KHALISTAN refers to a global political movement to create a separate Sikh state,[1][2][3][4][5][6] [7] called Khālistān (Punjabi: ਖ਼ਾਲਿਸਤਾਨ, Hindi: ख़ालिस्तान "The Land of the Pure"), consisting of the Punjab region from parts of India and Pakistan, depending on definition.[8] [9] Harking back to the 18th century Sikh Empire, the envisioned Sikh state would include all Punjabi-speaking areas in Greater Punjab.
The movement reached its zenith in 1970s and 1980s. Nowadays, it is widely seen as a smaller scale movement. There are claims of funding from other nations to attract young people into militant groups, who are looking to get an independent Sikh homeland through donations from foreign Sikh supporters.
In 1971, Khalistan proponent Jagjit Singh Chauhan, traveled to the United States. He placed an advertisement in The New York Times proclaiming the formation of Khalistan and was able to collect millions of dollars.
On April 12, 1980, he held a meeting with Indira Gandhi before declaring the formation of "National Council of Khalistan", at Anandpur Sahib.[12] He declared himself to be the President and Balbir Singh Sandhu as its Secretary General. In May 1980, Jagjit Singh Chauhan travelled to London and announced the formation of Khalistan. A similar announcement was made by Balbir Singh Sandhu, in Amritsar, who released stamps and currency of Khalistan. The inaction of the authorities in Amritsar and elsewhere was decried by Akali Dal headed byLongowal as a political stunt by the Congress(I) party.
In the 1980s, some Khalistan proponents turned to militancy, resulting in Indian Army's counter-militancy operations. In one such operation, Operation Blue Star, the Indian Army forcibly entered and badly damaged the Harmandir Sahib (often called the Golden Temple). The handling of the operation, damage to the Akal Takht (which is one of the five seats of temporal physical religious authority of the Sikhs) and loss of life on both sides, led to widespread criticism of the Indian Government. Many Sikhs strongly maintain that the attack resulted in the desecration of the holiest Sikh shrine. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards, and many thousands of Sikhs were massacred in the followingriots. In January 1986, the Golden Temple was occupied by militants belonging to All India Sikh Students Federation and Damdami Taksal.[14] On January 26, 1986, the gathering passed a resolution (gurmattā) favouring the creation of Khalistan. Khalistan was envisaged by its proponents as a Sikh-majority state, which opponents argued would become a theocracy.
Under the Constitution of India, secessionism is forbidden[citation needed], and various rebel groups in favour of Khalistan fought an insurgency against the government of India. Indian security forces suppressed the major secessionist insurgency in Punjab in the early 1990s, but several Indian Sikh political parties are still fighting for independent Khalistan through peaceful means inside India and international pro-Khalistan organizations such as Dal Khalsa (International) are still active outside India.
