Khalistan Zindabad Force

The Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) is a small Khalistani outfit that has been led by Ranjit Singh Neeta, a man from the Jammu region. Wikipedia says it remains banned in India and lists it as active from 1988, and describes it as largely made up of Jammu-based Sikhs. Rediff says the Khalistan movement had faded by the early 1990s and that little is known of the group's capabilities, so what is said of it comes largely from the Indian police and press.

Its leader: Rediff, in a 2008 profile, says Neeta is originally from the Sumbal Camp area of Jammu and reportedly began as a petty criminal with ties to smugglers at RS Pura and Samba. It says his name appears in at least six FIRs filed after blasts on trains and buses between Jammu and Pathankot from 1988 to 1999, and that he is alleged to have been involved in the October 2001 killing of a deputy superintendent of police in Kathua. Indian intelligence agencies believed in 2008 that he was in Lahore. Rediff adds that some attacks in Punjab, Delhi and Kashmir had been attributed to the KZF but that there was little hard evidence.

Key moments:

• December 2005: the European Union declared the KZF a “terrorist organisation” and froze its funds in EU countries.
• May 2009: after the attack in Vienna on Sant Rama Nand of Dera Sachkhand, which killed him, claims and denials were reported in the KZF's name. The Tribune reported that the KZF denied any involvement in an email signed Ranjit Singh Jammu, saying the Punjab leadership was defaming its struggle and “people are being misled in the name of the KZF”.
• 12 February 2020: an NIA special court at Mohali issued non-bailable warrants against Neeta and a second man, Gurmeet Singh Bagga, over a drone arms drop.
• 18 March 2020: the NIA filed a charge sheet against nine men in what it calls the Punjab drone arms drop case. It alleges eight drone sorties over five days in August and September 2019 and says Neeta, described as the Pakistan-based chief, and Gurmeet Singh are absconding. These are the agency's allegations, not court findings.

Where it stands: The latest case the sources opened name it in is the 2020 NIA drone case, which describes Neeta as Pakistan-based. Wikipedia notes reports in 2021 that Neeta had died, tagged as unconfirmed.