A Sikh pro-independence leader arrested in India after more than a month on the run

23 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Indian security forces have arrested this Sunday the Sikh independence leader Amritpal Singh, who had been on the run for more than a month after managing to escape his arrest on March 18 in the province of Punjab after a persecution broadcast live by some of his followers.

“Amritpal Singh has been arrested in Moga, Punjab,” said the provincial police through a brief message on his account on the social network Twitter. “We ask citizens to keep peace and harmony. Do not share false news, always check and share,” he said.

Singh, 30, is the leader of the Waris Punjab De organization, an organization founded by actor and activist Deep Sidhu, who died in a traffic accident in February 2022. He and several of his followers are accused of ordering attacks against the security forces.

The name of the Sikh separatist made headlines in February after hundreds of his supporters stormed a police station to demand the release of one of his aides, Lovepreet Singh, accused of kidnapping. During the incidents, some of those involved brandished swords and guns at the officers.

Singh declares himself a sympathizer of the separatist and terrorist group Yarnail Singh Bhindranwale, an armed organization that aspires to the independence of Khalistan as the homeland of the Sikhs in the territories of the former Sikh Empire with the Indian provinces of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi and parts of Kashmir and Rajasthan.