Wanted terrorist & Khalistan Commando Force chief Paramjit Panjwar shot dead in Pakistan’s Lahore

Panjwar was listed as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and was wanted in terrorism cases besides narcotics and fake currency smuggling.

File photo of the slogan of Khalistan written in Punjabi on the wall of the city council park in Bajigar Basti, Faridkot | ANI

New Delhi: Wanted in India on multiple terrorism and narcotics cases, and chief of the terrorist organisation, Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), Paramjit Singh Panjwar was Saturday shot dead by two unidentified bike-borne men in Pakistan’s Lahore.

He was also listed as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Sources in the defence and security establishment said that Panjwar, who was named after his village near Amristar, was shot dead and his bodyguard injured while out on a walk early morning in Lahore’s Johar town.

They said it was not clear who was behind the killing but the same modus operandi was used to kill Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) leader Harmeet Singh, infamously known as “Happy PhD”, in 2020 in Lahore.

Giving details, the sources said Panjwar is understood to have been in the crosshairs of Pakistan’s ISI in recent times.

ThePrint had earlier reported that there are 22 cases against him on charges ranging from terrorism to fake-currency racketeering.

As per the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) records, he was accused of arranging arms training for youth in Pakistan, for supplying arms and ammunition, and subsequent infiltration into India.

He was also accused of smuggling drugs and was “a major conduit between smugglers and terrorists,” say the records. 

Panjwar’s complicity in promoting drug trade and fake Indian currency notes operations in Punjab are well documented, UAPA records state.

They add that efforts were being made by his organisation – the KCF –  to reactive former militants, sleeper cells and those on bail, and was in favour of forming a nexus with other forces hostile to India.

Sources said while he moved to Pakistan in the early 1990s, his wife and two sons settled abroad. One son is believed to be based in Germany while the other is in Canada, sources said.

He took over as the KCF chief in 1989 after his cousin Labh Singh was shot dead by the security forces in Punjab.

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)