[Canadian Sikhs demanding Khalistan]
“Khali stan”, I recall the late Khushwant Singh guffawing, “is the vacant space between the ears of some Jat Sikhs safely settled in Canada, America and Britain!” He had in his hand a map he had secured from somewhere showing a supposed sovereign Sikh state carved out of the Indian Union in what is Indian Punjab but with a corridor to the sea, mirroring the equally ridiculous “corridor” Mohammad Ali Jinah sought in 1947 to connect the two wings of Pakistan!
With or without this corridor, ‘Khalistan’ is a quixotic concept first mooted by Master Tara Singh-led Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee in the heyday of Partition politics leading upto independence in 1947. It has even less to do with recovering Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s realm that mostly stretched west and northwestwards from Lahore to the gates of Kabul and was amalgamated in British India after the two Anglo-Sikh wars of the mid-19th century had reduced that kingdom. The British cleverly coopted the youth of Sikh yeomanry into the British enterprise by claiming for them as for other similarly placed ‘Kulak’ communities of the Indian subcontinent (such as Punjabi mussulmans) “martial race” status and recruiting them in droves into the colonial army.
The departing British played a whole lot of mischief but even they saw just how ridiculous and geographically impracticable this Sikh nation concept was and, certain sections within Whitehall apart, urged the Sikh leadership to unite with India. In the main, because Jinnah’s claim for separate nationhood for India’s Muslims was at least based on the religio-cultural cleavage between Islam and Hindusim. Whence the Qaid’s famous remark in 1946-47 to the visiting Field Marshal the Viscount Montgomery, Chief of the Imperial Defence Staff, to the effect that you expect the Hindu and the Muslim to live together when “one venerates the cow and the other eats it”? The link between Hindus and Sikhs, however, is as it is said between teeth and gum, and how it was the social norm until not too long ago for Hindu families to have at least one son take “amrit” and adopt Sikhism — a religion the founding gurus, especially Guru Gobind Singh, conceived as the protector arm of Hinduism to deal with Mughal excesses. Inter-marriage between Hindus and Sikhs, therefore, was commonplace in Punjabi society. It is the aggressive attitude Jat Sikhs in particular took as their calling card and which animates the Khalistan promoters today.
It may be recalled that the renewed calls for Khalistan in Punjab began to be heard once again in the 1970s when the Indian government, in order to make the army more representative, decided on halving the Sikh component from 10-12 % to around 5%. 10-12% of the Sikh male youth population constituted a fairly large percentage of the potential military labour market and made for the relative prosperity of the landed peasantry in Punjab. It is the 5-6% of the Jat Sikh sections, who could not anymore be accommodated within the army, that took to the Khalistan movement as essentially an employment generation scheme, just as many in the Muslim middleclass saw Pakistan and moved there.
The DG, Punjab Police, the late legendary KPS Gill, in fact, put to work precisely the militant Jat Sikh mentality to counter Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his motivated horde that ran amok in the 1980s. Bhindranwale was the political monster the Dr Frankenstein in Indira Gandhi had created in Punjab to undercut former Punjab chief minister Zail Singh and his cronies! All this is what Gill, whose daughter married a Hindu, recounted to me about how he had contained the extremist Khalistanis. He did this over an extended evening in his Z-security covered house in Lodi Estate while polishing off an entire bottle of Black Label without any slurring of speech at the end of it, displaying an amazing level of tolerance for liqour. I asked him to write it all down, which he did in an eye-popping chapter — “The Dangers Within: The Internal Security Threats” in a seminal collection of essays I edited — ‘Future Imperilled: India’s Security in the 1990s and Beyond’ published by Penguin in 1994. Among the essayists was also General Khalid Arif who ran the Pakistan Army even as fellow Ariani and Jullundar native, General Zia ul Haq, ran Pakistan.
