Sikhs for Justice

Abbreviation SFJ
Formation October 2007; 15 years ago
Founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
Founded at United States
Type NGO
Legal status Banned in India
Purpose Secession of Punjab from India as Khalistan
Headquarters New York, United States
Official languages Punjabi, English
Legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
International policy Jatinder Singh Grewal
director
Website sikhsforjustice.org
Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) is a US-based secessionist group that supports the
secession of Punjab from India as Khalistan. Founded and primarily headed by
lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in 2009. The organization was created in response
to the murders of Sikhs after Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi death by her Sikh
bodyguards.[1] The motivation for the assassination was due to the Prime Minister's
decision to attack the Golden Temple in Amritsar.[2]
The events after the murder of the Prime Minister included the murders of around
3,000 Sikhs.[2] The murderers did not stop after the assassination, the government
implemented a "give no quarter" initiative.[3] This led to the further pursuit of the killing
of the Sikh community in Punjab.[3] Sikhs For Justice was banned in India in 2019 as
an unlawful association. It began holding a referendum for creation of Khalistan in
October 2021.[4][5]

History
Legal proceedings against visiting Indian political leaders
In 2011, Sikhs For Justice moved to the US court Kamal Nath and a few other
leaders of Indian National Congress for their alleged role in 1984 anti-Sikh riots,[6]
[7]
 however, the court dismissed the case, saying that the case does not sufficiently
"touch and concern" the US.[8] In September 2013, the group filed an amended class
action complaint against Sonia Gandhi for protecting members of her party who were
involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, but in June 2014, the case was dismissed due to
lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim. [9] SFJ were going to
subpoena Rahul Gandhi as he stated 'some Congressmen were probably involved in
1984 anti-Sikh riots and they have been punished for it.[10]
In February 2014, the group filed human rights violation case against then
13th Indian prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh (a Sikh himself) for his role
as finance minister of India in 1990s accusing him of "funding crimes against
humanity perpetrated upon the Sikh community in India".[11] They also submitted a
report to United Nations Commission on Human Rights on 1984 anti-Sikh riots.[12]
Khalistan referendum campaign
Main article: Khalistan Referendum
SFJ started organizing a campaign for 'Referendum 2020' for secession
of Punjab state from India. The first phase of the unofficial and non-binding
referendum started from London on 31 October 2021.[5][13] Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
announced in November 2018 that the SFJ will establish a permanent office
in Lahore for facilitating the registration of voters and giving information to Sikhs
about it. He also stated that banners regarding the referendum and images of Jarnail
Singh Bhindranwale had been posted around Nankana Sahib.[14] The group also has
at times expressed support for a greater Khalistan whose territory straddles parts
of Punjab province of Pakistan and has invited non-Sikhs to register for voting.[15]
Sukhpal Singh Khaira, MLA of Punjab Legislative Assembly and the Leader of
Opposition at the time, said, "Sikh Referendum 2020 was a result of consistent policy
of bias, discrimination and persecution towards the Sikhs by successive
governments in India”, though he clarified that he did not support the referendum.
Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh rebuked him.[16] The Shiromani Akali
Dal and the Bhartiya Janata Party also criticized Khaira for his statement, with former
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal asking the AAP chief Arvind
Kejriwal to act against the Punjab LoP.[17] The Sikh delegation in the United States of
America also met the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit in
September 2019, to highlight their support of India as one country.[18]
In October 2021 it held the first round of its referendum in London for those of Indian
Sikh ethnicity above the age of 18, and announced plans to expand the voting to
other cities of the United Kingdom.[19] However only 2,000 people were reported to
have taken part.[20] In Switzerland, the referendum was held in Geneva in December
2021 with over 6,000 Sikhs reported to have taken part.[21] It later started holding the
referendum in Canada from May 2022, with the first phase taking place in Brescia. In
July it organized the second phase in Rome. Over 57,000 Sikhs were reported to
have taken part.[22]
In June 2022 the group released a map for the proposed territory of Khalistan before
the press in Lahore. Along with the Indian Punjab, it also
included Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and parts of Rajasthan, Uttar
Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Pannun stated that Shimla would be the capital of the
proposed nation, and requested the Government of Pakistan for assistance in its
creation.[23]
The referendum in Canada started being held from September 2022, with the first
phase being held in Brampton.[24] The second phase was held in Mississauga in
November.[25] Around 185,000 Sikhs were reported to have participated in both
phases.[26] In Australia, it was held in Canberra in January 2023. The vote led to
clashes between pro-Khalistani and pro-Indian groups.[27]
Intention behind Kartarpur Corridor

