Lakhbir Singh Rode (1952–2023) was a Canada-based Khalistani separatist who headed the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), a controversial organization that aims to establish Khalistan, an independent homeland for the Sikhs of India. He was the nephew of notorious Sikh terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Lakhbir Singh also had links with separatist organizations Khalistan Zindabad Force and Khalistan Liberation Force. Their criminal record includes armed attacks on law enforcement personnel, planting IEDs and bombs, targeted killings of minority community members, extortion, raising funds for terrorist activities and spreading fear among the general population. Rode died of a heart attack on 1 December 2023 in Lahore, Pakistan.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Lakhbir Singh Brar was born in 1952 (age 71 years; as of 2023) in Rode village, Bagha Purana tehsil of Moga district in Punjab, India. Various media houses also called him Lakhbir Singh, Singh Lakhbir Rode or Singh Lakhbir. During his later years, he initially fled to Dubai and then to Canada. Reportedly, he was living in exile in Lahore, Pakistan before his death.
family and caste
He belonged to a Jat Sikh family.
parents and siblings
There is not much information about his parents. His brother Jasbir Singh Rode is a former Jathedar of Akal Takht.
Jasbir Singh Rode
wife and children
He was married and had two sons and a daughter, who lived in Canada at the time of his death.
Other
He was the nephew of Sikh terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale
Religion
He followed Sikhism.
Lakhbir Singh Rode- a Khalistani separatist
Lakhbir Singh Rode was listed as an individual terrorist under the UA(P). He along with his brother Jasbir Singh Rode founded the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) in August 1984 after Operation Blue Star. Operation Blue Star was an Indian Armed Forces operation in which troops attacked the buildings of the Sikh holy site Golden Temple in Amritsar to eliminate Khalistani terrorist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers, who were hiding in the temple complex. ISYF was founded in the United Kingdom as an international branch of the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF). The first conference of ISYF was held in Walsall, UK. Rode also had links with Islamic terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Rode was instrumental in establishing Khalistan-Kashmir International, a collaborative platform for coordinated actions between Sikh and Islamic extremists. It was established following the setbacks faced by terrorists in the Khalistan-Kashmir-Muslim Militant (K2M) front, which emerged in the early 1990s as the leading platform for joint operations by militants and Islamic militant groups from Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir. Was. Under the leadership of Lakhbir Singh Rode, ISYF spread its branches in more than a dozen countries in Western Europe and Canada. Read the Central Government’s case study on Lakhbir Singh,
ISYF opened its chapters in various locations in the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Lakhbir Singh is allegedly engaged in sending consignments of arms and explosives from across the border to India to carry out terrorist activities in Punjab and target various Very Important Persons (VVIPs) and political leaders.
He was also an activist of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF). Reportedly, Lakhbir Singh and Maan Behanji were the main organizers of a powerful KZF base in Birgunj, Nepal. In November 1998, Lakhbir Singh was arrested after a two-day search in a hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal, where authorities found 20 kilograms of RDX, timer switches, electric detonators and high-power batteries in his custody. According to reports, during interrogation he confessed that the consignment was for India. Singh also revealed his conversations with three Pakistani embassy officials, one of whom was identified as Asim Saboor. Reportedly, bases were established in Nepal by KZF with the support of ISI during the phase of Punjab insurgency. In February 2001, ISYF was banned in the United Kingdom under the Terrorism Act 2000. Subsequently, in 2002, India also banned ISYF under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, officially designating it as a terrorist organization by the Government of India.
Lakhbir Singh Rode while giving speech in Panthak Sammelan
Lakhbir Singh Rode’s name also cropped up in the bombing of Air India Flight 182, a passenger flight operating on the Montreal-London-Delhi-Bombay route, which exploded over the Atlantic Ocean on 23 June 1985. The masterminds behind the bombing are two British-Canadian nationals, one Inderjit Singh Reyat, who had confessed to the crime in 2003, and the other, Babbar Khalsa International leader Talwinder Singh Parmar. Several years later, in 2007, it was reported that Parmar, before his death on 15 October 1992, had named Lakhbir Singh as one of the planners of the bombing during the investigation. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Air India Task Force thoroughly investigated Parmar’s confession and concluded that it contained some false information about a terrorist plot. In May 2001, an RCMP team went to Pakistan to interrogate Brar, who had previously been ruled out as a suspect in the Air India plot. According to the RCMP report, Brar told the police that Surjan Singh Gill was involved in the conspiracy. Longtime suspect Gill was from Burnaby, who later lived in England. Brar told the police that Talwinder Parmar and Ajaib Bagri did not have the courage to carry out the bomb blast alone. Additionally, Brar said that Manjeet Singh (also known as Lal Singh), a long-time suspect, had shared information with him about the bombings in Pakistan. According to the RCMP report, Manjeet Singh told Brar that it was Sikh activist Ripudaman Singh Malik who had purchased the M&L. Manjeet Singh also said that Malik arranged flight tickets for him, and he went to the airport and loaded the luggage. The police report also mentions Brar’s claim that Malik had arranged for a passport for him too. Although he had his own passports, he used one provided by Malik. When the RCMP received this information, Malik and Bagri were declared not guilty in the BC Supreme Court in connection with the Air India bombing two years earlier. Barr’s statement was not used during his trial. Rode was also charged in the Ludhiana Court complex bomb blast on December 23, 2021. 1 died and 6 were injured in the explosion. According to the NIA, Rode founded a terrorist group to carry out blasts and bring weapons into India illegally. He collaborated with Zulfikar, also known as Pehalwan, a smuggler based in Pakistan involved in cross-border arms, explosives and narcotics trade. Other associates include Harpreet Singh, known as Happy Malaysia, Surmukh Singh, also known as Sammu, Dilbag Singh and Rajanpreet Singh. Rode used the smuggling network Zulfikar and his associates Surmukh Singh and Harpreet Singh to transfer the IED to Gagandeep Singh, who carried out the blast at the compound and was killed in the process.
View of the Ludhiana Court Complex blast site on 23 December 2021
In early 2023, the NIA took control of a piece of land owned by Lakhbir Singh in Kothe Gurupura village of Moga. According to the notice posted by the NIA, one-fourth of the land, which is 43 kanals 3 marlas, was seized based on an order of the NIA court. The court order of October 5 was related to a case filed by the NIA in Delhi on October 1, 2021. Rode was charged under several sections, including sections 3, 4, 5 and 6, section 16 of the Explosive Substances Act (1908). , Sections 17, 18, 18B, 20, 38 and 39 of the UA(P)A Act (1967), Sections 21B, 27A, and 29 of the NDPS Act, 1985, and Section 120B of the IPC. The case was related to the tiffin bomb blast that took place near Punjab National Bank in Jalalabad city of Fazilka district of Punjab on 15 September 2021. NIA investigation revealed that Lakhbir Singh was behind the entire conspiracy. The NIA said arms, ammunition, specially designed explosive devices, grenades and narcotics were being seized to carry out terrorist acts, especially bomb blasts, to create fear and terror among the people of Punjab. Rode had an important role in sending the consignment.
Death
Rode died of a heart attack in Pakistan on 1 December 2023, at the age of 71. Lakhbir Singh’s brother and former Akal Takht Jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode confirmed his death. Former Khemkaran MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha of Shiromani Akali Dal Badal paid tribute to Rode on his Facebook page.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn