US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI4449

C O N F I D E N T I A L  NEW DELHI 004449 
 
 
STATE/SCT FOR MOLANDER AND RPARENT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, IN, PK, CA, GM, TH, TC 
SUBJECT: SIKH TERRORISTS, WEAPONS CACHES SEIZED AFTER DELHI 
CINEMA BOMBINGS 
 
REF: NEW DELHI 3846 
 
Classified By: Charge Bob Blake, for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary: The recent arrests of terrorists from the 
Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) group -- which is 
proscribed under the US Terrorist Exclusion List -- included 
all the main conspirators in the May 22 twin cinema bombings 
as well as a BKI leader who had escaped police custody 
earlier this year.  The arrests also led to a haul of money, 
weapons, and explosives that would reportedly have been used 
for further spectacular attacks.  Indian investigators say 
their analysis of cell phone traffic at the bomb sites 
focused the initial (May 31) raids.  Indian law enforcement 
officials continue to turn down FBI LEGAT's offer of 
technical assistance with the case.  Police, Indian media, 
and our CT contacts point to a possible Pakistan connection, 
but opinions differ as to what direct role was played by Sikh 
terrorists reportedly residing in Pakistani Punjab, terrorist 
jihadi group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, and/or Pakistan's ISI.  These 
bombings were the first in Delhi in three years, the first 
successful BKI attacks in India in a decade, and were 
apparently intended to spark communal violence.  The attacks 
also coincided with an uptick in Sikh political dissent, but 
there is no clear connection between the two.  This cable 
also provides biographic notes on BKI head of Indian 
operations Jagtar Singh Hawara, who was arrested on June 8 
with two of the bombing suspects.  Except when specified 
otherwise, the police information cited herein is from public 
statements and Indian press reporting.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (C) Founded in the late 1970s, BKI's stated goal is an 
independent Sikh state ("Khalistan") in what is now Indian 
Punjab.  The group is now reportedly active in the US, 
Canada, Pakistan, and Europe, according to Indian 
counterterrorism researchers.  Indian terrorism expert Dr. 
Ajai Sahni called BKI "the most active and committed of the 
Khalistani groups worldwide," but their activities in recent 
years had been primarily "irritants."  Sahni's research and 
police reporting indicate that BKI has in the past worked 
with other Sikh terrorist groups and with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba 
(LeT).  Indian media reported recently that LeT was tasked in 
2002 to train BKI cadres to foment terrorism in Punjab, but 
Sahni was not certain if BKI-LeT linkages remain.  BKI is on 
the US Terrorist Exclusion List and is banned by the GOI 
under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (2004). 
 
Cinema Bombing Meant "To Send a Message" 
---------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (U) Police told Indian media (based on information 
reportedly gleaned during interrogations) that the assailants 
smuggled explosives and bomb components into the theaters in 
their shoes and underwear, and assembled the bombs in the 
men's lavatory at each location.  Each device contained about 
one kilogram of RDX, which was enough to destroy two rows of 
seats in the Liberty Cinema, but the lack of shrapnel 
minimized casualties.  Delhi Police Commissioner Dr. KK Paul 
said that the bombs -- the first in the capital after a 
three-year hiatus -- were meant to cause panic but not to 
kill: "They wanted to send a message," he explained.  Police 
claimed that one suspect, Balwinder Singh, said that he 
helped with the attack because "The film ("Jo Bole So 
Nihaal") made fun of Sikhs." 
 
Suspects Arrested, RDX and Weapons Seized 
----------------------------------------- 
 
4.  (C) On May 31, the first series of simultaneous raids in 
Delhi and several Punjab villages netted two suspects, 
Jagannath Yadav and Balwinder Singh, respectively.  Joint 
Police Commissioner (Special Cell) Karnal Singh announced 
that they also seized a Punjab police uniform, one kilogram 
of RDX, three detonators, a rifle and ammunition, plus two 
kilograms of gold and approximately $6,800 in Indian currency 
from Jagannath Yadav's Delhi home.  Police sources indicated 
that the cash may have come through a New Delhi hawala dealer 
receiving a transfer from Pakistan that was routed through 
the Middle East.  They point to BKI top leader Wadhwa Singh 
Babbar, whom Indian officials had asked Islamabad to 
extradite a few years ago as one of a "list of twenty" Indian 
absconders, as the source of the funds.  Dr. Sahni said that 
Wadhwa Singh Babbar has been living in Pakistan for some 15 
years. 
 
5.  (U) More arrests in Punjab followed on June 5, when the 
Delhi Police Special Cell tracked down two people that 
Balwinder Singh claimed as accomplices, Gurdeep Singh and 
Bahadur Singh.  During this arrest, police also seized one 
kilogram of RDX and 11 detonators, but they are not stating 
publicly the exact role these two men played. 
 
