AMRITSAR: Indian officials extended a mobile internet blackout across a state of around 30 million people on Monday as police hunted a Sikh preacher. According to AFP, the blackout extension came following supporters of Amritpal Singh were filmed vandalising the Indian consulate in San Francisco, US.
Officials in the northern state of Punjab, India launched a major search on Saturday for Amritpal Singh, who has risen to prominence recently demanding the creation of Khalistan, a separate Sikh motherland.
Authorities Extend Internet Ban in Indian Punjab
Police officials claimed on Monday they had arrested 114 people so far but Amritpal Singh’s whereabouts were not known. AFP reported that the internet outage was initially in place until noon 0630 GMT on Monday but was extended for 24 hours.
Videos posted on social media, and independently verified and confirmed by AFP, showed people smashing doors and windows at India’s consulate in San Francisco, US following they broke down blockades in front of the building.
The slogan #FreeAmritpal had been sprayed on the building as protesters gathered outside the property. Indian media also reported that the vandalism took place late Sunday. AFP reported that the Punjab province of India– which is around 58 percent Sikh and 39 percent Hindu — was rocked by a fierce separatist movement for Khalistan in the 1980s and 1990s in which thousands of people died.
Amritpal Singh, his workers and supporters, armed with knives, swords, and guns, raided a police station last month following one of the 30-year-old preacher’s aides was detained for an alleged attack and attempted abduction.
Several policemen were wounded in the bold daytime attack on the peripheries of Amritsar, home to the holiest Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple.