Gill narrated his use of an attribute of Jat Sikh mentality of feeling easily aggrieved against the Bhindranwale crowd, who had let loose a reign of terror against the nationalist Sikhs in the Punjab countryside. He told me in that evening of reminiscences — a sanitised version formed the essay in the book — how he visited each family of nationalist Jat Sikhs who were terrorised by the Khalistanis, and asked them to offer up recruits for a special commando force to be formed within Punjab Police. He promised the youngmen who saw their fathers and mothers killed, and sisters raped and killed, “before their eyes” by the Bhindranwale Khalistani extremists, that they would be appropriately trained and would have the opportunity and the official license to hunt down and kill those who had visted attrocities on their families “like dogs”. Nothing is so central to Jat Sikh mentality, Gill told me, than to avenge a personal wrong. These Punjab Police commando had absolute freedom and they used it ruthlessly and bloodily to eliminate the Khalistanis — literally “one by one” until the relatively few who remained ran, hid and survived, finding refuge in Canada and the US. It broke the back of the Khalistan movement in the country. But prophetically, Gill warned that the Khalistani element had NOT been pulled out “root and branch” from Punjab because he was prevented by Delhi from doing so. And, that there were enough sympathizers who had gone “deep underground” or were being nursed by ISI in Pakistan, with a small, vocal group in Canada and Britain where their numbers provided the Khalistan movement visibility and the electoral and political clout to keep it going in foreign lands.
I remember visiting Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto dubbed the “the capital of Khalistan” in Canada in the mid-1980s. By 2011, Canadian census indicated, there were 23,995 Sikh residents, some 25% of the population of that township. Some estimate that the Sikh population figure today has gone up to 50,000! Notable Sikh communities have since grown in other suburbs in the Greater Toronto region — Stockdale, Rexdale, Malton, etc.. There are equally large Sikh enclaves, such as Surrey, in the western Canadian province of British Columbia, where the Canadian government alleges a Gurdwara head and well known Khalistani — Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was “assasinated” by Indian agents, and in response kicked out Pawan Kumar Rai identified by Ottawa as “head of Intelligence” in the Indian High Commission. Nijjar is an extremist who entered Canada on fake visa and papers! How was he allowed into Canada? Then again, how did the Indian immigration permit him to get out of India in the first place? The Modi regime reacting in double quick time declared Rai’s opposite number here non grata and asked him to to leave the country immediately.
It is this issue that reportedly led to a very frosty meeting of Modi with the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the recent G20 summit. Trudeau is a dynastic politician, whose father Pierre Trudeau was the fashionable “new age” leader who was prime minister in two stints (1968-1979, 1980-1984) for over 15 years and in a sense bequeathed the Liberal Party leadership to his son — a phenomenon not unknown in Indian politics! Justin Trudeau understands the electoral logic of courting Canadian Sikh votes and has always been solicitous of Khalistanis within the Canadian fold. The Canadian government’s attitude to Sikh terrorists in their midst is a farce. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police took forever to find the Sikh extremists hiding in plain sight responsible for blowing up over the Atlantic Air India flight AI 182 enroute Mumbai via London in June 1985, and then they were let go with light prison sentences. And this for the cold-blooded murder of 329 passengers on-board. But how this Anglosaxon quartet (US, UK, Canada, Australia) moaned, groaned, swore vengeance against Moamar Gaddafi and eliminated him in 2011 for, among other things, the supposed bombing of the New York-bound Panam Flight 203 with only 270 passengers over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988! And these are the governments hyperventilating about the shooting down of Nijjar?
