Amritpal Singh says in new video he is in high spirits; gives a call for Sarbat Khalsa on Baisakhi
AMN/ WEB DESK
Even as Police are chasing Amritpal Singh and his outfit, the Khalistan sympathiser appeared in a video on Wednesday, calling for a ‘Sarbat Khalsa’ congregation on Baisakhi to discuss issues related to the Sikh community and saying he is in high spirits (Chardhi Kala)
The fugitive said if the Punjab government wanted only to arrest him, they would have come to his home and he would have given up. He claimed the police action against him was an “attack” on the Sikh community.
There was no official word on the purported video, which appeared as the Punjab Police try to close in on Amritpal Singh. Some reports have also suggested he might surrender as the security in Amritsar and Talwandi Sabo area in Bathinda has been tightened.
Since the crackdown began on March 18, Amritpal has been on the run, using different vehicles and changing his appearance multiple times. He managed to escape the police dragnet when his cavalcade was intercepted in Jalandhar district.
Several videos and images have appeared on social media that purportedly showed him alone and with his aides in different areas.
In the video, Amritpal said, “I appeal to all the Sikh people in the country and abroad to participate in the Sarbat Khalsa program to be held on Baisakhi. For a long time, our community is engrossed in putting up fronts on small issues. If we have to solve the issues of Punjab, then we have to be together. The way the government has cheated us, has to be kept in mind. Many comrades have been arrested and NSA has been imposed, many of my comrades have been sent to Assam. That’s why I appeal to all Sikhs to assemble on the occasion of Baisakhi.”
He also said, “If the intention of the government was to arrest me, then it would have arrested me. If the government had arrested us from home, we would have obliged. But the government tried to arrest me by encircling me with ‘lakhs of force’.”