What to know about the Sikh movement at the center of the tensions between India and Canada

NEW DELHI – Tensions between Canada and India have reached new heights with dueling diplomatic expulsions and an allegation of Indian executive involvement in the killing of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil.

The row facilities round the Sikh independence, or Khalistan, movement. India has time and again accused Canada of supporting the movement, which is banned in India however has reinforce amongst the Sikh diaspora.

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Parliament described what he known as credible allegations that India was once hooked up to the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June. The Indian executive denied any hand in Nijjar’s killing whilst additionally announcing Canada was once attempting to shift the focal point from Khalistan activists there.

Here are some main points about the factor:

WHAT IS THE KHALISTAN MOVEMENT?

The Sikh independence movement started as an armed insurgency in the overdue Eighties amongst Sikhs difficult a separate fatherland. It was once focused in northern Punjab state, the place Sikhs are the majority, regardless that they make up about 1.7% of India’s overall inhabitants.

The insurgency lasted greater than a decade and was once suppressed by means of an Indian executive crackdown through which hundreds of other folks had been killed, together with outstanding Sikh leaders.

Hundreds of Sikh youths additionally had been killed in police operations, many of which have been later confirmed in courts to had been staged, in accordance to rights teams.

In 1984, Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s holiest shrine, in Amritsar to flush out separatists who had taken safe haven there. The operation killed round 400 other folks, in accordance to reliable figures, however Sikh teams say hundreds had been killed.

The useless incorporated Sikh militant chief Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, whom the Indian executive accused of main the armed insurgency.

On Oct. 31, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who ordered the raid on the temple, was once assassinated by means of two of her bodyguards, who had been Sikh.

Her dying prompted a chain of anti-Sikh riots, through which Hindu mobs went from area to area throughout northern India, specifically New Delhi, pulling Sikhs from their houses, hacking many to dying and burning others alive.

IS THE MOVEMENT STILL ACTIVE?

There isn’t any energetic insurgency in Punjab as of late, however the Khalistan movement nonetheless has some supporters in the state, in addition to in the sizable Sikh diaspora past India. The Indian executive has warned time and again over the years that Sikh separatists had been attempting to make a comeback.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s executive has additionally intensified the pursuit of Sikh separatists and arrested dozens of leaders from quite a lot of outfits which are connected to the movement.

When farmers camped out on the edges of New Delhi to protest debatable agriculture rules in 2020, Modi’s executive to begin with attempted to discredit Sikh contributors by means of calling them “Khalistanis.” Under power, Modi executive later withdrew the rules.

Earlier this yr, Indian police arrested a separatist chief who had revived requires Khalistan and stirred fears of violence in Punjab. Amritpal Singh, a 30-year-old preacher, had captured nationwide consideration thru his fiery speeches. He mentioned he drew inspiration from Bhindranwale.

HOW STRONG IS THE MOVEMENT OUTSIDE INDIA?

India has been asking international locations like Canada, Australia and the U.Ok. to take felony motion in opposition to Sikh activists, and Modi has for my part raised the factor with the international locations’ top ministers. India has specifically raised those issues with Canada, the place Sikhs make up just about 2% of the nation’s inhabitants.

Earlier this yr, Sikh protesters pulled down the Indian flag at the nation’s prime fee in London and smashed the development’s window in a display of anger in opposition to the transfer to arrest Amritpal Singh. Protesters additionally smashed home windows at the Indian consulate In San Francisco and skirmished with embassy employees.

India’s overseas ministry denounced the incidents and summoned the U.Ok.’s deputy prime commissioner in New Delhi to protest what it known as the breach of safety at the embassy in London.

The Indian executive additionally accused Khalistan supporters in Canada of vandalizing Hindu temples with “anti-India” graffiti and of attacking the workplaces of the Indian High Commission in Ottawa all through a protest in March.

Last yr, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, a Sikh militant chief and head of the Khalistan Commando Force, was once shot useless in Pakistan.