Why khalistan movement

Starting in the early s, radical separatists spearheaded a bloody campaign to carve out an independent, theocratic Sikh state known as Khalistan Land of the Pure in Punjab and other parts of Northern India. The roots of Khalistan lie in the British colonial policies of the late s and early s that sought to divide Sikhs and Hindus.

Sikhs were recruited into the British army in large numbers to use against Hindu rulers that rebelled against the British Raj. Subsequently, after Indian independence in , tensions between the state of Punjab and the central Indian government surfaced, leading to grievances amongst many Sikhs against the Indian government.

Punjab, for instance, was trifurcated into the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh in , along linguistic lines Punjab as a Punjabi speaking state, and Haryana and Himachal Pradesh as Hindi speaking states , which created resentment amongst many Sikhs that the historic contours of Punjab were being further divided after it has already been divided between India and Pakistan in Interestingly, it was the later division of Punjab that allowed Sikhs to enjoy a religious majority in the state, given the predominantly Hindu populations in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Many Sikhs in Punjab also resented sharing the joint capital of Chandigarh with Haryana, and viewed water sharing agreements with Haryana as unfair and favoring farmers there to the detriment of those in Punjab. Sikh religious leaders were additionally apprehensive of the community losing its identity and culture , and wanted greater state powers for Punjab.

Although these types of issues often mark normal state-federal government relations in newly independent countries such as India, they were perceived by many Sikhs as religiously motivated policies of discrimination against them and were exploited by radical leaders, who built a narrative that Sikh interests would only be safe in an independent Sikh country of Khalistan.

Violent clashes between radicalized Sikh groups led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and the Nirankari sect considered heretical by the former in April is considered the beginning of the Khalistan movement.

And in , Bhindranwale and his supporters started targeting Hindus and murdered Lala Jagat Narain, the publisher of Punjab Kesri , a vernacular newspaper, and a vocal critic of Bhindranwale. This was soon followed by large scale violence against civilians across the state. The Khalistan movement peaked in the s and the violent campaign included bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and selective killing and massacres of civilians. The movement resulted in nearly 22, deaths of Sikhs and Hindus alike, including approximately 12, civilians.

The violence took on an international dimension in when Khalistani separatists based in Canada exploded a bomb on an Air India flight enroute from Toronto to New Delhi, killing all people on board, including 82 children under the age of That incident remains the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history. Under the cover of militancy, criminals began to coerce businessmen and landowners, demanding protection money.

The militants increasingly engaged in robbery, extortion, rape, indiscriminate killings and ever-escalating terrorist attacks on innocent civilians. By , Sikh militants were generally viewed as unprincipled criminal gangs. In response to the movement, and in an attempt to end militancy in the state, Indian security forces and local Punjab police responded with force, at times committing human rights abuses.

It is important to note, however, that the majority of the police, security forces, and politicians in Punjab were and are Sikh. Moreover, Sikh politicians, such as former Chief Minister Beant Singh, were themselves assassinated by militants. The majority of the victims of the militant violence were innocent Sikhs who were killed by separatists for opposing the Khalistan movement.

In , for instance, Sikh civilians comprised over seventy percent of the victims of militant attacks. Moreover, Mazhabi Sikhs so called lower caste Sikhs in Punjab were frequently the victims of militant attacks. Hindus were also targeted in large numbers as part of a strategy to ignite communal tensions and force Hindus to flee Punjab in fear.

Along with systematic violence, posters often appeared in villages threatening Hindus to leave and those Sikhs that sought to help Hindus were similarly threatened by militants. As a result, thousands of Hindus fled their homes in Punjab and lived as refugees in neighboring states and New Delhi.

Reports of grenades and bombs being thrown into Hindu religious festivals and movie theaters; militants firing indiscriminately into crowded markets; Hindus being pulled off busses and trains and massacred were common occurrences during that period. The following are a few representative examples of attacks on civilians that drew international attention:. May — Khalistani militants set off more than 30 bombs over the span of 14 hours at bus and train stations and public parks in New Delhi and the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, leaving at least 86 people dead.

