Britain is set to lift a 15-year-old ban on a pro-Khalistan militant group after a debate in the House of Commons concluded that “sufficient evidence” does not currently exist to link it to terrorism.
The International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), established in the 1980s in militancy-wracked Punjab, was involved in “assassinations, bombings and kidnappings, mainly directed against Indian officials and interests”, the British Parliament heard this week. However, the debate entitled ‘Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism’ on Tuesday night concluded that “there is not sufficient evidence to support a reasonable belief” that the ISYF is currently concerned with terrorism.