Lacking vocal support in Punjab, globalized Khalistan
narrative continues to concern India
Ground Zero
Jagtar Singh
Chandigarh: One of the stories associated with
sidelines of G20 front-paged by the media is the meeting Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau whose focus was
intensified activities of the secessionists who happen to be migrants of Indian
origin.
In simple and straight terms, the issue was the
activities of those demanding setting up of Khalistan in Indian Punjab.
Neither the demand for Khalistan nor the narrative
between India and Canada is new.
Thousands of people died in Punjab including innocents
and hundreds of those killed by security forces in fake encounters in the armed
struggle that got triggered with the gunning down of Nirankari chief Gurbachan
Singh on April 24, 1980 in Delhi by then unknown ordinary Sikh Ranjit Singh
accompanied by Kabul Singh from Damdami Taksal. This was to avenge the killing
of 13 Sikh devotees in clash with the Nirankaris in Amritsar on April 13, 1978
after judiciary failed to deliver justice and acquitted all the accused in
early January 1980 and the Punjab government decided not to appeal to the
higher judiciary against this verdict. While the Punjab government closed this
file with the decision not to go in for appeal, yet another file got opened.
That file is still to be closed despite politics of
violence having phased out through police methods with last major killing being
that of Chief Minister Beant Singh on August 31, 1995.
It is pertinent to go into this background as the
Khalistan narrative is rooted in this very discourse.
The Khalistan narrative had hit the headlines for the
first time when banner headline appeared in the paper: “Khalistan men hijack
plane to Lahore”. The plane was hijacked by young activists of the 1978-born
Dal Khalsa on September 29, 1981 in protest against arrest of Sant Jarnail
Singh Bhindranwale earlier on September 20, 1981 in the case of assassination
of Jalandhar based news paper owner-editor Lala Jagat Narain. Sant Bhindranwale
subsequently emerged as the icon of the Sikh radical struggle and his memorial
is in the Darbar Sahib complex.
The demand for Khalistan was formally raised by
Panthic Committee representing radicals on April 29, 1986 but ironically, those
members of that 5-member panel never met again.
Now the Dal Khalsa confines itself to parliamentary
methods.
The supporters of the Khalistan narrative are now
mainly in Canada, USA, UK and other European countries and also Australia. It is
the Sikh Diaspora that has been active.
Issue is not as to the strength of those advocating
this demand but the narrative itself.
The activities of the Khalistanis especially in Canada
have been of concern to India.
Times of India has reported on September 11 in front
page news:
“India-Canada ties threaten to go into freefall
because of growing divergence between the two sides over the unchecked
Khalistan extremism in the North American country. This was evident on Sunday
when PM Narendra Modi told his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau that there
could not be progress in India-Canada ties without trust and mutual respect”.
The other part of the conversation relating to this
discourse is equally important:
“Canadian PM later told that his country would always
defend freedom of expression, freedom of conscience and freedom of peaceful
protest, while acting against hatred, and that he raised the issue of “foreign
interference” with Modi.”
The Sikh Diaspora yesterday participated in non-binding
referendum in mini-Punjab that is Surrey called by Sikhs for Justice (banned in
India) on Khalistan and going by the media reports, the queue was more than a
kilometer long.
The polling was held in the gurdwara where Sikh
activist Hardeep Singh Nijjer was gunned down provoking anger among the Sikh
Diaspora.
The Sikhs for Justice got more attention when India
started taking notice of its activities confined mainly to issuing video
statements by Chandigarh-educated but US-based Gurpatwant Pannu who claims to
be its legal adviser.
Here is one dimension as to why the Khalistan
narrative not only continues to survive but is now also proliferating.
A story appeared in the media on September 9 from
Mohali relating to the court proceedings. It was about the CBI court convicting
some retired policemen in the case of a fake encounter. The case goes back to
1992. The place of occurrence was Thathian village near Sathiala in Amritsar
district.
The news report stated: “Nearly 31 years after three
persons were killed in a fake encounter in Amritsar, the special court of RK
Gupta on Friday held the cops guilty and convicted three former police
officers.”
This is how the peace was restored. It was peace of
the graveyard.
The government at one time admitted to cremation of
hundreds of unidentified bodies probed by human rights activist Jaswant Singh
Khalra from only three cremation grounds in Amritsar district. Khalra himself
came on the list of missing persons.
Punjab seeks justice.
The Akali Dal government formed in 1997 backtracked
from its promise of ordering probe, rather it obstructed probe.
That narrative needs closure.
Closure is always the first step towards tempering
down the narratives rooted in such struggles.
This issue is not as to how many Sikhs were killed or
how many Hindus became the victims.
The initiative has to come from the government.
Entire record pertaining to Operation Bluestar,
code-name for army attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in June 1984
should be declassified.
Punjab, once the most advanced state, continues to battle
with issues of survival.
Punjabi Diaspora maintains strong bond with
motherland.
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