Amritpal Singh urges Akal Takht head priest to call a meet on Baisakhi, makes no remarks on Khalistan. He has been on the run since a police crackdown on him and his outfit began on March 18.

Amid reports that fugitive pro-Khalistan preacher Amritpal Singh has been spotted in Punjab, the Waris Punjab De chief put out a live video Wednesday saying the government action against him “was not about his arrest but an attack on the Sikh community”.

Further on, he said that if the government wanted to arrest him, they could have arrested him from home. “If governments wanted to arrest me. They could have arrested me from home; I would have given in. But the way the government sought to corner me, it was by God’s grace that I managed to come out,” he was heard saying in the video.

Till that time I thought the police were trying to stop me from reaching Muktsar Sahib in Malwa (to start Khalsa Vaheer),” said Amritpal. “As the internet was shut down, I was not aware of what was happening. Now as I am addressing Sangat, I have seen some news about what has happened. The government of Punjab has crossed the limits of oppression. The manner in which Sikh youths have been thrown into jails…women and children are also not spared. Disabled youths were also sent to jails. It is the same as what happened to Sikhs under the rule of Beant Singh,” he said.

Asserting that nobody can harm him, Amritpal said he is not afraid of being arrested. “I thank all the Sangat who protested for me all over the world. But we should understand that it is not about my arrest. It is an attack on the Sikh community. I was not afraid of arrest earlier, nor am I now,” he said.