Khalistan movement: Difference between revisions
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==History== |
==History== |
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Revision as of 13:05, 15 June 2005
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History
Khalistan was the name given to a proposed nation-state encompassing much of the area of Punjabi-speaking India and Pakistan, which formed part of the old Sikh Kingdom under the leadership of the Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Khalistan declared its independence from India on October 7, 1987.
The Sikh Kingdom existed under the powerful leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (aka 'the lion of Punjab') whose secular army mirrored the demographic make-up of his kingdom, with the European styled army comprising of Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and Hindus who would go on to destroy the powerbase of Mughal rule in what is now northern India and Pakistan. Maharajah Ranjit Singh also had Sikhs, Muslims, Chrsitians, and Hindus in his government. His government was recognized by most of the major powers of the world at the time.
Punjab was independent from 1765 to 1849. At its peak from 1825 to 1839, the Sikh kingdom was worthy of European rivalry and was one of the most attractive destinations for many European; travellers, artists and writers who flocked to the Lahore Durbar for its style and its patronage of the arts. It was the first secular state of the modern world. It was also the last territory of India to fall to the British Empire due to the betrayal by its top Dogra Generals, during the two bloody Anglo-Sikh wars in 1845-6 and 1848-49
At its peak, the Sikh Kingdom comprised all of the northern half of modern day Pakistan (West Punjab), extending all the way to the borders of Afghanistan, all of the currently disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, also the land that makes up the modern Indian state of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and the State City of Chandigarh. In 1947, the sub-continent was divided into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan by the British at independence.
What followed independence for both nations was an orgy of communal bloodletting on the borders of India with East (modern day Pakistan) and West Pakistan (Bangladesh), with well over half a million Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus being killed on the now divided border of East (Pakistan) and West (India) Punjab alone. In an effort to divide Punjab along linguistic lines as well as cultural, a campaign was launched called "Punjabi Suba" by the states Punjabi speakers in 1966. The campaign succeeded in the creation of the current Punjabi speaking state of Punjab, but failed when the campaign was propagandized by the Indian government as a Sikh attempt at creating an independent homeland, along with scare mongering which resulted in the majority of Punjabi speaking Hindus claiming that their mother tongue was Hindi instead of Punjabi. This led the Indian government of the day to further split the Punjab further into three states (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh).
Discontent Emerges
Causes for discontent in the Sikh community were simmering, first with the loss of property and sense of betrayal during the partition, then with the Punjabi Suba affair. As the 1980's approached, unemployment was rising in the Punjab, followed by unrest, which was further exacerbated by the fact that the Indian Army was decreasing the quotas for Sikh recruits, upsetting many Sikhs who in the previous years constituted close to 20% of India's armed forces, while only constituting 2% of the nation’s population. This decrease in the quota was ironic since every war that India won against Pakistan, was attributed to the actions of the Sikh Regiments and their generals. Another cause of unemployment was the ramifications of the Green Revolution and the increase in population, which had impinged on the already limited farm land that could be divided up to succeeding generations of would be Sikh farmers in the Punjab. Political demands also arose around this time for the greater devolution of power from the central to the state government of Punjab.
Beginning in 1982, Sikh activists began a series of non-violent campaigns called Yudh Morcha, during which time over 100,000 Sikhs were imprisoned. This was followed concurrently with the ban on Sikh travel outside the state of Punjab during the Asian Games of 1982, which were held in New Dehli and which were also off limits to Sikhs. These conditions brought about the rise of the charismatic Sikh preacher Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who gained increasing support among the rural populace and disenfranchised urban Sikhs, in what soon became a religious campaign. These campaigns embarrassed the Indian government (led at the time by Indira Gandhi), with Bhindranwale openly challenging Indira Gandhi, while preaching the demands of the Anandpur Resolution, which constituted the basis for the Sikh population as well as Bhindranwale's agitation against the Indian government.