Kartarpur Corridor
Kartarpur Corridor, is a religious corridor that allows Indian worshipers to
visit Gurdwaras. this initiative was backed by the Indian state to help the Sikh and
Punjabi populations visit some of the most relevant places in Sikh history. The
Corridor was also used by Sikhs for Justice for promoting the secessionist campaign
'Referendum 2020'. The campaign is backed by Pakistan which is a close ally of
Khalistanis. Sikhs can travel to their shrine in Pakistan without a visa. The allowance
of Sikhs to cross the border into Pakistan is seen as a political move to demonstrate
that Pakistan is welcoming of other religions.[28] The pilgrims using Kartarpur Corridor
were urged to attend workshops and seminars in Kartarpur on Referendum 2020,
arranged by Sikhs for Justice.[29][30][31][32]

Criminal accusations
As of July 2019, there were 12 criminal cases that were being pursued by Indian
agencies namely National Investigation Agency (NIA), Punjab
Police and Uttarakhand Police who have also arrested 39 people associated with the
SFJ in India.[33] According to the former Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder
Singh, SFJ "had unleashed a wave of terror in Punjab in recent years" and deserved
to be called a terrorist organization. He welcomed the decision to ban the SFJ as a
step towards protecting India from secessionist and anti-Indian plans of the
organization he described as backed by Pakistan's ISI.[33]
A member of the group was arrested in Malaysia in September 2019 among others
for allegedly planning to attack leaders of local parties.[34] Also, out of the four
terrorists arrested in Tarn Taran blast case in Punjab, one revealed that they were
tasked to kill the leaders of various Deras in India by Sikhs for Justice.
[35]
 Furthermore, the Kartarpur Corridor that has been opened up for Sikhs, is
reportedly being used for Khalistani propaganda by SFJ.[36]
SFJ activist Jaswinder Singh Multani was detained and questioned in Germany in
December 2021 for his alleged role in the Ludhiana blast case.[37] In January 2022,
the NIA registered a case against him for hatching a conspiracy against India.[38] A
purported audio message of Pannun claiming responsibility for the Mohali blast in
May 2022 was released after the attack.[39]
According to audio recordings of Pannun obtained by the Punjab Police from two
SFJ members in July 2022, the group tried to arrange shelter for killers of
singer Sidhu Moose Wala, planned to target Ambala Cantonment Junction railway
station and Ambala City railway station and disrupt Independence Day celebrations
in Delhi and Punjab.[40] Pannun has been booked in 22 cases in Punjab from 2017 to
2022. India requested Interpol to issue a red notice against him in October 2022, but
it rejected it.[41]
A purported audio was released in December 2022 of the group claiming
responsibility for the recent attack on a Tarn Taran police station.[42] Pannun however
later stated that the organisation only engaged in a peaceful struggle and would
provide legal aid to the suspects who he said were falsely accused.[43]

