A group of protesters hold yellow flags with the word Khalistan in British Columbia Toronto. / REUTERS/Carlos Osorio/File Photo

Nearly all terrorist movements around the world have depended on and worked closely with organized crime networks to fund their activities and further their goals. Take for example the Afghan Taliban's control over opium production and involvement in the heroin market, or the Irish Republican Army's links with the Italian mafia.

The violent Khalistan movement is no different.

Whether during the height of Khalistani terror in India during the 80s and 90s or today, there has been an intricate nexus between Khalistani groups and transnational crime syndicates peddling in weapons and drugs, robbery and extortion rackets, and other illicit activities. Moreover, street gangs provide readily available armies of thugs to use as enforcers and hit men. They even have common means of moving money, such as through hawala networks, which are often used to fund terrorism in India.

According to security analyst, Ajay Sahni, 

“In partnering with gangsters involved in a range of activities, dominated by drug smuggling, but also including gun running, targeted killings and extortion in their country of origin, the Khalistani Diaspora has chosen a path fraught with danger. In Canada, in particular, the Punjabi gangster culture is rampant. 21 percent of gangsters killed in gang wars or police operations since 2006 are of Punjabi origin, while just 2 percent [of Canada's] population is Punjabi (1.4 percent Sikh).”  

That’s why it was no surprise to see that another pro-Khalistan extremist was shot at on August 11, this time while traveling in a vehicle on a stretch of a California highway in Sacramento. Satinder Pal Singh Raju was allegedly targeted for his Khalistani activities on behalf of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a transnational radical group banned in India for its reported support of terrorism and violence. Not surprisingly, SFJ pointed a finger at the Indian government, claiming that it was part of a pattern of India’s transnational repression against Sikh activists in the diaspora.

But these claims are nothing new and ignore long standing connections between Khalistani groups and organized crime.

Dating back to the 1980s, targeted attacks on prominent Khalistani figures, particularly in Canada, have been blamed on the Indian government. The evidence, however, has demonstrated time and again that the violence was a result of internecine warfare between rival Khalistani groups and often executed by predominantly Punjabi Sikh criminal gangs. 

As journalist Praveen Swami noted, “the links between pro-Khalistan leaders and criminals were no secret in the Punjabi community.” 

Well-known Canadian gangsters, Raminder ‘Ron’ Dosanjh and his brother Jimsher ‘Jimmy’ Dosanjh, for instance, were simultaneously leaders of the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF)’s Vancouver chapter. ISYF, along with Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) are designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) organizations by the US Department of State under section 1(b) of Executive Order (E.O.) 13224.

Similarly, deceased Air India bombing mastermind, Ripudaman Singh Malik, was close to gangster and drug dealer, Raminder Bhander. Bhander even testified on Malik’s behalf in the Air India trial. Malik and Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and SFJ leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, were rivals, and both were killed in gangland style hits.

If anything, the relationship between Khalistanis and criminals has only deepened in recent years and it's often hard to tell the difference between the two. For instance, the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), put out a red corner notice earlier this year for the arrest of the Canada based gangster, Satvinder Singh, better known as Goldy Brar, who was reportedly “assisting pro-Khalistan outfits such as Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) in smuggling of weapons, drugs, [and] targeting killings...” 

Similarly, Arshdeep Singh Gill, alias Arsh Dalla, has operated a criminal network from Canada and is closely connected to KTF and ISYF.

These gangs have been active in the US as well, including in parts of California such as the Central Valley and Sacramento, where SFJ extremist Santinder Singh was shot at. 

Notably, last year, 17 members of criminal syndicates were arrested in a multi-agency law enforcement operation for their involvement in a number of crimes, including mass shootings at Stockton Sikh temple in August 2022 and a Sacramento Sikh temple in March 2023. News reports indicate that all of those arrested were from the Sikh community, and while it is not clear if there are any links between those individuals and Khalistani groups, it's certainly plausible to connect the dots. 

Given these connections, the activities of Khalistani groups, such as SFJ, and predominantly Punjabi Sikh criminal gangs cannot be treated as separate phenomena, and should rather be looked at as part of the same continuum of extremism and violence.

Accordingly, local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies as well as policy makers can't continue to pretend that Khalistani networks in the US are merely comprised of peaceful activists striving towards the highest ideal of freedom. Instead, they need to be dealt with based on who they actually are - violent criminals and ideological extremists.

 

The author is the managing director of Policy & Programs, and Co-Legal Counsel at the Hindu American Foundation. 

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of  New India Abroad.