20 Facts About Khalistan movement

Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state, called Khalistan, in the Punjab region.

The territorial claims of Khalistan includes the existing Indian states of Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and some other regions of the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand etc.

The Khalistan movement was at its peak in the 1980s and 1990s, later the Indian government suppressed the movement till 1995.

Ever since the separatist movement gathered force in the 1980s, the territorial ambitions of Khalistan have at times included Chandigarh, sections of the Indian Punjab, including the whole of North India, and some parts of the western states of India.

Khalistan movement makes the case that the attachment of Punjab with Sikhism is a recent phenomenon, stemming from the 1940s.

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The issues raised during the Punjabi Suba movement were later used as a premise for the creation of a separate Sikh country by proponents of Khalistan.

Thousands of people joined the Khalistan movement, feeling that it represented a real solution to such demands as larger shares of water for irrigation and the return of Chandigarh to Punjab.

Globalized Sikh diaspora invested efforts and resources for Khalistan, but the Khalistan movement remained nearly invisible on the global political scene until the Operation Blue Star of June 1984.

One possible explanation advanced for the Government's raising of the Khalistan movement question is that it needs to take every opportunity to justify the killing in Amritsar and the invasion of the Sikhs' holiest shrine.

Khushwant Singh had written that "considerable Khalistan movement sentiment seems to have arisen since the raid on the temple, which many Sikhs, if not most, have taken as a deep offense to their religion and their sensibilities, " referring to the drastic change in community sentiments after the army attack.

Lieutenant General Brar later stated that the Government had "no other recourse" due to a "complete breakdown" of the situation: state machinery was under the militants' control; declaration of Khalistan movement was imminent; and Pakistan would have come into the picture declaring its support for Khalistan movement.

Khalistan movement was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for assembling the bombs that exploded on board Air India Flight 182 and at Narita Airport.

From 24 January 1993 to 4 August 1993, Khalistan movement was a member of the NGO Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.

In some ways, The Sikh diaspora can be seen as torch-bearers of the Khalistan movement, which is considered to be highly political and military in nature.

Notably, on the 31st anniversary of Operation Bluestar, pro-Khalistan movement signs were raised in Punjab, resulting in 25 Sikh youths being detained by police.

Pro-Khalistan movement signs were raised during a function of Punjabi Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

In retrospect, the Khalistan movement has failed to reach its objectives in India due to several reasons:.

In 1993, Khalistan movement was briefly admitted in the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, but was suspended in a few months.

The Khalistan movement was brought to a decline only after India fenced off a part of the Punjab border with Pakistan and the Benazir Bhutto government agreed to joint patrols of the border by Indian and Pakistani troops.

The publisher of the "Indo-Canadian Times, " a Canadian Sikh and once-vocal advocate of the armed struggle for Khalistan movement, he had criticised the bombing of Air India Flight 182, and was to testify about a conversation he overheard concerning the bombing.