Banned in India
Sikhs for Justice was banned on 10 July 2019, by Government of
India under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for anti-India activities.
[44]
 The group planned to use Google Play for spreading its propaganda, and an
application was uploaded on it for people to register for Referendum 2020. The
application was reported, and thereafter removed by Google Play Store in November
2019.[45][46] Its Facebook page had already been blocked from India by the company
in 2015.[47]
Later in January 2020, the UAPA tribunal chaired by Delhi High Court Chief
Justice D.N. Patel sustained the decision of ban on the secessionist group. Citing the
evidences presented, as the reason for the decision, the committee said that since
the activities of the group were "unlawful", "disruptive" and "threaten the sovereignty,
unity and territorial integrity of India" and SFJ was "working in collusion with anti-
India entities and forces", therefore, "the Central Government had sufficient cause to
take action under UAPA for declaring Sikhs For Justice as an unlawful
association."[48]
On 1 July 2020, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was declared as an "individual terrorist"
under the UAPA for promoting secessionism and allegedly encouraging Punjabi Sikh
youth to take up arms.[49] The central government via an order of Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology[50] on the recommendation of the Ministry of
Home Affairs on July 5, banned 40 websites belonging to the group for attracting
people to its cause.[51]

Sikhs for Justice – NIA Case

January 20, 2021
Why in news?
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has issued summons to over 40 persons in
connection with a case registered against the US-based Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) in
mid-December 2020.
What is ‘Sikhs for Justice’?
Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), formed in 2007, is a US-based group seeking a separate
homeland for Sikhs - a “Khalistan” - in Punjab.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a law graduate from Panjab University and currently an
attorney at law in the US, is the face of SFJ and its legal adviser.
Panun had launched the secessionist Sikh Referendum 2020 campaign, an initiative
that eventually became defunct.
‘Referendum 2020’ claimed it wanted to “liberate Punjab from Indian occupation”.
He was among the nine individuals designated as “terrorists” by the Union Ministry of
Home Affairs in July 2020.
Sikhs for Justice is an unlawful association under the UAPA Act.
What is the NIA case?
In December 2020, the NIA registered a case in New Delhi under sections of
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and various sections of the Indian Penal Code:
Section 120 B (Criminal Conspiracy)
Section 124 A (Sedition)
Section 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion,
race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to
maintenance of harmony)
Section 153 B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration)
Incidentally, the case was registered around a fortnight after farm activists reached
Delhi border to protest the farm acts.
The farm organisations claim that the government was targeting individuals opposing
the three farm laws.
What is NIA’s accusation?
The NIA proposes that the SFJ and other Khalistani terrorist outfits along with their
frontal organisations had entered a conspiracy.
The aim is to create an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness and to cause
disaffection in people.
The intention is to incite them towards rising in rebellion against the government of
India.
In furtherance of the above conspiracy, huge funds are being collected abroad.
It goes for on-ground campaign and propaganda against missions in countries like
the USA, UK, Canada, Germany and so forth.
The FIR also stated that the campaigns were being spearheaded by designated
terrorists.
These include Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Paramjit Singh Pamma, Hardeep Singh
Nijjar and others.
It has also been learnt that large amounts of funds so collected are being sent
through NGOs to pro-Khalistani elements based in India.
SFJ leadership has planned large scale activities intended to damage government
and private property and disrupt supplies and essential services.
SFJ and other pro-Khalistani elements involved in this conspiracy, are radicalising,
and recruiting impressionable youth through their social media campaign and
otherwise.
The objective is to agitate and undertake terrorist acts for creation of separate nation
of Khalistan after secession from Indian Territory.
What are NIA notices about and who have been summoned?
Among those who have been served notices by the NIA in connection with the
sedition case registered against Pannun are –
a tourist bus operator, a nut bolt trader, and a cable operator from Ludhiana
three journalists from Punjab
three volunteers of UK based NGO Khalsa Aid
the president of Lok Bhalai Insaf Welfare Society (LBIWS), one of the unions
participating in talks with the Government over the new farm laws
Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu and farmers’ leader Baldev Singh Sirsa
Others summoned include functionaries of Khalsa Aid.
It is a Sikh charity that provided material support to agitating farmers, and those who
organised a community kitchen for them.
NIA has served notices under Section 16 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC),
meaning they have been summoned as witnesses.
The persons were summoned in connection with “foreign funding in guise of the farm
agitation to further secessionist agenda of Khalistan.”
What is the larger concern?
Efforts to undermine the legitimacy of political actors opposed to the government
have acquired a predictable pattern.
Government’s critics are routinely labelled anti-national by social media trolls and
functionaries of the ruling BJP.
Investigations follow, often by central agencies, the NIA and the Enforcement
Directorate.
The state responses to agitators in Kashmir, Bhima Koregaon and during the
protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act have been heavy-handed.
The NIA’s present move too cannot be seen delinked from this broader context.
What is the way forward?
Sikhs abroad are a vibrant segment of the diaspora, having links with the
motherland, including through donations to religious and charity activities.
Other diaspora groups also support activities, including in the fields of education and
health.
Given this, there has to be a high threshold to consider any such community activity
as anti-national.
No consideration of religion must influence that assessment.
Replacing political dialogue with state intimidation is not strategically prudent; the
government must talk to the farmers in good faith.