The trouble Justin Trudeau has created for the Modi regime is this: He revealed that he had initiated an investigation into the potential Indian government role in Nijjar’s elimination after consulting with the US and British governments. The fact is it won’t be long before Ottawa squarely and formally blames New Delhi for the killing. And then what? The Biden Administration will be as “principle”-bound as the Conservative party government of Rishi Sunak to support Trudeau. Economic sanctions may not follow, but Washington will dangle it over Modi’s head like a Damocles’s sword — a pressure point to get Modi to do what Washington wants. Sure enough the British and Australian governments too followed in wagging their fingers at India, and reminding India to make good on its liberal professions! And Canadian pension funds who have made a pretty penny out of investing in Indian banks (like Kotak Mahindra) and companies will be ordered or feel compelled to withdraw the billions of dollars they have in equity, and lose out big time.
This is the downside I have been warning about with regard to Modi’s policy of cultivating the US and the West. It can at any time come back and bite India. The shortfalls in a still maturing Indian democracy will always be held against this country and used as leverage. In the instant case, the West-based Khalistanis are a venomous lot and some opponent faction likely killed Nijjar — a pattern long established in intra-Sikh politics of Punjab. These terrorist outlaws will do everything in their power to provoke and have their governments act punitively vis a vis India by mobilising public opinion — which is easily done everytime a local, state, or federal election rolls around, which is all the time in Canada, UK and the US. It is unlikely Ottawa will investigate the often violent gurdwara politics in Canada for Nijjar’s demise when it is much easier and politically beneficial for Trudeau to cast aspesions on India.
The Indian government has to not only strongly refute and rebuff Western governments but also make it absolutely clear to Ottawa, London and Washington that Khalistani Sikhs can happily shout and scream all they want, but if they cross the line in attacking Indian diplomats and diplomatic premises and agitate violently for a sovereign state of Khalistan, they do so at their own risk. But that Delhi will happily help anybody — if Ottawa wishes — to carve out a Khalistan in Canada where there’s lot of space available for such venture. And, moreover, that India will brook no Khalistan activity in Punjab or anywhere in India and, like it or not, the more rabid and risk-acceptant among the Khalistanis should prepare to pay a heavy price. Expropriation by the state of their valuable agricultural land and other wealth in Punjab presently held as “benami” properties, etc being only one such measure.
To end on a joke, because for some Sikhs in the “gurdwara business” in North America, “Khalistan” has always been a shrug and wink away from being a full-fledged money-making racket. I remember writing in 1983-84 about Ganga Singh Dhillon and his separatist cause in the US being funded by American intel agencies, which report was publicly picked up and commented by Prime Minister Indira G (few months before her assassination). The jovial looking Ganga Singh, who was banned in 1981 by the Indian government from travelling to India, got in touch with me and, on our meeting, reduced me to helpless laughter. “Arrey, Paji”, I vividly recall him saying in his thait Punjabi English, “You are blaming CIA, DIA, next you’ll blame PIA!”
Security Wise 
Professor,
While this Khalistani issue may be used by the west as a negotiating card with India, the funding for the cause is likely coming from the ISI and MSS, from India’s friendly neighbourhood. As India rises and cracks down on Pak and China, such proxy wars will only increase. However, the U.S. India strategic partnership is on and this issue is in no way something that should prevent India’s embrace of the West. That would be plain stupid. Deal with the politics and the power plays. This is part of being a great power.
India just needs to up the ante on its own proxy wars. The levers it has are many. I expect that is how this will play out in the coming years.
@Amit- “U.S. India strategic partnership is on”
Hahaha US main agenda is to provoke a Indo-China war and dispose off its obsolete arms junk to India at exorbitant prices.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66863702
Putin has let Azerbaijan take full control of the disputed territory in order to bring Azerbaijani leadership into his camp.
Greetings Mr. Karnad from across the Radcliffe,
Sir, electorally speaking, the continuous flashing of the word “Khalistan” in news bulletins suits the Modi dispensation. The same can be said in a different context as far as Trudeau is concerned.
The Amritpal drama earlier in the year cornered the provincial government which found it hard to neutralise the frenzy in news media.
