In a major security lapse in the run up to the G20 Summit next month, unknown suspects, allegedly associated with the US-based banned terror outfit Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), defaced the walls of Metro stations in the national Capital with pro-Khalistan slogans like “Delhi Banega Khalistan (Delhi will become Khalistan)” and “Khalistan Zindabad (long live Khalistan)”, prompting the Delhi Police to register a case and launch an investigation.
A purported video was released simultaneously by the Pakistan-backed SFJ in which its chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannu is seen talking about the graffiti. “The battle of G20 Pragati Maidan has started today… (Prime Minister) Modi and India are targets. G20 nations, when you will be meeting in Delhi on September 8, we will be organising a Khalistan referendum in Canada,” he said in the clip. The organisation said their members went to four to five Metro stations and sent a message to G20 nations with the graffiti. In the pictures shared by Delhi Police, slogans are seen inscribed on the walls of Metro stations.
Police sources identified the Metro stations as Shivaji Park station, Madipur, Paschim Vihar, Udyog Nagar, Maharaja Surajmal Stadium, Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya Nangloi, Punjabi Bagh and the Nangloi Metro Station as being the ones which were spray-painted with several pro-Khalistan slogans.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said the issue has been reported to the law and order agencies concerned.
“Some objectionable graffiti has been observed on the outer walls of some of our metro stations on the Green Line. The issue has been reported to the law and order agencies concerned. All necessary cooperation is being extended to them from the DMRC’s side,” said Anuj Dayal, Principal Executive Director, corporate communication, DMRC.
“Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) also released raw footage of Delhi Metro stations which were defaced with pro-Khalistan slogans,” a senior police officer said.
This also comes just two days after a special NIA court in Delhi ordered the confiscation of a property of absconding pro-Khalistan terrorist Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias “Landa” in a village in Tarn Taran district of Punjab.
SFJ has long been involved in reviving the Khalistani separatist movement at the behest of their Pakistani masters in the Pakistan Army-ISI combine.
This is not the first time that graffiti with slogans in support of the separatist Khalistani movement have surfaced in Northern India. Earlier, such instances have been reported from places in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
The Union Home Ministry had earlier banned SFJ for its anti-national activities. The fringe organisation, run by a few radical Sikhs of foreign nationality in the US, Canada and the UK was declared an unlawful association under the provisions of Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
In July, SFJ founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannu’s close aide Hardeep Singh Nijjar, head of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib was liquidated in Surrey, Canada by unknown assailants.
He was the chief of the separatist organisation Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF).
SFJ is mostly active via online platforms and has more than two lakh supporters around the world but its physical presence is miniscule with just eight to 10 active members.
On January 19, ahead of the Republic Day celebrations in Delhi, “anti-national” and “Khalistan-related” graffiti appeared on walls in some areas of west Delhi, including Vikaspuri, Janakpuri, Paschim Vihar, and Peeragarhi police said.
The walls were painted with slogans like “Khalistan Zindabad” and “Referendum 2020”.
The Delhi Police’s Special Cell arrested two men in connection with the incidents.
The G20 summit which will be held in the national Capital from September 9 to 10 is likely to be attended by more than 40 Heads of States and top officials from the European Union, guest countries, and 14 heads of international organisations who have been invited for the landmark summit.