While Khalsa Aid and other bodies are working round the clock in providing relief and succour to the flood-affected people of Punjab, with the Punjab and Indian government disaster relief teams conspicuous by their absence, the NIA raid on Khalsa Aid and its India chief Amarpreet Singh raises many fears, including the apprehension of subverting humanitarian efforts. A WSN report.

Without any notice of any kind, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in the early hours of the morning today, raided the India head office of renowned humanitarian aid agency Khalsa Aid in Patiala along with simultaneous raids at the nearby residence of its India head Amarpreet Singh.

In an ironic situation, the Khalsa Aid offices have been inundated due to heavy rainfall in Patiala, but that has not deterred the volunteers to carry out their mission for relief.

The headquarters of Khalsa Aid serves as the pivotal point for the collection and disbursement of aid across Punjab for the flood-affected regions, including those in Patiala, Mansa, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Jalandhar. Despite this, there has been no let up in the relief rendered by the scores of volunteers of Khalsa Aid, especially in areas of Sardulgarh, Patiala and Sangrur, which are still submerged under water.

According to information made available to the media by Khalsa Aid volunteer Gurpreet Singh, the NIA team accompanied by Punjab police raided the Khalsa Aid office and also interrogated Amarpreet Singh and his family members too. He further added that an official statement will be shared later in the day.

 

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Gurpreet Singh also informed that they had no idea as to what were the reasons for this raid. It is reliably learnt that the mobile phone of Amarpreet Singh has also been confiscated by the NIA team. Though not confirmed, it is learnt that some records were taken away by the NIA raiding team.

One media report says that there were raids by NIA -related or unrelated to Khalsa Aid is not known in Village Sarawan Bodla of the Malout area of Muktsar Sahib and in two houses of Village Dallewal in Goraya, near Jalandhar.  The report says that Balwinder Singh and Lavshinder Singh were interrogated during the raid early morning today.

This is the second such raid on Khalsa Aid India head Amarpreet Singh, including one which was after the conclusion of the Farmers’ agitation.

Updated at 1550 Hours IST