Secondly, as for the observation that “Sikhism- a religion the founding gurus, especially Guru Gobind Singh, conceived as the protector arm of Hinduism to deal with Mughal excesses.”, well, a serious lack of political acumen [which has never been overcome] exposed the Sikh leadership to Delhi’s fury. The swelling ranks of the Sikh movement must have rung alarms bells in some quarters. Whose interest was it to engage the Sikh hierarchy in a vicious power struggle with the Mughals?
And, then, when upon Mughal disintegration the northern Indian plain saw a proliferation of various fiefdoms, this “protector arm” became a pure mercenary force. It served he who had the deepest of pockets.
Lastly, today, the Sikh demographic is in acute stress. It can’t undertake a serious political struggle. It wants to snort, inject, dance, and party.
That is what a successful counter-insurgency operation looks like.
Regards
Exceptionally well captured the international political game played and its essence! I am afraid, the resurrection of “Bharat” to replace “India” will be a disaster in the long run and plays simply into the hands of the Anglo-Saxon plotters.
Trudeau propounds the very sound theory that all the people of Canada have the right to “protest peacefully”. Yet when Canada’s truck drivers attempted to “protest peacefully’ he unleashed his dogs on the hapless protesters and eventually reverted to the vile act of clamping down on the private bank accounts of the peaceful protestors. Sikhs form 2% of Cana’s population; they simply cannot be electorally significant in terms of number. So why play this game? A second rate power run by a third rate harlequin wants to be heard. Modi should treat him like the clown that he is.
@Gram Massla- “Sikhs form 2% of Canada’s population; they simply cannot be electorally significant in terms of number. So why play this game?” Because the rich industrialist Sikhs of India and Canada give hefty political donations to Trudeau’s political party to keep this drama of “Khalistan” in the limelight.
The best way to counter Canadian PM’s charge is for India to accept the responsibility.
Modi government should clearly say that Indian intelligence did it because despite repeated warnings Canadian authorities didn’t act against these Sikh separatists.
They should further add that why West is so bothered about this covert operation when Mossad, MI6, CIA etc. have been undertaking such operations globally since a very long time.
India should openly cite this act as a warning to other pro Khalistani radicals around the world.
This will make the so called Khalistani movement disappear within no time.
Israelis don’t confirm or deny their operations. Why do we have to confirm anything, absent any proof? Let Trudope give his proof, or be taken to task for it. The real concern here is America in tipping off Trudeau. Likewise, when we did joint exercises with USA, they also tipped off Pakistanis on some of our techniques.
Indian government should get the CCTV footage from all these Khalistan protests wherever it happens in any country.
Then use a facial recognition software and come up with a circular that everyone present in such gatherings will have all their properties confiscated in India besides freezing of their bank accounts. Their PIO cards will be canceled and they will be barred from ever setting foot on Indian soil, if they do come to India, arrest them at the airport and send them to jails in Southern India for a minimum period of 10 years without any bail.
Let’s see who organizes this Khalistan ‘Naatak’ abroad after this.
It’s happening right now with increasingly frequency:
These so called ‘martial races’ (a phrase cunningly coined by the British to recruit cannon fodder sepoys for its imperialist army) Sikhs are one of the main reasons for Chinese hostility towards India.
During the time of Boxer Rebellion in last century in China, Chinese peasants almost kicked out the Colonial Caucasians from their country. Britishers then sent in Sikh troops to quell the rebellion.
The Chinese told these Sikhs that your country is also colonized by England instead of fighting us, you should fight alongside us and help us in kicking out the English from China. We will then help your liberation fight against the British.
But these Sikhs of the imperialist English committed large scale atrocities on Chinese civilians. They raped, murdered and robbed the Chinese on a mass level. This is the main reason why China started referring to India and Indians as lapdogs of the whites.
Use Lawrence Bishnoi’s boys to execute the top khalistani leaders while haryanvis will take care of the rest of them; hence no blame on indian govt. 😈
Professor,
Having watched Trudeau speak about this issue, it’s clear he’s a liberal nut and is not schooled in realism in international affairs. Nippon Times is also advising him to think about national interests rather than the stupid liberal global order. Things don’t work that way in international relations. But Canada needs to get knocked around a little before it learns.
