Chandigarh: In fresh audio and video messages 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.
While the unverified audio clip surfaced on social media channels in the evening, the video message surfaced at 9 pm Thursday.
In the new clips, the controversial chief of Waris Punjab De is heard saying that he hasn’t spoken about surrendering before the police but “God willing” he will “very soon be back among the sangat (followers)”.
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 both clips. “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.”
“It is not right to think that I’ve abandoned my supporters. The fact that I’ve not been caught means that I’m being given an opportunity to do something for my community. I’m not among those who will run away to a foreign nation. Very soon I will be back among my people,” Amritpal said in his new messages.
The clips come a day after a video on social media purportedly showed Amritpal asking the jathedar of 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 clips, 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 in his audio clip.
The messages come 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 videos and audio clip also came days after the Akal Takht jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh 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 Amritpal’s call for a ‘Sarbat Khalsa’. 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 purported clips, Amritpal said he was responding to allegations that Wednesday’s video was made 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 clips Thursday. “I was not well when I made it. I have lost some weight because I am eating only a limited amount of food. Also, I’m walking 20-30 miles every day.”
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 heard saying in the audio, adding that it was time for all Sikh bodies to unite and come together to “make the existence the Sikh community felt”.
“A vaheer can be started and it can end in a Sarbat Khalsa at Damdama Sahib,” said Amritpal in Thursday’s video.”My call is a test for the jathedar too. It is generally believed that the jathedar works for a single family in Punjab. He can take this opportunity to prove his independence.”
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