If you have been following the latest news, you might have come across several news articles regarding India and Canada’s dispute over Khalistani separatism and the killing of a Khalistani separatist, who was also a Canadian citizen (how the background checks failed is anyone’s guess) and Justin Trudeau’s accusation that the Indian government was behind the assassination.
Firstly, aside from the accusation, Trudeau provided no evidence to India. India on the other hand, provided multiple dossiers of known Khalistani terrorists and separatists to Canada, asking it to curb Khalistani secessionism in Canada which is being encouraged by Sikh organizations, banned by India but given a free rein by Trudeau and his Khalistani buddy NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. Several referendums have been held in Canada which have no real value as they don’t echo the desire of a majority of patriotic Sikhs in Punjab who are Indians first. Trudeau has allowed these in the name of freedom of expression but somehow came down hard on the peaceful trucker’s protest in Ottawa. Trudeau also was a fan of interference in a sovereign state’s internal affairs when he commented on India’s Farmer Protests in 2020-21, trying to curry up favor with the large Sikh voting base in Canada.
Prior to this, there was a wave of attacks on Hindu temples in Canada and these were defaced with little or none police protection or action in Canada – apparently for Trudeau, Hinduphobia is acceptable for his woke credentials. Next, Khalistanis in Canada, took out an anti-India parade with a mural depicting the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the ex-Prime Minister of India, who ordered Operation Blue Star in 1984. Trudeau ignored it, again using his favorite excuse for incompetence – “freedom of expression“. So, anyways, we have caught up on what the whole fuss is all about. So let us delve in deeper to understand the Khalistan movement.
UNDERSTANDING THE BACKGROUND BEHIND “KHALISTAN” (1980s-1990s)
The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing an ethno‐religious sovereign state called Khalistan ( land of the Khalsa) in the Punjab region. The Punjab province of British India, included all the lands as shown in the map above. After the partition of India in 1947, 70% of Punjab went to Pakistan while 30% remained in India. However, encouraged by the Pakistani state and its secret service, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), calls for a Khalistani state in the state of Indian Punjab began to grow after the Pakistani defeat in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. Promising to bleed India through a thousand cuts, Pakistan began sponsoring terrorists in Punjab and Kashmir with weapons, training and a safe haven. The movement became a full-fledged insurgency in the 1980s led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a militant who posed as a religious head.
His followers began a spree of murders (On its own, the year 1984 (from 1 January to 3 June) saw 775 violent incidents, resulting in 298 people killed and 525 injured.) and soon fortified themselves in the Golden Temple Complex in Amritsar, Punjab in 1982. This holiest of Sikh sites, was fortified with machine guns, RPGs and small arms by militants following Bhindranwale. Holes were smashed through the marble walls of Akal takht to create gun positions. Walls were broken to allow entry points to the tiled courtyards. Secure machine gun nests were created. All of these positions were protected by sandbags and newly made brick walls. The windows and arches of Akal Takht were blocked with bricks and sandbags. Sandbags were placed on the turrets. Every strategically significant building of the temple complex, apart from the Harmandir Sahib in the center, had been fortified in a similar manner and allegedly defaced.
On 23 April 1983, the Punjab Police Deputy Inspector General A. S. Atwal was shot dead as he left the Harmandir Sahib compound by a gunman from one of the several groups residing there, in apparent revenge for police conduct. Punjab was soon under the President’s rule and tensions continued to grow between the Sikh militants holed up in the Golden Temple and the Government of India, led by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
In June 1984, India launched Operation Blue Star, an ill-advised military operation to dislodge Sikh militants holed up in the Golden Temple, by force. The military underestimated the firepower possessed by the Sikh militants, whose armaments included Chinese-made rocket-propelled grenade launchers and ammunition with armour-piercing capabilities. Hoping to avoid damage to the holy site, Indian forces unsuccessfully assaulted the Temple using light weaponry but quickly resorted to using heavy arms, including tanks, helicopters and artillery to dislodge the well-fortified Sikh militants. The army stormed Harmandir Sahib on the night of 5 June under the command of Kuldip Singh Brar. The forces had full control of Harmandir Sahib by the morning of 7 June. There were casualties among the army, civilians, and militants. Sikh leaders Bhindranwale and Shabeg Singh were killed in the operation. The Indian army initially placed total casualties at 554 Sikh militants and civilians dead, and 83 killed (4 officers, 79 soldiers) and 236 wounded among government forces.
