After its defeat in its war against India the military government of Pakistan ceded the territory of East Bengal, which became known as Bangladesh. Ever since Pakistan's leaders have resolved to take revenge by aiding religious radicals with the aim of grabbing land from India. Some countries don't know how to lose with grace.
They found willing allies in the militaristic and martyrdom seeking Sikhs, whose Khalistan homeland will stretch deep into Indian territory according to their own official maps.
Much like the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Shiite clergy in Iran, and Pakistan itself, the Sikh extremists want to create a religious state called Khalistan. Apparently the region's track record has been great so far.
Every little sect and cult believe their utopia will be God's gift to mankind. But theocracies are inherently unstable.
The Khalistan extremist groups, who include among their ranks great and pious warriors of the Sikh faith, are not keen students of history and geography. If they were they would distance themselves from Pakistan.
But their Khalistan utopia won't include any of Pakistan's current territory where Sikhs also live, which means it is not a genuine independence or freedom movement deserving of foreign support. They are beholden to Pakistan for the success of their revolt.
So ignore the freedom and independence rhetoric. The Khalistan extremists are nothing more than foot soldiers for a corrupt Muslim nation in which they are persecuted. Most Sikhs in India are intelligent enough to recognize this and don't support them.
III.
An excerpt from, "Holy War Against India" By Conor Cruise O'Brien, The Atlantic, August 1988:
"What are you fighting for?" I asked.
"Khalistan. "
"What exactly is Khalistan?"
At a nod from Narvir Singh, the soldier handed me a map, helpfully headed in English "Map of Khalistan." I looked at the map in confusion.
"But this is a map of India!" I said.
"Not all of the present India," Narvir Singh said, in scholarly correction. "It does not include Jammu and Kashmir."
The map of Khalistan, formerly India, minus Jammu and Kashmir, was covered with markings in the Gurmukhi script, the written language of the Sikh scriptures. I had the notations translated for me after I left the Golden Temple complex. There were some important changes in place names. New Delhi was renamed "Tenth Guru City," after the warrior guru, Govind Singh. And the airport at Delhi, now known as Indira Gandhi International Airport, had become Beant Singh International Airport, after Mrs. Gandhi's martyred Sikh assassin.
From an Indian point of view, this last change is equivalent to renaming the John F. Kennedy International Airport the Lee Harvey Oswald International Airport.
Narvir Singh could see, apparently, that I was having some difficulty in assimilating the proposition that Khalistan is not so much a secessionist project as a project for the annexation of India by the Sikhs, who number less than two percent of the population of the subcontinent. Narvir Singh said something in a very low voice, charged with emotion. The soldier translated: "It is a little boy walking in a room. Soon it will have the whole house."
The project of Kalistan, as expounded to me in the precincts of the Golden Temple by the representatives of the Panthic Committee, appears about as demented as a political project can be. Yet there is some method in the madness. This is reflected in the omission of Jammu and Kashmir. These provinces are claimed by Pakistan, which covertly backs Khalistan. The developing unrest in the northern part of the Punjab, bordering on Jammu and Kashmir, is favorable to Pakistan's hopes of recovering what it regards as its lost provinces, as well as paying off a number of other old scores.
More than anything else, Khalistan is a project for bringing about the destruction of the Indian state in a welter of communal disturbances, of which the Sikhs see themselves as the spearhead. The Punjab Sikhs Lawyers Council speaks in the name of the "human rights of Sikhs and other oppressed nations." The Sikhs are looking for allies and have found some. There were Naxalites in the Golden Temple complex before the storming in 1984. At the Sikh rally in Ludhiana there was a sizable Indian-Muslim contingent, marching behind a green flag with a crescent and a star: another symptom of the Pakistan connection.
I am afraid the Khalistan insurgency is likely to prove prolonged and bloody. As far as the Sikhs are concerned, the insurgency is deeply rooted in their religion and tradition. If attacks by Sikhs against Hindus provoke ferocious Hindu backlash -- as happened in November of 1984 in Delhi, after Mrs. Gandhi's murder -- the Sikh alienation from the rest of India will undoubtedly become more widespread. But even as it is, the Sikh majority is protective of the Sikh insurgents, and likely to remain so.
In Delhi, political leaders are still trying to find a formula that will reconcile the Sikhs to their place in Indian society. The effort, in itself, is no doubt praiseworthy. But I must say that nothing I encountered in Ludhiana or in Amritsar did anything to encourage a belief that a stable and voluntary political accommodation is possible between the secular and democratic state of India, on the one hand, and the sacral nationalism of the Sikhs, on the other. It is in the interests of all the peoples of India -- including the Sikhs, though they don't know it -- that the force that prevails will be that of India; and that the state will be faithful to its own basic anti-communal principles and constitution, repressing both Sikh terrorism and any recurrence of Hindu mob violence against the Sikh population.