6.  (U) The three suspects arrested after a June 8 car chase 
in Haryana included the operation's alleged mastermind, 
Jaspal Singh, whom police accuse of having assembled the 
bombs; BKI member Vikas Seghal, who reportedly planted the 
Liberty Cinema bomb; and BKI's head of Indian operations 
Jagtar Singh Hawara, a fugitive who in January 2005 tunneled 
100 feet to escape from a Chandigarh jail where he was 
charged with the 1995 assassination of  Punjab Chief Minister 
Beant Singh.  The police seized 10 kilograms of RDX, 
remote-control blast devices, four pistols and over 200 
rounds of ammunition, and a hand grenade.  Hawara reportedly 
told police that the money and RDX from this arrest and the 
other raids were obtained "from Jammu," but he claimed not to 
know the specific source.  Police spokespeople say that they 
do not expect further arrests in this case. 
 
7.  (U) The "Indian Express" on June 13 reported that the man 
who had been harboring Hawara pointed police to a cache of 
automatic weapons ammunition and bomb components hidden in 
the Sirhind canal in Punjab.  Police found several different 
kinds of detonators, including pressure-release which are 
used by suicide bombers. 
 
Investigation Used Technology & Analysis, No US Role 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
8.  (C) Police spokespeople announced that a study of cell 
phone calls made near the explosions helped initially 
identify the four assailants (Jagannath Yadav, Balwinder 
Singh, Jaspal Singh, and Vikas Seghal).  There is a cell 
tower near each cinema, which allowed police investigators to 
home in on cell numbers that were active near both towers. 
In the hour preceding the first explosion (at Liberty 
Cinema), Jaspal repeatedly called a number in Germany that 
police say belongs to BKI Chief Wadhwa Singh Babbar's 
son-in-law, Satnam Singh Malian; Balwinder Singh later told 
police that Malian ordered the bombing.  After the 
investigators identified Jaspal's phone number, they examined 
his call records to add the names of the other suspects, and 
noticed that each of the four attackers had called each other 
at least once.  Balwinder Singh's cell received more calls 
than any other single number in the area, suggesting that he 
played a key operational role.  Because all four phones were 
serviced by the same provider, the police could quickly 
request all the relevant billing records to obtain the names 
and addresses of the four men. 
 
9.  (C) New Delhi LEGAT reports that India's Central Bureau 
of Investigation has turned down its offers of technical 
assistance in investigating this case (Reftel). 
 
Pakistani Links Alleged 
----------------------- 
 
10.  (C) The "Hindustan Times" recently quoted intelligence 
sources as reporting that the bombers received approximately 
$10,000 from a BKI operative in Germany, and used the money 
to pay for the explosives and bomb materials and for 
Balwinder and Jaspal to travel to Dubai, Bangkok (for 
explosives training), and Pakistan, returning nine days 
before the blasts.  Deputy Police Commissioner Anita Roy told 
us that "international groups, including from Pakistan, were 
involved" in the bombings, but she declined to give 
specifics.  Although BKI has historical links to entities in 
Pakistan and the investigation is pointing in that direction, 
there are three possible -- though not mutually exclusive -- 
"Pakistani connections": 
 
-- The first and most prominent in the media is that many 
Sikh separatists fled India for Pakistan after the collapse 
of the Khalistan movement.  BKI leader Wadhwa Singh Babbar 
reportedly has been living in Pakistan for the last 15 years, 
and is one of five Sikh terrorists on the list of 20 "most 
wanted persons" that New Delhi has in past years asked 
Islamabad to extradite for trial.  "The Pioneer" on June 10 
claimed that he had been spotted in Muzaffarabad, protected 
by a "heavily guarded convoy."  Any other Sikh terrorists 
resident in Pakistan would conceivably support attacks in 
India. 
 
-- Although Dr. Sahni was uncertain as to the current status 
of BKI-LeT relations, a BKI plan intended to spark communal 
violence would be a point of convergence for the two groups. 
Some past linkages may yet remain, and LeT's supply chain 
across the LoC could have been the route for ferrying RDX to 
India. 
 
-- Sahni also suggested that Pakistan's Inter-Services 
Intelligence (ISI) may have played a role in the bombings, 
claiming that ISI provided "continuous support" for BKI in 
recent years and that ISI houses BKI leaders and cadre.  He 
also credited ISI with having created a brief nexus between 
BKI and the Dawood Ibrahim crime syndicate some time ago. 
 
First Successful BKI Operation in a Decade 
------------------------------------------ 
 
11.  (U) The last known BKI terrorism attempt prior to the 
May 22 bombings was a thwarted attack on the Hindu 
nationalist RSS Delhi offices in April 2002, according to the 
database maintained by the "South Asia Terrorism Portal" 
(http://www.satp.org); police reportedly disrupted other 
planned bombings over the past several years.  An arrested 
 
BKI suspect in August 2001 told Punjab police that the group 
had planned to revive terrorism in the state through a series 
of bombings in public places.  Police over the past decade 
have seized dozens of kilograms of RDX and other explosives 
from suspected BKI cells in Delhi and Punjab, in one instance 
netting a cache of 30 kilograms of RDX.  The last successful 
BKI operation was the August 1995 assassination of Punjab 
Chief Minister Beant Singh by a reported BKI human bomb.  The 
group was also accused of masterminding the June 1985 mid-air 
explosion of Air India Flight 182 ("Kanishka") off the Irish 
Coast, which killed 329 people. 
 
