalization of youth by terrorist groups through misuse of the internet and social media has become a big challenge, according officials of the home ministry, the report, called “Central armed police forces and internal security challenges-evaluation and response mechanism,” said. There have been developments on the Sikh militancy front, it added.

“The problem is further accentuated by the fact that the terror groups have started using secure social media platforms and proxy servers etc. to avoid detection by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Activities of radicalized people returning from conflict areas and threat of lone wolf attack are also a challenge,” it said.

The ministry added that India is still the main focus of terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) and a faction of Indian Mujahideen besides groups like SIMI and Al-Unmah, all of which are based in Pakistan.

The report further added that new life is being give to JeM in Pakistan to attack India while the Islamic State and al-Qaida have started creating new challenges. It also mentioned a group that was perpetuating violence and posing a threat to internal security. The ministry said, “Since its formation in September 2004, CPI(Maoist) has emerged as the most potent among the LWE outfits active in the country.”

Recently, Indian officials were banned from gurdwaras in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Relations between a section of the Sikh diaspora and India have been fraught with friction over the Khalistan issue and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.