Spotting Khalistan from North America
A group of fugitives are abusing liberal laws in Western democracies to keep the idea alive
Khalistan is not — and never was — a credible movement or a demand of the Sikh community. However, like the proverbial Phoenix, it comes alive periodically to grab headlines.
To recapitulate, in 1947, the Sikhs had unambiguously opposed the Partition of India. But after the Congress Working Committee conceded the Muslim League’s demand for Partition on March 8, 1947, the Sikh leadership rejected Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s offer of an “autonomous region” for Sikhs within Pakistan and opted for India. With the Sikhs, East Punjab came to India. Since then, the role of the community in defending the motherland has been so illustrious that it needs no narration. In September alone, three sons of the state laid down their lives for the nation while on internal security duty.
Who, then, are these self-proclaimed Khalistanis? They flourish on television (just count the time spent by channels on this subject, ever since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unsubstantiated allegations), in WhatsApp forwards, social media and indulge in political slugfests on all platforms to polarise people for electoral gains.
If we are to classify these self-declared Khalistanis, they fall into four categories. First, there are a handful of ideologues, who do not need multiculturalism or the freedom of speech that Canada professes to have for pontificating on their ideology. Our laws permit propaganda as long as it is non-violent and does not amount to incitement of public disorder.
The second category, a large group, consists of asylum seekers, who falsely plead persecution and police excesses in India, and those who claim Khalistani credentials to ease their passage to foreign lands. These are people who abuse the liberal laws of western democracies and provisions of the Geneva Convention 1951 and its 1967 protocol. Immigration has become a flourishing industry. Unscrupulous travel agents exploit the insatiable urge of many citizens to go abroad. They first fly out individuals on visitor/tourist visas or even using false passports. Once they reach their destination, they are told to assume separatist credentials and participate in pro-Khalistan “events” to create video and photographic proof of their participation in anti-India activities and produce it as “evidence” to seek permanent residency and immigration. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who heads Sikhs For Justice, a separatist organisation that has been holding a Khalistan “referendum” is also an immigration lawyer by profession. Many among those who pulled down the Indian flag at the Indian High Commission in London in March this year are Indian passport holders. They project their participation in anti-India activities as “evidence” of their separatist credentials to seek residency abroad.
Third, individuals bankrolled by foreign powers. They should have learned from their previous generation: For example, Jagjit Singh Chauhan, who was once conferred the title “Father of the Sikh Nation” by the then president of Pakistan, Yahya Khan, returned to India in 2001 and publicly declared that “all they (Pakistan) have given Sikhs is less than gobar (rubbish)”.
The fourth category is organised criminals, gangsters, drug dealers and smugglers, who are at times erroneously labelled Khalistanis because of the logistics they share; criminals and militants collaborate in the supply of weapons, funds, and killings. The number of such persons of Indian origin living in Canada and deemed wanted in India has been increasing over the years. Based in Canada, they allegedly perpetuate heinous crimes in India — for example, the men accused of the murder of popular singer Sidhu Moose Wala.
There is another category — of ordinary citizens branded as Khalistanis by a section of the media and political forces for what is viewed as their “deviant” or “anti-national” conduct. For instance, farmers from Punjab who protested the farm laws in 2020-21 were labelled as Khalistanis and as part of the “tukde-tukde gang”. The tendency to brand agitators as anti-national or Khalistanis blurs the distinction between democratic protests and secessionist activities, creating a false public scare and alienating sections of the population.
Publicity is the lifeline of separatist movements. What could be better for the Khalistanis than a PM alleging that Indian agencies are linked to the murder of one of their kind on foreign soil? Canada is yet to apprehend anyone in the case: As per media reports, six people were involved in the shootout that killed Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India does not believe in pre-emptive killings. We are a vibrant constitutional democracy based on the rule of law. Nevertheless, radical elements and a few human rights activists endorse the charge and recall how militancy in Punjab was eradicated by the Centre adopting a strategy of “fake encounters”, that several police officers have been convicted by courts on such grounds, three of them sentenced to life on September 23 for the “fake encounter deaths” of three youths in 1992. Interestingly, the Indian diplomat recently repatriated from Canada is a Punjab police officer.
Sikhs today are an international community. Canada has a large Punjabi diaspora: Sikhs are about 2.1% of its population as against less than 2% in India. There is no demand for Khalistan in India. If, however, Sikhs abroad want Khalistan, let them have it in the country of which they are citizens. It is their good luck that some of these nations do legally permit secession, and are blessed with huge tracts of vacant land.
A word of caution. Just as Punjabis and Sikhs living abroad have the responsibility to strengthen the hands of their politicians to act against the minuscule number of anti-India elements, we in India must ensure that the issue is not used to polarise people.
Ramesh Inder Singh is former chief secretary of Punjab and author of Turmoil in Punjab: Before and after Blue Star: An Insider’s Account. The views expressed are personal
Khalistan is not — and never was — a credible movement or a demand of the Sikh community. However, like the proverbial Phoenix, it comes alive periodically to grab headlines.
