A senior UK police officer in the UK said there is a small but significant threat from Sikh terrorist groups aiming to "propagate violence" abroad.
Matt Ward, assistant chief constable at West Midlands Police, said Sikh separatists were operating in the central region of England known as the Midlands and pushing for an independent homeland in India.
"Some of those organisations have representatives within the UK and within the West Midlands. Because we have a significant Sikh community it is not surprising we have a small minority of individuals who have shown some extremist views," he told the Police and Crime Commissioner's strategic board.
“So we work closely with UK partners and international partners, that wherever we identify those risks we take the necessary and proportionate action to tackle them.”
The former West Midlands counter-terrorism chief warned extremists that his force will prosecute anyone caught plotting terrorist acts outside Britain.
“If you’re planning terrorist attacks anywhere in the world outside the UK, that is an offence within the UK that we will investigate and if there is evidence we will prosecute,” he said.
He said that the threat from India-related terrorism was low and that the threat from right-wing groups and political Islamist terrorists was higher. Investigations by his force continue to identify the presence of an extremist Islamist ideology in the region.
“It is relatively limited, it’s relatively small, but it can have a wider community impact,” he said. “I think it is really important that we don’t deny there are small numbers of individuals who have these views.”
The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement that aims to establish a homeland for Sikhs in India's Punjab region. It has spawned militant groups, including as Babbar Khalsa International which has been designated a terrorist organisation by the UK and US.
In 2010, four British men were arrested by West Midlands Police over the killing of politician Rulda Singh in India, although they have not been extradited to face charges.
