VANCOUVER: A senior member of the International Sikh Youth Federation and a former editor of a pro Khalistan newspaper published from Canada have been implicated in an alleged plot to bomb Indian government buildings in Delhi during the country’s republic day celebrations last January.

Sukhminder Singh Cheema however, denies any part of it and says the police are trying to discredit him because of his pro Khalistan leanings.

As reported by the Vancouver based newspaper Surrey in Delta News, the Indian police arrested four Sikh youths, belonging to the Khalistan Commando force that were planning to bomb govt. building by using a remote control electronic device Max 6, in January 93. Sukhminder Singh Cheema of West Newton, Canada is said to have sent the electronic device to India for use by his compatriots in a militant commando force fighting for an independent Khalistan.

Sukhminder says he has nothing to do with the electronic device. ‘It is totally bull,” said Cheema when reached at his Newton home last week. “The whole affair is fabricated and a part of a total onslaught against Sikhs,” He feels that the Indian government was trying to implicate him because he was & senior member of the International Sikh Youth Federation having been Secretary of the Canada Chapter in 1990/91. “Lam very upset by that when I heard about my name in the paper | was very surprised,” He says “the only thing they want is to put me in jail because I have a lot of knowledge of politics a lot of credibility in the Punjab.” He claims to have been the mayor of his village with a population of 20,000 people while in India.

Another reason to target him says Cheema is because at the time of the incident he was the managing editor of the “Chardi Kala, a Vancouver based newspaper dedicated to working for an independent Sikh state.

The four men arrested in Delhi by the special branch officers of Delhi police are under custody, awaiting trial. One of them is named Balwinder Singh Cheema and he belongs to the same village as Sukhminder. Cheema confirmed that he was visited by the National Security Investigation section after the newspaper reports: of the bombing plot.

Article extracted from this publication >>  April 9, 1993