Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF)

The Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) is one of the armed Sikh groups, Kharku jathebandis, that fought for a sovereign Khalistan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Quint reports that it was founded in 1986 by Aroor Singh and Sukhwinder Singh Babbar, and that its stated goal is "an autonomous sovereign Sikh state of Khalistan." In 1992 the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada described it as one of many armed Sikh groups that used force "ostensibly to establish a separate Sikh state."

Its leaders, in order

• Aroor Singh, 1986 to 1987.
• Avtar Singh Brahma, the second chief, killed on 22 July 1988 near the Rajasthan border.
• Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala, chief from July 1988 until he was killed at Ludhiana on 29 July 1992. Ensaaf's database records this as an extrajudicial killing by Punjab Police, with his body cremated by the security forces and not returned to his family.
• Navroop Singh Dhotian, briefly in 1992, then Navneet Singh Khadian (1992 to 1994) and Pritam Singh Sekhon (1994 to 1999).
• Harminder Singh Mintoo, whom the National Investigation Agency says revived the group in 2010.

Its part in this history

The Government of India holds the KLF responsible for killings of police officers and civilians, bombings, extortion, kidnappings and bank robberies. Reports credit it with the 1990 killing of Punjab minister Balwant Singh. In October 1991 it kidnapped the Romanian diplomat Liviu Radu in Delhi and demanded the release of five jailed Sikhs. He was later released, and the Home Minister said no deal had been made.

Key moments

• 1986: formed.
• November 2014: Mintoo arrested at Delhi airport after returning from Thailand, with about ten cases against him.
• 27 November 2016: armed men attack Nabha jail and free Mintoo and five others. He is recaptured at Nizamuddin station within a day.
• 18 April 2018: Mintoo dies in Patiala Central Jail. Officials gave cardiac arrest as the cause, and the prisons chief recommended a judicial inquiry.
• 26 December 2018: the Ministry of Home Affairs bans the KLF under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the 40th organisation on its list, citing "committing and promoting various acts of terrorism in India."

Where it stands today

The KLF remains banned in India. The NIA's case for the ban said the group is run by people based in the United Kingdom and Pakistan. That is the agency's claim.