Amritpal Singh, Khalistan, Waris Punjab De, SFJ, Referendum: All Keywords

Amid Developments
Published By: Vidushi Sagar
News18.com
Last Updated: MARCH 20, 2023, 15:37 IST
New Delhi, India
Last month, Amritpal and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and
guns, broke through barricades and barged into the Ajnala Police Station on the
outskirts of the Amritsar city (Image: News18)
Explained: The developments come in the wake of a major crackdown started by
police on Saturday against Amritpal Singh and members of his outfit 'Waris Punjab
De'
 FOLLOW US:

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Pro-Khalistan organisations in the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and
Canada have planned violent rallies, primarily targeting Indian high commissions and
embassies, to show solidarity with Amritpal Singh and urge that he not be jailed,
sources told News18. Read the full story here
The development comes in the wake of a major crackdown started by police on
Saturday against Amritpal and members of his outfit ‘Waris Punjab De’. The elusive
preacher, however, gave police the slip and escaped their dragnet when his
cavalcade was intercepted in Jalandhar district.

Police on Sunday had conducted flag marches and searches across Punjab,
arresting 34 more supporters and shifting four men in custody to a jail in far-off
Assam. During the ongoing crackdown operations against elements of Amritpal-led
‘Waris Punjab De’ and persons attempting to disturb peace and harmony in the
state, the state police has so far arrested 112 people.
Amid the rapid developments, let’s take a look at what all these terms mean:
RELATED NEWS

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Reacted; a Look at Outfits, Members

AMRITPAL SINGH?
Donning a flowing white chola and a navy-blue turban and often escorted by armed
supporters, radical preacher and Khalistan sympathiser Amritpal Singh has been
quite active in Punjab for some time. Read more on this here
Amritpal never actually met Sidhu in person, but he thinks their online exchanges
had a big influence on him (Image: News18)

In 1993, he was born in Amritsar’s Jallupur Khera hamlet. He completed Class 12

and then left India in 2012 to work for his uncle’s transport company in Dubai,
according to Times of India. He was appointed the head of Waris Punjab De, an
organisation formed by actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu, only six months ago,
bringing him to the attention of Punjab’s lawmakers and police.
Amritpal and his friends believe Sidhu was murdered by the ‘state’ when he died in a
car accident in February 2022.

As per the report, Amritpal never actually met Sidhu in person, but he thinks their
online exchanges had a big influence on him. When others criticised Deep Sidhu for
the Red Fort protests on Republic Day 2021 amid the farmers’ struggle, Amritpal
stood by him. Amritpal claimed on the one anniversary of Sidhu’s death a week ago
that he had stopped trimming his hair on the late actor’s advice in November 2021.
He became a ‘Amritdhari Sikh’ on September 25, last year, after undergoing a formal
Sikh baptism at Anandpur Sahib.
Just four days later, on September 29, Times of India reports, with massive crowds
gathered to see Amritpal’s ‘dastar bandi’ (turban-tying ritual to show the acceptance
of responsibility) at Rode village, the birthplace of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale,
whose name is inextricably linked to Punjab militancy. Amritpal has gone from a
clean-shaven transporter in Dubai to a separatist Sikh leader with a flowing beard.
He dressed like Bhindranwale, and others are referring to him as Bhindranwale 2.0.
In a recent address, he stated that when he arrived at Amritsar airport, he was
questioned by “agencies" for quite some time. He went on to say that questioning a
Sikh teenager about returning to his homeland is a symptom of ‘ghulami’ (slavery).

