Lakhbir Singh Rode
Lakhbir Singh Rode is the nephew of Sikh general Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, and currently heads the banned International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), which has branches in over a dozen countries in western Europe and Canada.[1] Lakhbir is also affiliated with the Khalistan Zindabad Force. He is also known Lakhbir Singh alias Singh Lakhbir Rode alias Singh Lakhbir.[2] He is suspected to be living in Lahore, Pakistan.
Lakhbir singh is said to be one of the main organizers of a KZF/ISYF unit at Birganj on the India-Nepal border.[3] In 1998, Lakhbir was arrested at Teku, near Kathmandu, Nepal with 20 kg of RDX explosives, and apparently confessed that the RDX was given to him by a counsellor in the Pakistan Embassy at Kathmandu.[4]
In July 2007, the investigative weekly Tehelka reported that in a confession by militant Talwinder Singh Parmar to the Punjab police days before his death on October 15, 1992,[5] he had identified Lakhbir as the mastermind behind the Air India 182 (Kanishka) bombing on June 23, 1985. However, this has been disputed by Canadian investigators,[6] who say they had talked to Lakhbir and that he is unlikely to be the Mr.X who, together with Inderjit Singh Reyat is likely to have masterminded the bombing.
References
- ↑ "Weekly Assessments & Briefings". South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR), Volume 5, No. 50,. June 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
- ↑ "Punjab Assessment - Year 2006". South Asia Terrorism Portal. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
- ↑ "Khalistan Zindabad Force: Objective, Organisation and Leadership". South Asia Terrorism Portal.
- ↑ "The RDX Files". India Today,. 2001-02-01.
- ↑ Vikram Jit Singh (2007-08-04). "Operation Silence". Tehelka. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
- ↑ Kim Bolan, (September 25, 2007). "Confession had false details, inquiry told: RCMP 'fully' checked out alleged Parmar confession, inspector tells commissioner". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on October 22, 2007.