Behind the police crackdown on Amritpal's outfit

{ 'COORDINATED BY DELHI, EXECUTED BY PUNJAB' }

- Ravinder Vasudeva and Neeraj Chauhan

CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: Beginning Saturday, the Punjab Police launched a massive crackdown on Khalistan secession campaigner Amritpal Singh, 30, the chief of "Waris Punjab De". The events since that day have been as dramatic as Singh's life that saw him return from Dubai in 2022 to assume leadership of the organisation once led by actor Deep Sidhu, and lead calls for a separate Khalistan, drawing the ire of state and central agencies. Since Saturday, over 114 Waris Punjab De members have been arrested; guns and ammunition recovered; and five members charged under the National Security Act, 1980, and moved to a jail in Assam's Dibrugarh.

Since Saturday, there has been an internet shutdown in Punjab, and flag marches by police in multiple cities and villages. There's no news of Singh himself, though, with some claiming that he has already been detained under NSA, and others that he has thus far evaded arrest, allegedly dodging the police after a car chase through villages and towns in Punjab, with the police describing his arrest as a "matter of time".

But the operation to arrest Singh and round up his organisation, has learnt from multiple stakeholders both in Punjab and the Centre, was put into motion weeks in advance with multiple agencies involved in drafting and executing a plan that would avoid any collateral violence particularly in a security sensitive state such as Punjab. To be sure, some experts have questioned the wisdom of the state waiting for three weeks after the violence at Ajnala to act against the radical.