Babbar Khalsa plans India strike with ISI help

Over the past six months, there have been regular intercepts which suggest that the BKI and its associate the KZF are ready to launch an attack in India. According to officials, their modus operandi is two-pronged -- revive terrorism in Punjab to claim a new nation, and carry out political assassinations and bomb blasts in New Delhi, reports Vicky Nanjappa.

The arrest of suspected Babbar Khalsa International member Balwinder Singh by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States indicates that the terror group is in revival mode.

Singh, aka Jhajj, aka Happy, Possi, Baljit Singh, is allegedly linked to two terrorist organisations -- the BKI and Khalistan Zindabad Force. Singh, a citizen of India who fled to the US and claimed asylum there, is now a permanent US resident.

The arrest comes barely a day after intercepts from Jaisalmer suggested that 25 terrorists were being pushed into India through Rajasthan. The BKI, which is said to be protected by the Inter-Services Intelligence, has been on standby mode for the past couple of years.

Over the past six months, there have been regular intercepts which suggest that the BKI and its associate the KZF are ready to launch an attack in India. According to officials, their modus operandi is two-pronged -- revive terrorism in Punjab to claim a new nation, and carry out political assassinations and bomb blasts in New Delhi.

India is now keenly watching the developments with regard to 39-year-old Singh’s arrest, believed to be a member of both the BKI and KZF, who is currently being questioned for his alleged role in terrorism.

He is charged with one count of conspiracy to murder, kidnap, conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and fraud, and is believed to have communicated with other co-conspirators by telephone while he was in the US to discuss acts of terrorism to be carried out in India.

Singh is also charged with sending money from Reno (a city in Nevada) to co-conspirators in India for the purchase of weapons.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that the arrest only shows that Sikh terrorist groups are ready for an assault.

“They have their people not only in Canada, Germany and Britain but also in the US. They have set up their network globally with the help of the ISI,” says an intelligence officer

The Delhi police had recently arrested one Imam from Haryana claiming that he was part of a Lashkar-e-Tayiba module. Investigations reveal that this module was set up to provide cover for operatives of the BKI who would infiltrate into Delhi from Pakistan through Rajasthan.

The plan of the BKI is to send in 25 operatives who have been extensively trained at the Bhawalpur camp of the ISI. According to sources, 70 terrorists of the BKI and KZF undergoing terror training.

Most of them would be sent to Punjab in batches while the rest would set up base in and around New Delhi. A high alert has been issued on the Rajasthan border following this intercept.