Wanted in India, Khalistan Commando Force chief Panjwar shot dead in Lahore

Panjwar (63) was designated as a terrorist by India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020. Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, including the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and Counter Terrorism Department.

(CTD), cordoned off the area and launched an investigation while the media was not allowed at the crime scene. The killing is the latest instance of terror kingpins being targeted outside India. In February this year, Bashir Ahmad Peer, a self-styled commander of the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi.

Also in the same month, former commander of Pakistan-based terror outfit Al Badr, Syed Khalid Raza, was killed in a similar manner outside his residence in Karachi while Kashmir-born terrorist, Aijaz Ahmad Ahanger alias Abu Usman Al-Kashmiri, who had joined the Islamic State( IS), was reportedly killed in February in Kunar province of Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, an eyewitness told the CTD investigators that Panjwar along with his guard was in the park at around 6 am when a gunman came close to them and opened fire. “After the firing, the assailant rushed to the gate of the society and fled along with his accomplice who was waiting for him outside,” he said.

A source in CTD told PTI that after recording statements from a number of people in the housing society, it has been revealed that the assailants had held a recce for a week. “We have got an important clue about the killers and a couple of teams of the intelligence agencies have been formed to arrest the assailants and the network behind it,” he said.

Lahore police have been asked to let the ISI lead the investigation. The crime scene was protected by the agencies and the police were asked not to register an FIR till approval from ISI, sources in the Lahore police said.

“I cannot make a comment on this matter,” Lahore police spokesperson Farhan Ali Sheikh said when asked about the incident.

Panjwar joined the KCF in 1986. He later headed this outfit and crossed over to Pakistan.

In India, Kanwar Pal Singh, leader of radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa, termed Panjwar’s killing as shocking. “He was lying low since many years. I knew him personally as we worked together under the umbrella of Panthic Committee during the peak days of militancy in early 90s. He was a committed soldier of Sikh struggle. In the militant rank and file, he was addressed as Bhau, a term used to denote big brother in Tarn Taran, where he was born in Panjwar village in 1960,” Kanwar Pal said.

Panjwar joined the KCF in 1986, which was then headed by Sukhdev Singh alias Sukha Sipahi who was then serving as a police constable in India’s Punjab. Sipahi was killed in a police encounter in Hoshiarpur in 1989 following which Kanwarjit Singh of Sultanwind in Amritsar became the chief of KCF and Panjwar his deputy.

After the death of Kanwarjit Singh, Panjwar became the chief of the KCF. He later escaped to Pakistan in 1995-96.

Though inactive for the last couple of years, Panjwar had been operating from Lahore and was involved in arranging arms training for youths in Pakistan. He was engaged in supplying arms and ammunition and subsequent infiltration into India for targeting VIPs and economic installations.

He was also involved in broadcasting highly seditious and separatist programmes on Radio Pakistan, intended to incite minorities against the Indian government. He was active in the smuggling of drugs and was a major conduit between smugglers and terrorists, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs had said in a notification that designated him a terrorist under UAPA. (With ENS inputs)