‘Still a threat’, Punjab extends MP Amritpal’s NSA detention by year
Citing security concerns, the Punjab Government has extended by one year the detention of pro-Khalistan activist and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, who is lodged in the high-security Dibrugarh jail of Assam after his arrest in 2023, under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).
The development has come as a surprise for many as the Punjab Police didn’t earlier extend the NSA detention of Amritpal’s nine co-accused, who have 12 FIRs lodged against them. Arrested in connection with the 2023 Ajnala police station attack, the nine aides were brought back to Punjab in batches from the Dibrugarh jail after their NSA detention ended.
Senior police officials said Amritpal’s case was an exception as they had “additional evidence hinting at the MP continuing to be a threat to the law and order situation in Punjab”.
The one-year extension was ordered by the Punjab Home Department on the recommendation of the Amritsar District Magistrate. The recommendation was based on inputs from the police and intelligence departments, said an official.
One of the new cases against Amritpal was registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in Faridkot. It accuses Amritpal of joining hands with designated terrorist Arshdeep Dalla to plan murder of his old associate Gurpreet Hari Nau.
A radical preacher and the chief of ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit, Amritpal had successfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha poll as an Independent candidate from Khadoor Sahib in Tarn Taran district. Attiring himself as slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, he was arrested from Rode village in Moga district on April 23, 2023, following over a month-long manhunt.
Amritpal and his aides were sent for two-year detention (extended periodically) for being a “threat to the nation’s security due to their provocative statements” and violent incidents between September 2022 and April 2023. All of them had mainly stirred up trouble by storming the Ajnala police station to free one of their accomplices. The images refreshed Bhindranwale’s memories, with many in Punjab fearing the return of the dark days of terrorism that snuffed out thousands of lives between 1980 and 1996.
Amritpal and his aides were booked on charges of spreading disharmony, attempt to murder, attack on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.
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