Another problem in Canada is the lack of political power of the non khalistani Indians. In the U.S., this is the opposite. In fact now in the Republican Party there are two candidates who are proponents of realist international policies and they are the two front runners – Trump and Ramaswamy. The Ukraine war has become such a big fiasco and could turn into a much further fiasco for the U.S., that this is a top election issue for many. And I hope some realist republican wins next year! Canada will fall in line.
As for how the U.S. leverages intel on Indian diplomats to keep India in check – it’s been a master at this for several decades. Par for the course. The thing is India will have counter plays and should deploy them in the future while keeping the partnership intact with the U.S. Once India reaches a degree of self reliance in military matters, and the economy has reached a good size ($7-$10T), the world will be truly multipolar and India can really swing things between relevant powers. That world is coming, whether the West or China like it or not.
I get the vibe that this time the anti-India “Khalistani” shrill based in Canada (also elsewhere Paki backed and financed) is coming to a screeching halt since the sponsors could not take into account the presence of Rishi on the international political front. Rishi is a staunch Hindu, but he does not flaunt Hinduism. Modi and Jaishankar need not do anything further – just sit tight. It is going to backfire in Canada. The British intelligence has turned their deaf ear to the US riff-raff of Blinken, Kirby and who not, they know they will not make any headway with Rishi. Australia is already backing off.
What is your assessment, Professor?
I get the vibe that this time the anti-India “Khalistani” shrill based in Canada (also elsewhere Paki backed and financed) is coming to a screeching halt since the sponsors could not take into account the presence of Rishi on the international political front. Rishi is a staunch Hindu, but he does not flaunt Hinduism. Modi and Jaishankar need not do anything further – just sit tight. It is going to backfire in Canada. The British intelligence has turned their deaf ear to the US riff-raff of Blinken, Kirby and who not, they know they will not make any headway with Rishi. Australia is already backing off.
What is your assessment, Professor?
Agree, the Sunak govt will stay out of it but because FTA etc are at stake.
The biggest and ONLY takeaway from this diplomatic slugfest is the incontrovertible need for a MIRVed ICBM capable of reaching all major US cities. It’s high time for the GOI to come out of this bizarre, self-imposed “restraint” and sign the necessary papers for the testing of the K5 SLBM and a very long-range ground-launched ICBM, both of whose prototypes are already ready.
In any case, the absolute and undisguised contempt with which the GOI has manhandled Canada and its overlord(indirectly) has been frankly unbelievable and a sight to behold. Never did I expect the supposedly obsequious Modi government to deal with an Anglo-Saxon North American state with such high-handedness. This must have rolled heads in the Imperial capital(DC), and that is precisely why the Blinken-Sullivan duo have come out in vocal support of its fellow big-mouthed but hollow Anglo-Saxon sibling. Eliminating another terrorist inside Canada during the midst of this whole storm was a genuine “rubbing it in their face” moment. This is the only language the US understands and respects.
In conclusion, this bombshell article by Shishir Gupta(an old GOI rag) sums up South Block’s mood.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/view-how-trudeau-s-allegations-over-nijjar-killing-exposes-western-double-standards-101695353685119.html
@Sankar- Khalistani movement or for that matter Tibet, Xinjiang or Balochistan movement can never create a new nation out of India, China or Pakistan. A few residents of above mentioned places settled in Western nations may raise all the noise they want but it won’t alter the geographical status quo.
Regarding your point about Sunak, it’s correct that Sunak won’t antagonize Modi establishment the primary reason being his father in law, who owns the Infosys group in India has business worth thousands of Crores in India. Massive money laundering takes place in all these big IT firms. Sunak won’t risk ED and IT raids on his father in laws company.