He has been promoting Khalistan’s cause on Facebook for quite some time. He
questioned why it is wrong for a Sikh to advocate Khalistan while advocating for a
Hindu Rashtra is not penalised. Amritpal told a Punjabi news channel that the
Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan police shooting in 2015 drew him to Sikh
activism.

WHAT IS WARIS PUNJAB DE?

WPD was founded by Pollywood actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu, a supporter of
Simranjit Singh Mann, who died in a road accident in Haryana earlier while driving to
Punjab from Delhi along with his Indian-origin American girlfriend Reena Rai.

Sidhu laid the foundation of ‘Waris Punjab De’ in Chandigarh eight months after the
Republic Day incident, said a report by Free Press Journal. During his launch event,
he stated that the organisation would “fight for Punjab’s rights against the Centre and
raise voice anytime there is any attack on Punjab’s culture, language, social fabric,
and rights."
Soon after establishing his organisation, Sidhu expressed his support for Simranjit
Singh Mann’s extremist pro-Khalistan party SAD (Amritsar) and campaigned for
them ahead of the Punjab elections.

Sidhu, on the other hand, died in a car accident on February 15, 2022, just five days
before the state elections. Simranjit Singh Mann has requested a judicial
investigation into Sidhu’s death.

Once Amritpal Singh assumed control of ‘Waris Punjab De’, Sidhu’s family distanced
themselves from Amritpal, claiming that he was never nominated as the leader of
their son’s organisation.
WHAT IS THE KHALISTANI MOVEMENT?
The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement that seeks to establish a
sovereign state in the Punjab region called Khalistan (‘Land of the Khalsa’),
according to reports.

The proposed state would be made up of land that currently forms Punjab, India and
Punjab, Pakistan, with Lahore as its capital, and would be located in the past
geographical region of Punjab, where the Khalsa Empire was once established.

Since the separatist movement gained traction in the 1980s, Khalistan’s territorial
ambitions have included Chandigarh, sections of Indian Punjab, including the
entirety of North India, and some parts of western India.

HOW IT STARTED
Gur Gobind Singh’s declaration of the Khalsa in 1699, and the religio-political vision
that accompanied it, fueled the Sikh imagination with the belief that it was their God-
given right to rule Punjab, Britannica explains in its report on how the Khalistani
movement started.

Sikh forces captured Sirhind, the most powerful Mughal administrative centre
between Delhi and Lahore, in 1710, led by Band Singh Bahdur, and established a
capital in nearby Mukhlispur (“City of the Purified"). They minted coins, created an
official seal, and issued letters of command invoking God and the Gurs’ authority. At
the time, the belief that “the Khalsas shall rule" was formally added to Sikh liturgical
prayer, the report said.

Although the ‘Khalsa Raj’ under Band Singh was short-lived, the concept was
realised in the early 19th century in the form of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s kingdom
(1780–1839). Though the Khalsa Raj’s subsequent rapid decline and eventual loss
to the British (1849) was a painful experience, it did not extinguish many Sikhs’
hopes that the Khalsa Raj would return in some form.

The concept of an independent Sikh state was prominent in the lengthy negotiations
that preceded the partition of Punjab in 1947. The Sikh population’s numerical
weakness in comparison to other residents of Punjab rendered this an unviable
proposition, but it has reappeared in various forms since, the report explains.

For a decade in the 1970s and 1980s, a violent secessionist movement to create
Khalistan paralysed the Punjab. And it reached its pinnacle in the late 1990s, after
which the insurgency petered out and the movement failed to achieve its goal for a
variety of reasons, including a heavy police crackdown on separatists, factional
infighting, and disillusionment.

