New Delhi: After India banned 'Referendum 2020' voter registration websites, secessionist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) has launched a voter registration App on Google play store.
The Google App "Voice Punjab 2020" as per the banned organisation is launched to commemorate the 25th martyrdom day of Dilawar Singh -- the assassin of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
Congress leader Beant Singh, who has been the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1992 to 1995, and 16 others were killed in a car bombing outside the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. Dilawar Singh, a Punjab Police officer, had acted as a suicide bomber to assassinate Beant Singh. The 1984 anti-Sikh riots was learnt to be the reason behind the killing of Beant Singh.
SFJ's move has left the intelligence and law enforcement agencies into a tizzy as the application is available for download on the Google play store.
Incorporating the same details as the 'Referendum 2020' voter registration form for people in India, the mobile app facilitates the user to register as a voter for the anti-India campaign.
Citing the UN Charter, the description of the app on the Google play store states that 'Voice Punjab 2020' is an App to facilitate voter registration for non-governmental Punjab Independence Referendum 2020 which is being organized Under Article 1 of UN Charter which gives all peoples right to "self-determination" making it difficult for India to get the app banned and removed.
However, the security agencies with the help of the Information and Technology Ministry and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) are in the process of getting in touch with Google so that the App can be banned.
The 2.0 version App updated on June 27 this year was downloaded by more than five people till the time the report was being filed by IANS.Offered by ICETECH technology, the download size of the App is 13.01 MB. The App requests access to read your contents of the Secure Digital (SD) card, modify or delete the contents of SD cards, view network connections, control vibration of the phone, prevent phone from sleeping mode, view Wi-fi connections and receive data from the internet.
The App describes that the person downloading it can disable access for these permissions in settings, adding updates to 'Voice Punjab 2020' may automatically add additional capabilities within each group.
The pro-Khalistan group has been trying to destabilize law and order in India for a long time. In its recent attempt last month the group had declared a $125,000 reward for anyone who hoists a Khalistan flag at the Red Fort on Independence Day on August 15.
The SFJ, banned by the MHA in July 2019 for advocating 'Referendum 2020', has chosen Punjab, Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir since July 4 to launch its online voter registration for 'Referendum 2020' through different portals but reportedly could not gather support.
The group has used Canadian cyberspace twice for launching its voter registration for the referendum in Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir on the instructions of Pannun, who is among the nine pro-Khalistan activists designated terrorists by the Indian government last month.
US-based SFJ's Attorney and General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has been playing a major role in the 'Referendum 2020' campaign. His US-based radical Khalistan outfit has urged the Sikhs in India and abroad to support its agenda of 'Referendum 2020', which is being promoted by the group to divide India on communal lines.
The SFJ is supported by Pakistan-based handlers to provide money and logistic support to radical Sikh elements in Punjab to carry out subversive activities. The group is headed by Avtar Singh Pannun and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who have started advocating Khalistan as well as the online secessionist campaign for the referendum.
However, the SFJ's agenda has been rejected by the Sikhs across India in spite of the Inter-Services Intelligence-sponsored propaganda on 'Referendum 2020'. The Pakistani intelligence agency has been backing the malicious SFJ campaign, with a large number of Pakistani Twitter handles tweeting in favour of the exercise.