GUWAHATI, Sept 10 � Easy availability of illegal weapons in the North East has become a matter of grave concern and now Khalistani militant groups have also started eyeing the region to procure weapons.
Highly placed security sources told The Assam Tribune that only yesterday an important member of the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), Dilbagh Sigh was arrested in Guwahati and he was trying to explore possibilities of procuring weapons from the region.
Sources said that security agencies got the tip-off and arrested the Khalistani militant before he could establish contact with the clandestine arms dealers. Singh hails from Jammu.
Sources pointed out that most of the militant groups of the North East have abundance of weapons and very often they sell it to other militant groups. The militant groups of the North East, as well as the clandestine arms dealers, mostly procure weapons manufactured in China. The arms dealers in South East Asian countries bring weapons to India by taking advantage of the porous border with Myanmar. According to inputs available, Dimapur has become a major hub of the dealers of such weapons. Only in recent months, several consignments of weapons were caught when those were being brought to Assam from Dimapur.
Meanwhile, when contacted, sources in Punjab Police told The Assam Tribune that KZF is one of the three most prominent Khalistani militant outfits � the other two being Khalistan Commando Force and Babbar Khalsa. The outfits maintained a low profile for some time and in recent times, they started efforts to reorganize and it is believed that leaders of several such outfits are taking shelter in Pakistan. They are under pressure from the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) to revive the outfits and to create disturbance in India.
The KZF still has presence in Punjab and Jammu areas and the chief of the outfit, Ranjit Singh Neeta hails from Jammu. Sources said that Ranjit Singh is now out of the country and his whereabouts are not known. But there have been inputs that he has been trying to revive the outfit and the efforts to procure weapons might be a part of the plan to revive the same.
Sources added that several members of the Khalistani militant groups flew to Pakistan via Bangkok and Nepal following tightening of security along the India-Pakistan border. �We have definite information that several Khalistani militant leaders visited Bangkok and Nepal very often and there is strong possibility that they may have come into contact with the militants of North East in those places,� sources added.