Anandpur Resolution
THE ANANDPUR SAHIB RESOLUTION (Political Clause)
Passed by the Working Committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal Ludhiana, Punjab, October 17, 1973
1. The political objective of the Akali Dal has been laid down by the 10th Guru and is inscribed in the minds of the Sikhs ever since that time. The Sikhs have been invested with the eternal spirit of ascendancy (Khalsa Ji Ka Bol Bala) which is the birth right of the Khalsa and the Shiromani Akali Dal stands committed to achieve this objective.
2. The Akali Dal shall strive for the incorporation of those Punjabi-speaking areas which have been kept out of the new Punjab, namely Dalhousie from the Gurdaspur district, Chandigarh, Pinjore, Kalka and Ambala Sadar from the Ambala district, the area of Nalagarh called Desh from district Nalagarh, Shahabad block and Goohla block from the Karnal district, Tohana Sub- Tehsil, Ratia block and Sirsa Tehsil of Hissar district. Six tehsils of Ganga Nagar district and other Punjabi speaking areas of Rajasthan.
3. The Central Government should confine its authority only to defence, foreign affairs, general communications and currency and rest of the subjects should be handed over to the States and in this case particularly to Punjab.
4. The Punjab should have the right to frame its own constitution and for procuring the necessary finance, Punjab should send its own representatives to the Parliament.
5. The Punjab Government shall protect the interests of the Sikhs settled in other parts of the country.
6. The Akali Dal shall try that India should be made a federal State in the real sense and that all the States should have equal representation in the Centre.
7. The Shiromani Akali Dal disapproves vehemently the foreign policy of the Congress Government and will strive to frame such a foreign policy which should be friendly towards the neighbouring countries specially those countries in which Sikh religious institutions are situated. That the country should follow an independent and impartial foreign policy and should not be tied down with any other power.
8. The Akali Dal will see that no discrimination is shown towards the Sikhs in the services of other States and shall protect their interests. It will also try to see that the Sikhs are given ample representation in all wings of the armed forces as they were given earlier. The Dal will also protect the interests of the Sikhs in the defence services as also of those retiring from the defence services. It will also lay maximum emphasis on giving proper facilities for the ex-soldiers.
9. The Akali Dal is of the view that any man or woman who is not convicted of moral turpitude should be authorized to wear arms without any licence and only registration should be sufficient.
10. The Dal is in favour of prohibition and is also opposed to the use of other intoxicants including tobacco which should be banned.
Source: Anandpur Resolution
Operation Blue Star and the Militancy
Things came to a head when in June 1984 when the government of India replaced the regular police and other law enforcement agencies in Amritsar with Indian Army troops to flush out alleged militants hidden in the Golden Temple. On the 3rd of June 1984, Operation Blue Star was begun, and would end days later on June 6, 1984 with the mysterious torching of the Sikh Reference Library which housed a large percentage Sikhism's irreplaceable manuscripts and artifacts. In addition to the attack on the Golden Temple complex, 125 other Gurdwaras (Sikh places of worship) were attacked simultaneously. Bhindranwale and other Sikh leaders were killed in Operation Blue Star. The original copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, Sikhism's most holiest scripture, handwritten in the time of the 10 Sikh gurus, was riddled with bullet holes during the attack.
Released Indian government records ("The White Paper") stated that 493 militants were killed, 86 were wounded, and 1,592 were apprehended, while the Indian Army claimed to have lost 83 men, and another 249 were wounded. These figures are widely disputed, since they fail to account for the thousands of pilgrims trapped in the temple, many whom were never seen from again. According to human-rights groups, over 20,000 Sikhs were killed in June 1984 across Punajb during the operation.