Blasts Intended to Herald Wave of Attacks 
----------------------------------------- 
 
12.  (C) Police claim that the four lead suspects also 
planned to assassinate Sikh political and religious leaders 
in Punjab with the goal of exploiting caste tensions among 
Sikh groups, and reviving the Sikh separatist movement -- 
which Dr. Sahni dismisses out of hand, because "the time of 
Khalistan separatism has long passed."  The cinemas playing 
"Jo Bole So Nihaal" appear to have been targets of 
opportunity.  Although Delhi Police Commissioner Paul said 
that the movie itself was not the target "because the attack 
had been planned as early as December 2004," the film had 
generated interest in on-line discussion groups by September 
2004, and was undoubtedly known to Sikh extremists well 
before its debut. 
 
13.  (U) Police reported after Hawara's preliminary 
interrogation that the terrorists had also planned to target 
Congress Party leaders -- Sajjan Kumar, HKL Bhagat, and 
Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Jagdish Tytler -- who 
were implicated in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots following Indira 
Gandhi's assassination.  Other suspected targets included 
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and former Chief 
Minister Prakash Singh Badal, as well as former Director 
General of the Punjab Police, KPS Gill, whom his critics call 
"The Butcher of the Punjab" for his violent crackdown on Sikh 
extremism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 
 
14.  (U) After the last arrests, police said that the 
foursome had planned to set larger bombs that would have been 
detonated using ham radios as remote controls -- this would 
have been the first use of such a tactic in the capital. 
Remote-control detonations would allow the bombers to plant 
explosives ahead of time and provided more flexibility and 
accuracy in timing future attacks.  The terrorists would have 
been able to set off the charges from up to two kilometers 
away, which would greatly reduce the likelihood that 
eye-witnesses or technical investigations would lead to 
speedy identification of the attackers. 
 
Uptick in Sikh Dissent May Not be Linked to Attacks 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
15.  (U) Whether by planning or by chance, the bombings came 
during a rise in Sikh dissent in northern India.  After 
several years of reserved commemorations for the anniversary 
of Operation Bluestar, the 1984 Indian Army assault on Sikh 
militants who had taken refuge in Amritsar's Harmandir Sahib 
(Golden Temple) that left over 100 soldiers and 500 civilians 
dead, members of radical Sikh groups attending the June 6 
ceremony brandished swords and renewed their demands for an 
independent Khalistan.  They also seized the public address 
system for about a half hour at the event convened to 
commemorate Ghallughara ("Genocide") Day, and shouted down 
leaders of the mainstream Sikh establishment, such as SGPC 
leader Bibi Jagir Kaur. 
 
Bio-Notes: Jagtar Singh Hawara 
------------------------------ 
 
16.  (U) Born on May 17, 1970 in Bassi Hawara Kalan village, 
Fatehgarh Sahib district, Punjab, Hawara joined BKI in 1987 
at the age of 16.  According to Indian press reports, he 
lived in Pakistan until 1990, where he reportedly received 
weapons and explosives training.  Hawara is credited with 
having recruited and trained Dilawar Singh, the suicide 
bomber who assassinated Beant Singh.  Police claim he 
similarly motivated some 20 more youths, many of whom he met 
in jail, to act as human bombs while he was in Chandigarh 
jail in the early 1990s.  Dr. Sahni told Poloff that, as the 
group's prominence (and political violence in Punjab) 
declined over the years, BKI recruits "are increasingly drawn 
from the criminal population, working as mercenaries." 
Police who questioned Hawara characterized him as 
"hard-working but not very sharp."  At the time of his 
arrest, there was a reward of approximately $11,500 for 
information leading to his capture. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
17.  (C) The rapid response by Indian police and their 
skilled use of technology to track down the bombers augurs 
well for the GOI for any future attack, although the detailed 
press reporting will undoubtedly cause future bombers to use 
different tactics and to limit using cell phones.  We will 
watch as the GOI prepares its case against the attackers, 
which, given the typical pace of the Indian legal system, may 
take some time.  This will also be an opportunity to see how 
the government applies the new Unlawful Activities 
(Prevention) Act, which last year replaced the Prevention of 
Terrorism Act (POTA). 
 
18.  (C) Aside from the attacks themselves, the most 
potentially troubling aspect of the case is the reported 
Pakistani link.  Although the GOI is not letting this 
incident affect the rapprochement with Pakistan, officials 
cite cases like this as a major drag on sentiment in the 
government.  In the midst of cross-border political and 
economic progress, further such incidents could seriously set 
back Indo-Pak rapprochement.  Islamabad could boost its 
credibility with New Delhi if it arrested and extradited 
Wadhwa Singh Babbar, if Indian authorities and pundits are 
able to bite their tongues and accept such a move as CT 
cooperation, and not hail such a move as "proof" that the GOP 
had been harboring the terrorist leader all this time. 
 
BLAKE