The Shadow of Past Violence: Sikh Separatismโ and India-Canada Tensions
Theโค current diplomatic crisis between Indiaโ and Canada, sparked by allegations โขof Indian government involvement in โฃthe assassination โof Hardeep Singh Nijjar, โa prominentโข sikh separatist leader,โ is deeply rooted in a decades-longโ history โฃof conflict and mistrust.While the demand for an independent Sikh state, Khalistan, has existed for years, itโค has gainedโ renewed momentum, bolstered by financial supportโค from โขtheโ sikh diaspora and fueled โคby perceived discriminationโฃ at theโ hands of the Indianโค government.
The origins of this unrest trace back to the 1980s,โ a period marked by โคescalating tensions andโ violence.A pivotal โmoment occured in 1984, following the assassination of Primeโ Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The ensuing response from the ruling Indian National Congress manifestedโ asโ widespread, organizedโข mob violence againstโฃ Sikhs, resultingโ in the deaths of thousands. This brutality was followedโข by a period where theโค Indian state allegedly engaged in the enforced disappearance of members โขof the Sikh community,โฃ further exacerbating the sense of grievance and fueling resistance.
Despite Sikhism’s core tenets of peace and divine love, a small faction of militants engaged in a prolonged campaign of violence. Before theโ attacks of September 11th, โค2001, Sikh separatistsโค were responsible for the deadliest act of aviation terrorism in history: the bombing of โคAirโ indiaโ Flight 182 in 1985, which claimed the โlives ofโ all 329 passengers andโ crew on board.
Since 2014, โwith the rise to power of Prime โMinister Narendra modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),โ the situation has reportedly deteriorated. Modi’s Hindu-nationalist policies have beenโข accused of marginalizing โand attacking religious minorities, โand the Sikh separatistโข movement is viewed as โa direct challenge to the BJP’s vision of a Hindu-dominant India. Indian โintelligence officials, according โคto sources,โค harbor โa deep-seated suspicion of Western motives,โ believing they are targeted by a concerted โeffort to undermine India’s sovereignty.
Hardeep Singh Pannun,a lawyer based inโฃ Queens,New York,is a key figureโ in the contemporary separatist movement. His law offices, described asโฃ unassuming and sparsely maintained, are considered by the Indian government to be a hub for coordinating activities aimed at destabilizing India, โคallegedly directing “Punjab based gangsters and youth” to undermine the country’s “sovereignty, integrity, and security.”
Pannun’s โฃpersonal history is inextricably linked to the events of 1984. Growing up near Amritsar, he witnessed the Indian military’s Operation Blue Star, the raid on the Golden Temple – Sikhism’s holiest site – to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a โคSikh militant. โฃ The operation resulted in a significant โloss of life, with government figures estimating โฃa few hundred deaths, while independent reports suggest the toll exceeded โfour thousand. This event, and the subsequent Operation Woodrose – a campaign of mass detentionsโ and interrogations of young Sikhs in rural โareas – deeply impactedโข Pannun. He recounts โคwitnessing the violence and the disappearance of friends, one of whom was reportedly subjected to โขbrutal torture.
The legacy of these past โeventsโ continues to shape the present, contributing toโ the complex and fraught relationship between India, Canada, and the Sikhโ diaspora, and fueling the ongoing debate surrounding the pursuit of Khalistan.