On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh body guards, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh in the garden of her home in New Dehli. What followed was three days of uncontrolled, governement sanctioned and some cases governement led Anti-Sikh riots across India (exception being the Punjab), where more than 30,000 Sikhs were murdered, mostly men and young boys. In the majority of Sikh male murders, the women of the family were raped and then made to watch as the men were beaten with iron rods (lathes), covered with tires, doused with gasoline and then set on fire. In New Dehli alone, at least 5,000 Sikhs were murdered. Resentment against the government grew in the Sikh community, especially since it is commonly held that Rajiv Gandhi, Indira's Gandhi's son, allowed the rioting to go on for 3 days before calling on the army and police to quell the violence. The Sikh community's anger is furthered by the fact that law enforcement stood by and watch, and in some cases participated along side the rioters. Sikh police officers were locked in their barracks to keep them from getting involved. Implicated in the rioting but never charged where local MP's who used voter registration lists to direct the mob to Sikh homes. Many of these MP's attained high positions in the Rajiv Gandhi government, and in succesive Indian governments thereafter.
In April 1986, a congregation in excess of 500,000 produced a declaration for an independent state called Khalistan, at the Sikhs temporal seat of power, the Akal Takht Sahib located in the Golden Temple complex. They sought help from western governments (USA, UK, Canada, and Europe) and the UN of recognition of this new entity, with little success. This resolution was followed by a formal declaration of independence on October 7, 1987.
On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182, flying out of Toronto, Canada exploded over the Irish Sea, which until September 11, 2001 attacks was the worst single act of aviation terrorism globally. The chief suspects along with Indian intelligence agencies, were three Canadian Sikhs who were said to be fighting for an independent Khalistan, were Talwinder Singh Parmar, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, the former was killed in 1992 in a police encounter, while the latter two were acquitted of all charges related to the bombing of Flight 182 by the British Columbia Supreme Court in Canada, on March 16, 2005. To date, only Canadian/British Inderjit Singh Reyat has been convicted of having any part in Flight 182's destruction. This was done via a plea bargain immediately after completing his 10 year prison sentence in 2001, for his part in constructing the bomb involved in the Air India Flight 301 explosion in Japan. Inderjit Singh Reyat will be freed from custody in 2006.
Families of the vitcims of flight 182 and Sikhs worldwide have called for and have demanded a public enquiry to find out who was really behind the bombings but The Canadian Govt has refused, further fuelling widely held theories of the handywork of RAW (Research and Analysis Wing)of Indian Intelligence Dept in the bombing.
The Sikhs 10th Guru and last living Guru, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji said, "Raj Bina Nahin Dharam Chale Hain, Dharam Bina Sab Dalle Malle Hain" which literally means that "Without a state religion cannot move forward; without religion everything breaks down." However, the Gurus do give a clear message of peace and simple living, so Sikhs are not meant to make their Khalistan by unjust means*, but Guru Gobind Singh Ji also said "When all other means have failed it is righteous to raise the sword", which plays a central role in Sikhism, where the idea of defending the downtrodden regardless of caste, race, gender and the idea of first attempting peaceful means, before taking up the sword come together. The idea of seeking denied justice and equal status in India was at the root of the turmoil in Punjab in the early 1980's before Operation Blue Star. This was the ideology of the early Sikh fighters following the attack on the Golden Temple complex, before the movement was infiltrated by the criminal elements, along with government agents acting on behalf of Indian Security forces.
On ang 74 of the SGGS:
- Now, the Merciful Lord has issued His Command. Let no one chase after and attack anyone else. Let all abide in peace, under this Benevolent Rule. ||13||
Many critics claim that the idea of Khalistan goes contrary to an idea of a secular India, that does not recognize religious boundaries. Pakistan, on the other hand, an Islamic state, is unlikely to yield land to Sikh separatists (especially since practically all Sikhs reside in the Indian Punjab). Thus, most Khalistani pressure is found to be directed at India. But the desire to unite and secure the whole of Punjab in the boundaries of a future independent Khalistan remains a definite goal.
