KHALISTAN

 

Khalistan is the name of the land some Sikhs want as an independent homeland within India. You may not have an opinion on Khalistan or you may fully support it, not everyone knows what it is or why it is wanted by some Sikhs, but as a Sikh you should have some idea what it is.

The issue has caused problems for Sikhs in recent years and some have been portrayed as terrorists stopping at nothing as they try to get the land they want.

The underlying problems that brought about the cry for a Sikh state can be traced back to the partition of India in 1947 when many Sikhs settled in the North Eastern area (Punjab) which was then named Pepsu. There were several areas within Pepsu but Sikhs were the majority in the whole area and this led to a party of nationalistic Sikhs to call for a separate Sikh state.

In 1956 Prime Minister Nehru began to see the Sikhs as a threat to India because they wanted an independent state so he created a new state called Punjab where Hindus dominated the religious population, many Sikhs were angered by this as they were now a minority in the state.

The decision by Nehru was reversed by the government in 1966 due to the Sikh contribution in the war with Pakistan a year earlier. A new state called Haryana was created which contained 90% Hindus, 60% of Sikhs made up Punjab, this appeased the Sikhs somewhat, however they were split politically with those living rurally wanting independence and those living in urban areas supporting the governments policy of keeping them in India

In 1980 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi tried to weaken the Sikhs by exploiting the differences amongst them so that she could then control the law-making in Punjab and make sure the Sikhs could not get what they wanted. She began to support a radical Sikh teacher called Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who called for a seperate Sikh state called Khalistan.

He gained a following amongst young Sikh males and soon they began attacking Hindus living in Punjab, Gandhi saw she could no longer control Bhindranwale and tried to capture him.

1984 saw one of the darkest days for the Sikhs as Gandhi ordered her army to enter the Harimandir Sahib in Amritsar and capture Bhindranwale who was taking refuge there. About 5000 were killed on the holy grounds, even though Gandhi wanted only one person.

Three years later radical Sikhs organized a secret government and began a revolution to establish Khalistan but the Prime Minister, Ranjiv Gandhi, imposed special rules to make sure there was no revolt, extra police and army infantry were drafted in and they were told to do whatever was necessary to stop the Sikh rebels, in effect it was persecution of the Sikhs who were killed but mysteriously records were never made.

Between 1984-95 more than 20,000 Sikhs were killed as the government claimed victory over the revolutionaries. Some kind of order returned to Punjab and the state was allowed to rule itself again, but some Sikhs still remain dissatisfied as angry with the amount of bloodshed and of course the storming of the temple in Amritsar.

Today Sikhs want Khalistan so that they can be recognized as Sikhs and not Hindus they also want to see an independent state so that Sikh practices are not forgotten as more and more young Sikhs are choosing to leave Punjab for better career opportunities meaning the majority status of Sikhs in Punjab is declining. They see the Punjab area of India as being their own as it has been for centuries since the time of the ten Gurus and they are determined to make sure the identity of the Sikhs is not lost.

 

 
The Khalistan flag

 

In India's stuggle for independence from Britain out of 2,175 Indian martyrs for freedom, 1,557 or 75 per cent were Sikhs (Rajinder Puri, Recovery of India, Page 99). The Sikhs have served India well and some feel it is time that that service was recognized by the government.

 

If you had no view on Khalistan before you read this you may have one now or maybe your opinion has changed?

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