File photo / Shutterstock.com/Kevin D Jeffrey

Khalistan, the violent theocratic Sikh separatist movement in India, was suddenly thrust into the international spotlight in September 2023 when Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down in Surrey, Canada. 

Nijjar’s killing was followed by an indictment in NY Federal Court against an Indian national and government official for their alleged role in an assassination attempt of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen, and head of Sikhs for Justice. And headlines on Khalistan once again resurfaced in recent weeks with the arrest of four Indian nationals for their alleged involvement in the killing of Nijjar. 

The Western news media, policy makers, and even high profile politicians, such as California Congressman Eric Swalwell, would have you believe that this is merely a story of transnational repression and a nonviolent independence movement for Sikhs in India. A story of peaceful Sikh activists like Pannun and Nijjar being targeted as part of an elaborate Indian intelligence operation to kill Sikhs in the diaspora for no other reason than for “who they are and what they believe.” 

The real story is much more complicated. 

Pannun, for one, is not an innocent Sikh activist putting on Khalistan referendum events, but rather someone wanted on criminal and terrorism charges in India, who has openly called for Canadian Hindus to leave Canada and go back to India, threatened an Air India flight, and promoted violence against Indian diplomats.

And Nijjar is no ordinary plumber and Sikh temple leader, as he has been benignly described, but someone who entered Canada illegally utilizing fake documents and was wanted in India on terrorism charges. Up until his death, he served as the head of the Indian terrorist group Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), an offshoot of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), a US State Department designated terror group. 

For those who may have forgotten, BKI’s claim to fame was through its co-founder, Talwinder Singh Parmar, the mass murdering mastermind behind the 1985 Air India bombing, which killed all 329 people on board, including 82 children. Notably, Canadian politicians continue to happily pose for photos at events glorifying Parmar.

Both Nijjar, a former BKI member, and Pannun reportedly enjoyed close links to BKI operatives, such as Paramjit Singh Pamma, wanted by Indian authorities for his material support of terrorism, and Jagtar Singh Tara, who was allegedly responsible for assassinating the Chief Minister of India’s Punjab state in 1995.

This tangled web of Khalistan connections and support networks has used Western soil for decades as a safe haven for the planning and funding of violent terror activities and human rights abuses ranging from bombings and assassinations to kidnappings, selective killings, and massacres of civilians in India that resulted in the deaths of over 22,000 people.

In the US, some of these activities have been investigated by federal agencies, including by the FBI, DEA, and United States Customs Service. Khalid Awan, an American of Pakistani origin, for instance, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for “providing money and financial services to the Khalistan Commando Force (“KCF”), a terrorist organization responsible for thousands of deaths in India…”

And in 2017, a Khalistan extremist and US resident, Balwinder Singh, was convicted of providing material support to Khalistani terrorist groups - BKI and Khalistan Zindabad Force - in India and sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. 

And an undercover USCS sting operation in California revealed that Khalistan activist Bhajan Singh Bhinder, attempted to purchase “M-16s, A.K.-47s, detonators, night-vision goggles, mobile communications equipment, remote-control equipment, grenade and rocket launchers,” for Khalistan groups committing terror attacks in India. 

More recently, Khalistani extremists have turned their attention to soft targets, including attacking Indian consulates, Indian community members, and Hindu temples across the diaspora. Temples in the San Francisco Bay Area and Queens, New York were recently vandalized and desecrated by Khalistan supporters, in addition to many in Australia and Canada. 

As if attacking diplomatic missions and temples was not enough, Khalistanis in Australia dragged a Hindu student from his car and severely beat him, while brutally attacking a Sikh radio host, leaving “him with over 40 stab wounds, requiring hundreds of stitches and multiple surgeries to save his life.” And in the UK, Khalistanis stabbed two people at an Indian Independence Day festival and forced a Sikh family into hiding after being harassed and receiving incessant death and rape threats.

And much like Hamas violence has been normalized, justified, and celebrated on social media, so has the violence of Khalistan extremists.

A recent report by Rutgers University Contagion Institute documents social media trends surrounding Khalistani activity, showing that “Khalistani extremist rhetoric is growing in intensity and frequently calls for attacks and celebrates vandalism against Hindu houses of worship and Indian government buildings.” 

It further noted, “Our analysis shows that [Sikhs for Justice] associated accounts are systematically amplifying and celebrating temple and embassy vandalisms internationally with graffiti, broken windows, and at times assaults. These bot-like accounts, while careful not to engage in explicit communication about incitement, appear to successfully act as a forward “deployment network” for real-world mobilizations that end in vandalism, violence and assaultive behaviors.”

Ultimately, whatever the alleged role of Indian spies in targeting Khalistani separatists may be, Americans need to wake up to the stark reality that this country is being exploited and used to support terrorism abroad and extremism here at home. Ignoring the Khalistani menace will be at our own peril. 

 

(The author is the managing director of Policy & Programs, and Co-Legal Counsel at the Hindu American Foundation. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of  New India Abroad)