The operation also led to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984 by two of her Sikh bodyguards as an act of vengeance, triggering the 1984 Sikh massacre. The widespread killing of Sikhs, principally in the national capital Delhi but also in other major cities in North India, led to major divisions between the Sikh community and the Indian Government. The army withdrew from Harmandir Sahib later in 1984 under pressure from Sikh demands. General Arun Shridhar Vaidya, the Chief of Army Staff at the time of Operation Blue Star, was assassinated in 1986 in Pune by two Sikhs, Harjinder Singh Jinda and Sukhdev Singh Sukha. Both were sentenced to death, and hanged on 7 October 1992. Overall, the operation was an example of disastrous planning by the Indian government and provided the Khalistani separatist movement, several “martyrs“.
KHALISTANI SEPARATISTS IN CANADA
The Khalistani terrorists next struck Air India Flight 182 operating on the Montréal-London-Delhi-Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, a Boeing 747 operating on the route was blown up by a bomb mid-air off the coast of Ireland. A total of 329 people aboard were killed, 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens and 24 Indian citizens, including the flight crew. On the same day, an explosion due to a luggage bomb was linked to the terrorist operation and occurred at the Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan, intended for Air India Flight 301, killing two baggage handlers. The entire event was inter-continental in scope, killing 331 people in total and affected five countries on different continents: Canada, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, and Ireland.
The main suspects in the bombing were members of a Sikh separatist group called the Babbar Khalsa, and other related groups who were agitating for Khalistan. The Canadian government had been warned by the Indian R&AW about the possibility of terrorist bombs aboard Air India flights in Canada and that the potential threat to Air India as well as Indian missions in Canada was high. (Sounds familiar? That’s because the Indian Government again warned Canada that attacks on Indian Consulates have a high possibility of occurring). The CSIS, incompetently, destroyed hundreds of wiretaps of the suspects and other informants. The main suspects Talwinder Singh Parmar, Lakhbir Singh Rode and Inderjit Singh Reyat were comfortably living in Canada, Pakistan and Canada respectively.
In August 2022, a new separatist leader emerged in Punjab for the Khalistani movement, Amritpal Singh. The internal police crackdown on his supporters by India, led to several protests by Khalistanis living in Canada, US and UK with no action by the respective governments. This was followed by several protests and referendums for Khalistan in Canada. Somehow Justin Trudeau who blabbered extensively about the Indian Farmer’s protest in India, was silent about referendums affecting the peace and security of a sovereign nation.
RECENT EVENTS AFFECTING INDO-CANADIAN RELATIONSHIP
Killing of terrorist Hardeep Nijjar
On 18 June 2023, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia. Nijjar was allegedly the head of two pro-Khalistan organisations in Canada, and had been accused by the Indian Government of orchestrating targeted killings in India, for which it unsuccessfully sought his extradition. Nijjar’s death sparked rallies among sections of the Sikh diaspora, posters promoting these events alleged Indian diplomats played a role in the death, a baseless theory promoted by Justin Trudeau. However, no evidence was provided to India by Trudeau and his team to support these accusations.
