Lakhbir Singh Rode, Pak-based chief of banned Khalistan Liberation Force, is dead
Pakistan’s go-getter man for anti-India operations and Khalistani terrorist Lakhbir Singh Rode died in Pakistan on Monday. He was 72.
Self-styled head of the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) and nephew of slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Lakhbir Singh was listed as an ‘individual terrorist’ under the UA(P)A and had fled to Pakistan.
According to various media reports, Lakhbir Singh’s brother and former Akal Takht Jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode has confirmed his death in Pakistan. He said his brother had already been cremated in Pakistan on Monday.
Recently, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court in Mohali ordered the confiscation of land belonging to the designated terrorist in Punjab’s Moga district.
The land is at Kothe Gurupura village near Smalsar in Baghapurana tehsil of Moga district.
The court ordered the confiscation of the land under Section 33(5) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, under which a judge can confiscate moveable and immovable property of a proclaimed offender involved in serious crimes.
The order was related to the case registered by the NIA on October 1, 2021, under the Explosive Substances Act, UAPA, NDPS Act and the IPC. Originally, the FIR was registered on September 16, 2021, under the Explosive Substances Act at Jalalabad police station in a case involving a tiffin bomb blast. The explosion occurred near Punjab National Bank at Jalalabad in Fazilka district at 7.57pm on September 15, 2021.
ISYF was founded in 1984 and is quite active in Canada and the UK, with its head Rode settled in Lahore.
According to the US State Department, ISYF was an active terrorist group organization. ISYF also has linkages with Islamist militant groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). ISYF was banned under the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) on March 22, 2002. Besides being banned in India, the group was banned in the UK in 2001. Following the ban in UK, the group changed its name to Sikh Federation-UK (SFUK).
Rode worked closely with ISI to disrupt peace in Punjab and all tiffin bomb modules busted in the past couple of years by the Punjab Police were his handiwork.
Rode was the main conspirator of the Ludhiana Court blast of 2021. Rode’s nephew and son of former Akal Takht Jatehedar Jasbir Singh Rode was also arrested by Punjab Police in connection with the recovery of RDX and tiffin bomb.
The killing of Shaurya Chakra awardee Comrade Balwinder Singh, a well-known face of Tarn Taran during the fight against terrorism, was executed on Rode’s directions in 2020. Canada-based gangster-turned-terrorist Arsh Dalla has been the go-getter man of Rode.
In February this year, the state special operation cell (SSOC) of the Punjab Police booked nine persons, including Pakistan-based International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) chief Lakhbir Singh Rode, for smuggling arms, ammunition, drugs and explosives using drones from across the border.