There is some support within India and among the Sikh diaspora, with annual
protests in memory of those killed during Operation Blue Star.

Police in Punjab arrested several militant groups in early 2018. Former Punjab Chief
Minister Amarinder Singh claimed that recent extremism is being supported by
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and “Khalistani sympathisers" in Canada,
Italy, and the United Kingdom.

WHAT IS REFERENDUM 2020

The unofficial “referendum" is a voting exercise organised across several countries
by the US-based Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) organisation, which was banned in India in
2019 for “espousing secessionism and militant activities".

The referendum seeks to forge an agreement among Sikh communities to establish

Khalistan, a separate homeland within India. It is generally proposed that this be
accomplished by carving out the Indian state of Punjab, the country’s only Sikh-
majority state. The campaign group says it would then approach the UN and other
international human rights bodies with the demand to re-establish “Punjab as a
nation state".

The SFJ was founded in 2007 and is led by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Panjab
University law graduate who works as an attorney in the United States, according to
a report by the Independent.
The group first announced in 2018 that it would hold an unofficial voting exercise, at
the time dubbed “Referendum 2020", across several countries with sizeable Sikh
diasporas, with the aim to “liberate Punjab from Indian occupation".

“The SFJ announced in its London Declaration [in August 2018] the first ever non-
binding referendum among the global Sikh community on the question of secession
from India and re-establishing Punjab as an independent country," according to the
SFJ website.
It stated that the referendum would be held in Punjab, as well as major cities in North
America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,
Kenya, and the Middle East.

According to Indian authorities in Punjab, SFJ and the “Referendum 2020" campaign
are being promoted and funded in Pakistan to destabilise India. As evidence,
intelligence agencies in India have stated that the SFJ website shares its domain
with a website based in Karachi.

The recent attacks and violent protests at the Consulate General of India in San
Francisco, and the India High Commission in London, are the latest headline-
grabbing incidents by supporters of the Khalistan separatist movement. They come
on the heels of incidents of anti-India and anti-Hindu vandalism at temples in New
York City, in the Toronto area, and in Australia. Though largely dormant in India itself
over the past two and a half decades, in the diaspora the Khalistan movement is
resurgent and supporters of the movement in the US, Canada and UK are stoking its
embers in India. What is its history, aims?
Land of the Pure: The Khalistan Movement in India. Starting in the early 1980s,
radical separatists spearheaded a bloody campaign to carve out an independent,
theocratic Sikh state known as Khalistan (Land of the Pure) in Punjab and other
parts of Northern India.
The roots of Khalistan lie in the British colonial policies of the late 1800s and early
1900s that sought to divide Sikhs and Hindus. Sikhs were recruited into the British
army in large numbers to use against Hindu rulers that rebelled against the British
Raj.  Subsequently, after Indian independence in 1947, tensions between the state
of Punjab and the central Indian government surfaced, leading to grievances
amongst many Sikhs against the Indian government.

Punjab, for instance, was trifurcated into the states of Punjab, Haryana, and
Himachal Pradesh in 1966, along linguistic lines (Punjab as a Punjabi speaking
state, and Haryana and Himachal Pradesh as Hindi speaking states), which created
resentment amongst many Sikhs that the historic contours of Punjab were being
further divided after it has already been divided between India and Pakistan in 1947.