Human Rights Abuses
International human rights organizations estimate that the number of deaths caused by Indian police and paramilitary forces range from 10,000 to 250,000. The book The Politics of Genocide by Inderjit Singh Jaijee cites figures by the Punjab State Magistracy that places the figure over 250,000. In addition, the Movement Against State Repression (MASR) reported that 52,268 Sikhs are being held as political prisoners without charge or trial.
Attacks by militants and Indian forces have dropped markedly since 1992, as Indian security forces began a policy of widescale torture, rape and shoot first ask questions later. Resulting in deaths of thousands of innocent civilians along with suspected militants reported widely by human rights organisations.
Julio Riberio, the former Director General of Police of Punjab, is commonly known as the "butcher of Punjab" by Sikhs. Admitted how he and his political masters used tactics, which in any case in the world would fall in the category of state sponsership of terrorism. Julio ribeiro writes with extraordinary candor in his book "bullet for bullet" : "In Punjab there were some persons with criminal propensities, who were known to police officers at various levels. They were approached and a few of them agreed to form groups which would move in the guise of terrorists and confront the real militants in their dens. The police did give them financial and logistical support, but their demands grew to an extent where it was impossible to satisfy them within our resources. Besides, they were very greedy people, with a criminal tendency, who began to prey on law-abiding, rich citizens on the assumption that the police were indebted to them and so would do nothing to stop them."
One such man, recommended to Ribeiro by Gur Iqbal Singh Bhullar, a senior police officer, was a smuggler who had once been a police constable. He was reinstated and located in Patiala to search out and neutralize dreaded militants, with the permission to use force. Once he drove into Ribeiro's official residence in Chandigarh to escape a police chase after he shot down two supposed terrorists whom he had located at a bus stand on a main road in the city. Ribeiro later found out that this operative, along with the policemen who constituted his squad, had been committing robberies, not only in Punjab but also in the neighboring States. Rebeiro wanted to weed him out of the counter-insurgency setup. But before he could do anything, the operative was reportedly killed after he shot down Patiala's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and his subordinate in their own office.
In his book, Ribeiro mentions several other undercover terror operations, planned by Amritsar's SSP Izhar Alam and other senior officers of the Punjab police. The book also narrates how KPS Gill, then Inspector General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), thwarted Ribeiro's attempts to discipline the policemen who committed atrocities, by persuading the Union Home Ministry not to sanction their prosecution.
The literal meaning of Khalistan is The Sovereign Land or Land of Khalsa, which comprises of an egalitarian social system. The ideal type of governance would be the Sikh concept of halemi-raj, meaning "humanitarian and just governance". In this definition of governance, the citizens of the country with political authority are servants of the same ideology as normal citizens; their possible position as an official of the government would grant them authority to make decisions based on the public, rather than self-serving interest.
Today
Non-Sikhs are mostly against the carrying out of such a proposal for Khalistan. However, there is still significant support for Khalsitan in Punjab in some circles. In the late 1990's there was a shift by the Government of India in addressing some of the Sikh social, political and economic concerns that led to the insurrection following Operation Blue Star in the first place, but sadly new grievances have emerged during this time as well.
These grivences include the diversions of Punjab’s river water to neighbouring desert states, falling water tables, desertification due to the unsound agricultural techniques spurred by the Green Revolution, and the brown-outs experienced in parts of the state due to the majority of the Punjab state generated hydro-electricity being sent to neighbouring states. Today, the movement for Khalistan still has adherents, whether covert or overt in United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as in Punjab.
Recently, the government of Punjab cancelled all agreements diverting Punjab's water to nonriparian states. In so doing, they asserted the right for greater autonomy for Punjab in the legislation
It is interesting to note that as of 2005, Sikh weddings are still viewed as Hindu weddings under India's constitution, even though India claims to be a secular state. On a side note, Sikh marriages in North America (Canada, US) are recognized as Sikh marriages. Until the Indian govt addresses these issues, along with justice for the victims of anti-sikh genocide, their is little sign of the movement for Khalistan dying out.