Almost four decades after Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) terrorists wreaked havoc in Punjab carrying out horrific killings, including the assassination of General Arun Vaidya, then army chief during Operation Bluestar, the most wanted KCF chief Paramjit Singh Panjwar alias Malik Sardar Singh was eliminated by two unidentified gunmen at Johar town in Lahore in Pakistan on Saturday morning.
Panjwar, 59, took charge of KCF in the 1990s and crossed over to Pakistan at a time when the outfit had already gained notoriety as one of the most dreaded terrorist organisations. But the wheel has come full circle with the killing of Panjwar, which comes exactly a month ahead of the 39th anniversary of Operation Bluestar.
Pro-Khalistan terror groups haunted Punjab in coming years and successive governments have battled the cross border threats posed by them . One of the biggest among them has been to crack down on the terrorist network of Panjwar to bring justice to victims of the several terror activities carried out by KCF.
Panjwar had been staying in a safe house in Pakistan where the ISI was keeping a close watch on him, said security sources adding that his killing is yet another proof of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence giving shelter to terrorists despite repeated denials by Islamabad.
Panjwar was walking near his house in Sunflower Society in Johar Town in the wee hours on Saturday morning along with his gunmen when he was attacked by two unidentified men on a motorcycle, said security sources. The attackers fled but one of his gunmen got injured in the shootout and was shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.
While Panjwar stayed in Lahore, his wife and children had relocated to Germany. Latest inputs reveal his wife Paljit Kaur died in Frankfurt in September 2022 while the two sons continue to enjoy asylum there. Panjawar is also learnt to have carried out the last rites of his wife in Pakistan.
Born in Panjwar village near Taran Taran, Panjwar has been accused of drug and weapon smuggling through drones into Punjab besides enjoying close links to radical outfits abroad and guiding them in pro-Khalistan and anti-India activities. He joined the KCF after being radicalized by his cousin Labh Singh in 1986, prior to which he was working in a Central Cooperative Bank in Sohal village in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. Following the elimination of Labh Singh by Indian security forces, Panjwar took charge of KCF and crossed over to Pakistan. He kept the KCF alive by raising funds through cross- border weapons smuggling and heroin trafficking.
Panjwar is the second top Khalistani extremist among the five operating out of Pakistan to be eliminated within three years.
Khalistan Liberation Force leader Harmeet Singh alias Happy PhD was killed in Lahore in 2020. He was a headache for Indian security agencies for more than a decade involved in several terror acts in Punjab and accused of radicalising youth and smuggling drugs into the border state. Happy PhD was accused of carrying out targeted killings of right wing leaders and was a key link between Khalistani operatives and militants in Kashmir, making him an important link in the Pakistan ISI’s K2 operation.
Three Khalistani leaders—Gajinder Singh, Lakhbir Singh Rode and BKI chief Wadhwa Singh—continue to take shelter in Pakistan, even as Indian agencies are tightening the noose on Khalistani extremists operating on foreign soils. Gajinder Singh, one of the five accused in hijacking an Indian Airlines plane to Lahore in 1981, has been on the most wanted list along with Lakhbir Singh Rode, declared terrorist by the government recently. Rode is chief of the proscribed International Sikh Youth Federation and has been working in collusion with the ISI to supply weapons and drugs into Punjab besides supporting Canada-based gangsters to carry out terror acts, latest being the Rocket Propelled Grenade attack at the intelligence headquarters in Mohali in 2022.
The other big headache for the government is Babbar Khalsa International chief Wadhwa Singh. Based in Pakistan, Singh's links cropped up in the recent investigation against Waris Punjab De, the outfit led by arrested radical leader Amirtpal Singh.