December — 24 Hindu passengers were massacred and seven others wounded after being ordered off of a bus by militants near Khuda in Hoshiarpur district. In a similar incident, four months earlier, 15 Hindu passengers were slaughtered on a bus in Muktsar after militants told all the Sikh passengers to leave.

March — Militants killed 32 Hindus and injured 25 more when they opened fire on villagers celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi in Hoshiarpur district. June — Two Sikh bus passengers were shot dead by militants for intervening and trying to save the lives of Hindu passengers. November — 19 students were killed by militants while sleeping in a dormitory at Thapar Engineering College in the city of Patiala.

June — men, women, and children were killed by Khalistan Commando Force militants on two trains. The first train was stopped near the city of Baddowal and militants opened fire indiscriminately on the train.

A second train was stopped nearby where militants segregated Sikh and Hindu passengers, ordering Hindus off the train before killing them execution style. What about religious minorities in Khalistan? Are the Hindus supposed to flee again like they did during the Partition? I have seen one proposed constitution of the state of Khalistan for example, which is unsigned. It says Khalistan will be a free country and a westward leaning democracy, but non-Sikhs will not be allowed to play any part in politics.

That gives the game away again. That would provide a buffer state between Pakistan and its arch enemy India and it would cut off Indian land access to Kashmir which is another important priority for the Pakistani leadership. So they had their reasons for supporting Khalistan.

The Khalistan movement has gotten nowhere despite Pakistani support, but it certainly had no prospects without it. The principal role played by Pakistan has been in providing a base or a safe haven for wanted terrorists.

When Talwinder Singh Parmar had finished with the Air India bombing in , and when he thought that the police were getting close he fled Canada. He was a Canadian citizen, as were the other members of his gang that did the bombing.

He fled to Pakistan, and he was left alone. He could do what he wanted. He was given contacts with the Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI. He was operating a gun running operation. He was introduced to his weapons dealer by an ISI agent who was an Islamic jihadist, with whom the Khalistanis formed an alliance for strategic reasons. It is a mistake to assume that Pakistan funded this operation. The diaspora had a lot of money and they funded themselves. Why is it that the Khalistan movement has more popular support from the Sikh diaspora rather than the Sikhs in India?

Firstly, within India this is not ancient history. More than 20, people were killed in the Sikh insurgency in the 80s and early 90s. These were friends and families of the people who are living in Punjab today. They remember this all very clearly. If you look at the voting figures of the last 30 years when separatists have run for office in Punjab they have gone absolutely nowhere. In the last election in , they got 0. Also, people often forget that Sikhs have been a successful community in India.

They have succeeded far beyond their numbers. Despite being such a small community they have produced a president and a prime minister of the country. These people include many who remember the bad old days of the 80s and have no experience of the modern age in India. Many of them had been banned from getting a visa to visit family in India for years.

That changed in recent years when under Manmohan Singh the black list was purged and a lot of people were allowed to visit India and bury the past. So, how long this movement will survive even in the diaspora is a question to be asked.

Does the Sikh diaspora demanding Khalistan wish to live in the new state if at all it is made? That is questionable to me. The Sikh community in Canada, for instance, has been extremely successful. Most of them have no interest in Khalistan politics. They are professionals, driving big cars, living in nice houses, living the Canadian lifestyle. They are worried about getting to work on time and trying to bring up their kids, same as everyone else.

There is a small minority that is clinging to the past, and that small minority remains significant not because of popular support, but rather because they are trying to keep up their political influence with various political parties both from the left and the right. They can rally supporters en masse who will vote for the politicians who can sing their song.

For example, there is a very important Gurdwara in British Columbia, on the west coast of Canada, which has big posters of Talwinder Singh Parmar, the leader of the Air India bombers. He is a proven terrorist who slaughtered more than completely innocent civilians, and he is held up as a hero and a martyr by this important Gurdwara. They get away with it, they are indulged and tolerated by politicians who support their agenda by looking away in return for thousands of votes during election time.

It said that if India should start to recognise and support an independent Taiwan, then China might start supporting independence movements in India.

So for Indian strategists, two supporters of the Khalistani movement on the northern front need to be considered, the Pakistanis and the Chinese.