To recapitulate, in 1947, the Sikhs had unambiguously opposed the Partition of India. But after the Congress Working Committee conceded the Muslim League’s demand for Partition on March 8, 1947, the Sikh leadership rejected Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s offer of an “autonomous region” for Sikhs within Pakistan and opted for India. With the Sikhs, East Punjab came to India. Since then, the role of the community in defending the motherland has been so illustrious that it needs no narration. In September alone, three sons of the state laid down their lives for the nation while on internal security duty.
Who, then, are these self-proclaimed Khalistanis? They flourish on television (just count the time spent by channels on this subject, ever since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unsubstantiated allegations), in WhatsApp forwards, social media and indulge in political slugfests on all platforms to polarise people for electoral gains.
If we are to classify these self-declared Khalistanis, they fall into four categories. First, there are a handful of ideologues, who do not need multiculturalism or the freedom of speech that Canada professes to have for pontificating on their ideology. Our laws permit propaganda as long as it is non-violent and does not amount to incitement of public disorder.
The second category, a large group, consists of asylum seekers, who falsely plead persecution and police excesses in India, and those who claim Khalistani credentials to ease their passage to foreign lands. These are people who abuse the liberal laws of western democracies and provisions of the Geneva Convention 1951 and its 1967 protocol. Immigration has become a flourishing industry. Unscrupulous travel agents exploit the insatiable urge of many citizens to go abroad. They first fly out individuals on visitor/tourist visas or even using false passports. Once they reach their destination, they are told to assume separatist credentials and participate in pro-Khalistan “events” to create video and photographic proof of their participation in anti-India activities and produce it as “evidence” to seek permanent residency and immigration. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who heads Sikhs For Justice, a separatist organisation that has been holding a Khalistan “referendum” is also an immigration lawyer by profession. Many among those who pulled down the Indian flag at the Indian High Commission in London in March this year are Indian passport holders. They project their participation in anti-India activities as “evidence” of their separatist credentials to seek residency abroad.
Third, individuals bankrolled by foreign powers. They should have learned from their previous generation: For example, Jagjit Singh Chauhan, who was once conferred the title “Father of the Sikh Nation” by the then president of Pakistan, Yahya Khan, returned to India in 2001 and publicly declared that “all they (Pakistan) have given Sikhs is less than gobar (rubbish)”.
{{/usCountry}}Third, individuals bankrolled by foreign powers. They should have learned from their previous generation: For example, Jagjit Singh Chauhan, who was once conferred the title “Father of the Sikh Nation” by the then president of Pakistan, Yahya Khan, returned to India in 2001 and publicly declared that “all they (Pakistan) have given Sikhs is less than gobar (rubbish)”.
{{/usCountry}}The fourth category is organised criminals, gangsters, drug dealers and smugglers, who are at times erroneously labelled Khalistanis because of the logistics they share; criminals and militants collaborate in the supply of weapons, funds, and killings. The number of such persons of Indian origin living in Canada and deemed wanted in India has been increasing over the years. Based in Canada, they allegedly perpetuate heinous crimes in India — for example, the men accused of the murder of popular singer Sidhu Moose Wala.
{{/usCountry}}The fourth category is organised criminals, gangsters, drug dealers and smugglers, who are at times erroneously labelled Khalistanis because of the logistics they share; criminals and militants collaborate in the supply of weapons, funds, and killings. The number of such persons of Indian origin living in Canada and deemed wanted in India has been increasing over the years. Based in Canada, they allegedly perpetuate heinous crimes in India — for example, the men accused of the murder of popular singer Sidhu Moose Wala.
{{/usCountry}}There is another category — of ordinary citizens branded as Khalistanis by a section of the media and political forces for what is viewed as their “deviant” or “anti-national” conduct. For instance, farmers from Punjab who protested the farm laws in 2020-21 were labelled as Khalistanis and as part of the “tukde-tukde gang”. The tendency to brand agitators as anti-national or Khalistanis blurs the distinction between democratic protests and secessionist activities, creating a false public scare and alienating sections of the population.
Publicity is the lifeline of separatist movements. What could be better for the Khalistanis than a PM alleging that Indian agencies are linked to the murder of one of their kind on foreign soil? Canada is yet to apprehend anyone in the case: As per media reports, six people were involved in the shootout that killed Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India does not believe in pre-emptive killings. We are a vibrant constitutional democracy based on the rule of law. Nevertheless, radical elements and a few human rights activists endorse the charge and recall how militancy in Punjab was eradicated by the Centre adopting a strategy of “fake encounters”, that several police officers have been convicted by courts on such grounds, three of them sentenced to life on September 23 for the “fake encounter deaths” of three youths in 1992. Interestingly, the Indian diplomat recently repatriated from Canada is a Punjab police officer.
Sikhs today are an international community. Canada has a large Punjabi diaspora: Sikhs are about 2.1% of its population as against less than 2% in India. There is no demand for Khalistan in India. If, however, Sikhs abroad want Khalistan, let them have it in the country of which they are citizens. It is their good luck that some of these nations do legally permit secession, and are blessed with huge tracts of vacant land.
A word of caution. Just as Punjabis and Sikhs living abroad have the responsibility to strengthen the hands of their politicians to act against the minuscule number of anti-India elements, we in India must ensure that the issue is not used to polarise people.
Ramesh Inder Singh is former chief secretary of Punjab and author of Turmoil in Punjab: Before and after Blue Star: An Insider’s Account. The views expressed are personal
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