MILITANCY has been dormant in Punjab for 15 years, but its tentacles have retained a grip in small pockets across the globe. Days after the violence in Vienna, in which Dera Sachkhand leader Sant Ramanand lost his life, London-based Akash Radio published on its website an e-mail allegedly issued by the Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) claiming responsibility for the attack. The e-mail attributed to the group stated that KZF was “forced” to resort to violence as Dera Sachkhand followers “did not concede to earlier warnings” to obey the Sikh Code of Conduct and failed to respect the Guru Granth Sahib by “sitting parallel” to it. On Thursday, the militant organisation vehemently denied having issued the e-mail and squarely blamed the “heinous” attack on Indian “agencies”. Previously, the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), another terrorist outfit, had also blamed “Indian agencies” that were “trying to split the Ravidasiya community from the Sikh Panth”.

What is notable is that these once-feared groups are still on the radar of Indian authorities. In fact there are over 300 Punjab militants — more than half of whom are living abroad in countries such as Pakistan, Germany and the US — that are listed as terrorists. Five of these militants even featured on the list of 20 most-wanted terrorists sent by India to Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks last year:

Wadhawa Singh Babbar, chief of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI)

He is reported to have personally supervised the assassination of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh on August 31, 1995. He is also believed to have masterminded the January 2004 escape of the assassination-accused, Jagtar Singh Hawara, from Burail jail in Chandigarh. BKI has most famously been implicated in the Kanishka bombing case of 1985, in which an Air India flight from Toronto to New Delhi exploded mid-air, killing everyone on board. BKI, incidentally, is among the oldest and most organised Khalistan terrorist groups. Founded in 1981 in Canada and banned here, it is believed to have assumed its present form after the Baisakhi 1978 clashes between the Akhand Kirtani Jatha and Nirankaris. It remains active in the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland and Pakistan.

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