Political pressure on Justin Trudeau from Khalistani NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh
Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the NDP in Canada and an ally of Justin Trudeau, is a vehement supporter of Khalistan and freedom of action for separatists living freely in Canada. Jagmeet Singh was denied a visa for India in 2013 for raising the issue of the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots under the Congress Government but did not speak against the targeted killings of Indians by Khalistani separatists. Cherry-picking situations that suit their agenda apparently is a favorite pastime of Western politicians. Jagmeet Singh, after the accusation from Trudeau, swore to bring Narendra Modi to justice even though no evidence was provided regarding any targeted killings or the hand of the Indian state. Interestingly he was extremely quiet about killings of Hindus and Muslims in Pakistan where 70% of Khalistan is located. Apparently it is easy to talk against a democratic and freedom loving nation instead of a nation which has been one of the primary hubs for global terrorism.
Attacks on Indian Consulates and Hindu religious sites in Canada, UK and Australia by Khalistanis
In 2023, several temples in Australia and Canada were defaced and vandalized with Anti-India graffiti and Hindu-phobic messages. Apparently for Jagmeet and Justin, Hinduphobia and attacks on places of worship is an acceptable form of freedom of expression. Khalistanis also protested in front of Indian consulates and issued death threats to Indian diplomats and Hindus living in Canada. The Indian flag was burned, Modi effigies were torched and Khalistan flags outnumbered Canadian flags, showing the true allegiance of these so-called “Canadian citizens“.
Canadian State-sponsored interference in Indian internal affairs in the name of “Freedom of Expression”
In September 2020, Trudeau interfered in the internal affairs of India bowing to Sikh Canadian farmers’ pressure by stating “Canada will always be there to defend the right of peaceful protest.” As several Canadian Sikhs also owned land in India, they would be affected at the passing of the bill as it would make things better for the poor farmers in India but affect the profits of the middlemen and rich landlords. Sikh political lobbying is a strong force in Canadian politics, which becomes apparent looking at the sheer numbers of public representatives in the Canadian political sphere. Trudeau’s liberalism and love for freedom of expression deserted him however, when he ruthlessly crushed the trucker’s protest in Ottawa which was more peaceful than the protests in India where Sikh extremists had attacked policemen with swords and sticks near the Red Fort, in the Indian capital.
Canadian and American authorities protection for Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
Post the Indian Government’s sharp reaction to Trudeau’s baseless accusations, another Khalistani separatist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, living comfortably in the United States, launched a “Kill India” movement and threatened Indian Hindu students and residents in Canada. As the leader of an organization called “Sikhs for Justice” which is a shell for anti-India activities and support for Khalistan in Punjab. Pannun has been actively involved in lobbying for the cause of Khalistan and has been organizing events and rallies in different parts of the world, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Pannun has claimed responsibility for various terror incidents in India. As of July 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs of India has declared Pannun a terrorist on the grounds of sedition and secessionism, and has requested an Interpol red notice for him (which wasn’t given). In April 2023, in a video, he issued a threat to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Assam. In June 2023, Pannun went into hiding after the death of three other prominent Khalistani leaders in 2 months.
CONCLUSION
The Khalistani question is not even a question. The Sikhs in Punjab are patriots who have contributed heavily to India’s growth and military since independence. Even in Canada, majority of the Sikhs do not care about Khalistan but are rather focused on peace and prosperity. However, certain Khalistani separatists given a free reign in Canada have encouraged a non-issue to be a major issue as Trudeau does not want to focus on rising home prices, falling popularity, cost of living crisis and a flawed immigration policy. So as politicians have done for hundreds of years, he has tried to distract the Canadian population with an external enemy i.e. India. Interestingly the NATO, the US and UK who are lecturing India on the killing of a terrorist on foreign soil have all killed known terrorists on foreign soil. Hypocrisy is a balm on the souls of Western leaders who are unable to digest the growing stature and power of countries like India and China who they referred to as the third world.
Common sense and having the same rules based order for both Western and Non-Western nations is the only way to avoid such issues in the future. The belief that if Western nations do some thing it is right and if Non-Western nations do it, it is wrong needs to be eradicated.
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