With pro-Khalistani groups stirring up trouble again, Shruti Sonal speaks to Terry Milewski, veteran Canadian journalist and author of the book ‘Blood for Blood: Fifty Years of the Global Khalistan Project’ about his assessment of the situation and the role of cyber warfare.In light of the unfurling of the flag at the Indian embassy in Britain, and the referendum in Brisbane, do you feel there has been a sudden spike in Khalistani activity overseas?There’s no doubt that there’s a spike. The dramatic developments in Punjab and the Sikhs for Justice referendum shows the Khalistani supporters are trying to generate as much anger as possible. However, while a combination of these events certainly gives the impression that the movement is on the march again, it needs to be contextualised. Today, I don’t see acts of terrorism or planes being hijacked and bombed like they were in the 1980s. If you go down the street waving flags and shout ‘Khalistan Zindabad’, that’s not illegal. Referendums are not illegal; we’ve had them in Quebec. And unless there’s a serious breach of law or violence, western governments are going to watch. But it would be a good idea not to panic. We’re nowhere closer to forming Khalistan than we were decades ago. Yes, these people are making plenty of noise, but that’s all they seem to have at the moment.Why does support for the movement grow among the diaspora, even though it has dwindled at home?
It’s the feebleness of the official response by western governments that has opened the doors for Khalistanis. The talk of an ongoing continuous genocide of Sikhs in India is made up; it’s fiction. 1984 is unforgivable and a stain on Indian history. There’s no defence of that. But it was years ago, and isn’t the reality anymore. Unfortunately, there’s no political leadership that’s willing to say to the diaspora: if this was indeed the case, why would people living in Punjab not be voting for separatists? A lot of people forget that there are regular referendums on Sikh separatism in India every time Punjab has an election. What happened last year? (The pro-Khalistan leader) Simranjit Singh Mann might have won a seat, but his party (Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar) got just 2.5% of the vote. BJP got twice as many votes as the Sikh separatists. In the election before that, NOTA had more votes than the separatists.Does this idea of Khalistan lack coherence?
The idea of Khalistan lacks intellectual coherence on multiple fronts. There’s not only an absence of information on what it means, but also how to get there. Where is Khalistan? What is the state going to look like? What kind of governance would it have? What role will non-Sikhs play in it? What will the map be? What about the parts in Pakistan? What about Lahore, the seat of Maharaja Ranjit Singh? What about the birthplace of Guru Nanak? These places are fundamental to Sikh culture and history, and yet, they’re not being claimed. Why? Khalistanis have had a long tradition of avoiding these questions.
How much role is Pakistan playing in fomenting trouble? And China?In order to answer this, it is crucial to understand the hypothetical creation of Khalistan. If it were to exist, Khalistan would not be a friend of India. Where is it going to get help? Where else but Pakistan, the only country that has been supporting the movement for its own strategic reasons. There’s a reason why Khalistanis are not antagonising the Pakistanis by claiming areas such as Lahore. Pakistan has given them a safe haven, weapons training, and rhetorical support for a long time. Pakistan’s involvement looks very dangerous at the moment and is a concern for the whole world. Pakistan itself is relying economically and strategically on China, and that makes things more complicated.
Video Title: 'Sikhs Leading Khalistani Movement Swear Undying Loyalty To Pakistan.’ Source: StratNewsGlobal. Date Published: September 16, 2020.
Continuing to be pushed by Sikhs operating in US, UK and Canada the Khalistani movement operates with the full knowledge and tacit support of Pakistan, claims a recently released report called Khalistan: A Project of Pakistan. Veteran investigative journalist Terry Milewski who provided research for the report and has been covering the Khalistani movement for over 30 years, explains in an interview to Ashwin Ahmad that their leaders swear undying loyalty to Pakistan so much so that all the land they claim for an independent nation is demanded from the Indian side of Punjab, never Pakistani Punjab.
Milewski also points out that in his investigations, he came across a map released by Khalistani separatists which includes not just Punjab but territories that would go all the way up to New Delhi. He contends that if this map were to ever become reality it could block the rest of India’s access to Jammu and Kashmir. This suits Pakistan’s cause who are looking to ‘avenge their humiliation’ against India for the 1971 war. Separatist Sikhs too have a vested interest as Pakistan remains their safe haven. The biggest example of this is Talvinder Singh Parmar - mastermind of the Air India 182 bombings - who fled Canada for Pakistan and remained there till he was shot and killed by Punjab police while trying to cross the border in 1992.
