Chandigarh: In an audio clip that went viral on social media Thursday, Khalistani activist Amritpal Singh is purportedly heard saying that he’s neither in custody nor negotiating his surrender.
Amritpal has been on the run since 18 March, when the Punjab Police launched a massive search operation for him and his associates.
“I have not talked about surrendering. Nor have I put any conditions for my surrender as is doing the rounds,” the radical preacher is purportedly heard saying in the audio clip. “Some people are saying that I have put conditions for surrendering…that I should not be tortured in custody. I’m neither afraid of arrest nor of custodial torture. Let them (police) do what they have to do.”
The audio message comes a day after a video on social media purportedly showed Amritpal asking the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, to call a Sarbat Khalsa, a general assembly of the Sikhs.
He also referred to his video in Thursday’s audio clip, saying it hadn’t been made in the presence of the police, as has been implied by some quarters.
“The video was not of very high quality because I do not have the kind of equipment that one normally uses to make such videos like a microphone or a big phone. Also, since I’m on my own I’m not used to making such videos without help,” Amritpal purportedly said.
The audio message comes at a time when the Punjab and Haryana High Court is hearing a habeas corpus petition by Amritpal’s lawyer. The petition claims that ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief has been illegally detained — a claim that the Punjab Police have so far denied.
The video and audio clips also came days after the Akal Takht jathedar gave Punjab’s Bhagwant Mann government an ultimatum to release all those arrested in connection with the Amritpal crackdown.
There has been no official response from either the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) or the Akal Takht on Thursday’s audio. But SGPC general secretary Bhai Gurcharan Singh Grewal told the media that the Akal Takht would commence a Khalsa vaheer, or religious march, after Baisakhi in collaboration with other Sikh bodies.
“Following a meeting of the various Sikh bodies (on 27 March) it was decided to give the government a 24-hour ultimatum to release all the innocent Sikh youth who had been picked up by the police following the crackdown,” Grewal said. “We’ve been told that most of these innocent Sikh boys have been released. Now the next course of action will be announced by the jathedar sahib.”
‘Sikh bodies must unite to make community’s presence felt’
In the audio, Amritpal purportedly says that he was responding to claims that he made Wednesday’s video while in police custody and under duress.
“There are people who will always try to come up with conspiracy theories but these are not right,” he said in the unverified clip. “I was not well when I made it. I have lost some weight because I am eating only a limited amount of food.”
He also reiterated his appeal for a Sarbat Khalsa, saying that Akal Takth jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh should call for one and prove that he is indeed a jathedar (leader of the Sikhs).
“If we have to indulge in politics and continue to do everything as it happened in the past then why do we need such leadership in the future,” Amritpal is allegedly heard saying in the video, adding that it was time for all Sikh bodies to unite and come together to “make the existence the Sikh community felt”.
On 18 March, as Punjab Police swooped down on Amritpal and his associates, he managed to give them a slip and escaped with a few of his aides. This occurred near Shahkot while he was travelling with his cavalcade from Amritsar to Bathinda.
Like his video message, the audio too had Amritpal thanking “God” for helping him escape the police that day.
Amritpal and his men are facing over half a dozen criminal cases, including one in which he has been accused of leading his men to storm the Ajnala police station last month to secure the release of one of his close associates.
Since his escape, there have allegedly been multiple sightings of Amritpal, with several videos on social media purportedly showing the Sikh preacher and his mentor, Papalpreet Singh, using various modes of transport to evade capture.
According to top police sources, Amritpal once again managed to escape Tuesday. The sources said that Amrital, who was on his way from Jalandhar, abandoned the vehicle he was travelling in at Marnaian village in Hoshiarpur, and ran into the fields nearby.
A search operation in the area has so far yielded no result.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: Why radical activist Amritpal has ticked off Sikh preachers, politicians & ordinary folk
Source: The Print
