Former diplomat KC Singh on Tuesday said radical Sikh preacher and self-proclaimed separatist Amritpal Singh should surrender his passport after the latter said he doesn’t consider himself as an Indian citizen. KC Singh, chief of the Sunehra Punjab Party, said that Amritpal should get his identification from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a stateless person because “Khalistan exists only in his head.”
Singh’s comments came after ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief called the Indian passport merely a “travel document” and said that it does not make him an Indian. He also drew a parallel between “Hindu Rashtra” and “Khalistan” while defending the slogans calling for a separate state.
Defending his earlier remarks on Union home minister Amit Shah in which he had warned of “consequences” similar to former prime minister Indira Gandhi, the 29-year-old pro-Khalistan leader said, “When Amit Shah said that he will suppress things, I said there will be consequences. It’s not just about Indira Gandhi’s murder as consequence. It’s not a threat to home minister. I would say is a threat to us. What options do we have when there are legal binaries in India? I don’t consider myself a citizen of India. I just have a passport, which does not make me Indian. It’s a travel document.”
Reacting to his statement, KC Singh tweeted, “Hmm! He was in Dubai on Indian passport, obtained declaring himself an Indian national. Let him surrender his passport/nationality & get ID from UNHCR as stateless as Khalistan exists only in his head. GOI must deport him to whichever nation takes him or intern him as alien.”
Amritpal was working in a transport company in Dubai before he returned to India last year and became a baptised Sikh. Soon, he took over as chief of ‘Waris Punjab De’, a social organisation founded by actor-activist Deep Sidhu who was killed in an accident in February last year.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday said Khalistan supporters were getting funding from Pakistan and other countries, stressing that state police were capable of handling the issue.
“Do you think 1,000 people (who have been seen shouting pro-Khalistan slogans) represent the entire Punjab? You come to Punjab and see for yourself who all are shouting such slogans,” Mann told reporters in Gujarat when asked about pro-Khalistan slogans being raised in his state after the Amritpal episode.
“Only a handful of persons are behind this and they run their shops through funding from Pakistan and other foreign countries,” Mann said.
(With inputs from agencies)