Many Sikhs in Punjab also resented sharing the joint capital of Chandigarh with

Haryana, and viewed water sharing agreements with Haryana as unfair and favoring
farmers there to the detriment of those in Punjab. Sikh religious leaders were
additionally apprehensive of the community losing its identity and culture, and
wanted greater state powers for Punjab.
Although these types of issues often mark normal state-federal government relations
in newly independent countries such as India, they were perceived by many Sikhs as
religiously motivated policies of discrimination against them and were exploited by
radical leaders, who built a narrative that Sikh interests would only be safe in an
independent Sikh country of Khalistan. This was further compounded by an
“incendiary mix of unprincipled politics and the manipulation of religious identities
and institutions” that brought radical Sikh forces to the forefront of politics in the state
of Punjab.
Violent clashes between radicalized Sikh groups led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale
and the Nirankari sect (considered heretical by the former) in April 1978 is
considered the beginning of the Khalistan movement. And in
1980, Bhindranwale and his supporters started targeting Hindus and murdered Lala
Jagat Narain, the publisher of Punjab Kesri, a vernacular newspaper, and a vocal
critic of Bhindranwale. This was soon followed by large-scale violence against
civilians across the state.
The Khalistan movement peaked in the 1980-90s and the violent campaign included
bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and selective killing and massacres of
civilians.  The movement resulted in nearly 22,000 deaths of Sikhs and Hindus alike,
including approximately 12,000 civilians. The violence took on an international
dimension in 1985 when Khalistani separatists based in Canada exploded a bomb
on an Air India flight enroute from Toronto to New Delhi, killing all 329 people on
board, including 82 children under the age of 13. That incident remains the deadliest
terrorist attack in Canadian history.

In response to the movement, and in an attempt to end militancy in the state, Indian
security forces and local Punjab police responded with force, at times committing
human rights abuses. Moreover, the Congress Party led central government
contributed to problems in the state by undermining democratic institutions and
interfering with elections, and failing to adequately address local/state issues and
relations between the state and the central government.

It is important to note however, that majority of the police, security forces and
politicians in Punjab were and are Sikh. In fact, the police captain credited for ending
the Khalistan insurgency, KPS Gill, was himself a Sikh. Moreover, Sikh politicians,
such as former Chief Minister Beant Singh, were themselves assassinated by
militants.
The majority of the victims of the militant violence were innocent Sikhs who were
killed by separatists for opposing the Khalistan movement. In 1990-1991, for
instance, Sikh civilians comprised over seventy percent of the victims of militant
attacks. Moreover, Mazhabi Sikhs (so called lower caste Sikhs in Punjab) were
frequently the victims of militant attacks.

Hindus were also targeted in large numbers as part of a strategy to ignite communal
tensions and force Hindus to flee Punjab in fear. Along with systematic violence,
posters often appeared in villages threatening Hindus to leave and those Sikhs that
sought to help Hindus were similarly threatened by militants. As a result, thousands
of Hindus fled their homes in Punjab and lived as refugees in neighboring states and
New Delhi.

The horrific violence in Punjab was accompanied by virulent anti-Hindu rhetoric and
propaganda that demonized and intimidated the state’s minority Hindu community,
and encouraged and celebrated violence against Hindu civilians.  This was part of an
attempt by militants, led by Bhindranwale, to disrupt the social fabric of the state and
creation divisions between Hindus and Sikhs, who had historically enjoyed strong
relations, shared religious traditions, and frequently intermarried.

Bhindranwale, the most prominent Khalistan leader, frequently used anti-Hindu

rhetoric in his speeches. Noted Sikh journalist, Kushwant Singh, described
Bhindranwale as a “hate monger” who routinely used hateful and inflammatory
language against Hindus and exhorted every Sikh to “kill 32 Hindus to solve the
Hindu-Sikh problem. As the Khalistan movement expanded and violence escalated,
Bhindranwale and his heavily armed followers occupied the Golden Temple,
Sikhism’s holiest shrine in Amritsar. Starting in 1982, Bhindranwale used the Golden
Temple as a base of operations and stored arms and ammunition there. He openly
declared that he was directing attacks and violent acts from the sacred Temple.
There were also reports of militants committing atrocities on pilgrims and devotees
inside the sacred space.
On June 6, 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered an army operation —
code-named Operation Bluestar — to flush out Bhindranwale and the militants holed
up in the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh temples.

According to an academic study of the Khalistan insurgency: “…Thousands of

pilgrims were in the Golden Temple grounds when the army assault began, and the
insurgents used many of them as human shields. Bhindranwale and many of his
associates were killed – but there were a very large number of civilian casualties as
well.”
The fallout from Operation Bluestar resulted in the assassination of Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi and the subsequent anti-Sikh pogrom in New Delhi in October 1984 in
response to Prime Minister Gandhi’s assassination. The pogrom took the lives of
over 3,000 innocent Sikhs.
While the Indian government and judiciary have taken some positive steps to
prosecute and convict those leaders involved in planning and carrying out the
violence, several individuals and high-level government leaders have still not been
brought to justice more than 30 years later. Collectively, Operation Blue Star, and the
anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984 and lack of justice thereafter have left a deep
psychological wound in the minds of many Sikhs and have further fuelled the
Khalistan militant movement or support for it.

In both its heyday and today, the Khalistan movement has received financial and
logistical support from pro-Khalistan separatists based in the United States, Canada,
and the United Kingdom, as well as Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
Agency.

According to Indian defence analyst, Ajai Sahni, Pakistan’s ISI spy agency provided
refuge, training, arms, and funding to Khalistani terrorist organizations and
coordinated “their activities with Islamist terrorist organizations such as the Lashkar-
e-Toiba and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, as well as with organized crime operators, and
drug and weapons smugglers who have assisted in the movement of men and
materials across the border into Punjab.”

Moreover, according to foreign affairs analyst Christine Fair, “The involvement of the
diaspora was an important dimension of the Sikh insurgency. Not only was it a
source of diplomatic and financial support, it was also a factor in enabling Pakistan to
get involved in fuelling the Sikh separatist efforts. Sikhs in Canada, the United
Kingdom, and the United States played important roles in arranging for cadres to
travel to Pakistan, where they received financial and military assistance.”

Khalistan supporters in the West have actively used American, Canadian, and British
soil to lobby their respective governments against India, while raising funds for
Khalistan terror groups, often using informal hawala networks (often used by criminal
and terrorist organizations in South Asia) for transferring money.

There have further been several investigations into the activities of pro-Khalistan
extremists in the US, including by the FBI, DEA, and United States Customs Service
(USCS).

In March 2017, for instance, a Khalistan extremist and US resident, Balwinder Singh,
was convicted of providing material support to Khalistani terrorist groups in India and
sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. He had been arrested by the FBI in 2013 on
“charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to murder
or otherwise harm persons in a foreign country” and for falsifying an asylum claim.
Singh was providing support to BKI and another group, Khalistan Zindabad Force, to
commit acts of terrorism in India.

And previously, an undercover USCS sting operation of a Khalistan activist in

California, Bhajan Singh Bhinder, revealed that he attempted to purchase military
grade weapons, such as “M-16s, AK-47s, detonators, night-vision goggles, mobile
communications equipment, remote-control equipment, grenade and rocket
launchers,” for Khalistan groups committing terror attacks in India. The investigation
was later abandoned after Bhinder backed out of the deal. Bhinder has since gone
on to find several other organizations, most notably Organization for Minorities of
India (OFMI), which engages in anti-India and anti-Hindu activities.

Another US-based organization, Sikhs for Justice, has become the most prominent
pro-Khalistan group in the west and reportedly enjoys the support of the ISI. It
purportedly peacefully advocates for a 2020 referendum on Khalistan but has openly
associated with convicted Khalistan terrorists and those suspected of being involved
in large-scale terror plots in India. It funded the legal defence of Jagtar Singh Tara,
for instance, a leader of Indian designated terrorist group Khalistan Tiger Force, who
assassinated the Chief Minister of India’s Punjab state in 1995.
SFJ and its legal advisor, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, have close links with Paramjit
Singh Pamma, a BKI fundraiser wanted by Indian authorities for his material support
of terrorism. Mr. Pannun himself was reportedly arrested by police in the United
Kingdom in 2000 after receiving terrorist training in Pakistan and was sentenced to
30 months in prison for his involvement with BKI, a banned terrorist group in the UK,
although he denies the allegation.