Why India fears the Khalistan movement and how Canada became embroiled in diplomatic spat over killing of Sikh separatist

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in happier times. Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

THE CONVERSATION
Published: September 20, 2023

India and Canada have engaged in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions as part of an escalating row over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil.

The expulsions follow claims by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that there are “credible allegations” linking the Indian government of Narendra Modi with the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar, a prominent member of the Khalistan movement seeking to create an independent Sikh homeland in the Indian state of Punjab, was shot dead on June 18, 2023, outside a Sikh cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia.

With tensions between the two countries rising, The Conversation reached out to Mark Juergensmeyer – an expert on religious violence and Sikh nationalism – at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to bring context to a diplomatic spat few saw coming.
1. What is the Khalistan movement?

“Khalistan” means “the land of the pure,” though in this context the term “khalsa” refers broadly to the religious community of Sikhs, and the term “Khalistan” implies that they should have their own nation. The likely location for this nation would be in Punjab state in northern India where 18 million Sikhs live. A further 8 million Sikhs live elsewhere in India and abroad, mainly in the U.K., the U.S. and Canada.

The idea for an independent land for Sikhs goes back to pre-partition India, when the concept of a separate land for Muslims in India was being considered.

Some Sikhs at that time thought that if Muslims could have “Pakistan” – the state that emerged through partition in 1947 – then there should also be a “Sikhistan,” or “Khalistan.” That idea was rejected by the Indian government, and instead the Sikhs became a part of the state of Punjab. At that time the boundaries of the Punjab were drawn in such a way that the Sikhs were not in the majority.

But Sikhs persisted, in part because one of the central tenets of the faith is “miri-piri” – the idea that religious and political leadership are merged. In their 500-year history, Sikhs have had their own kingdom, have fought against Moghul rule and constituted the backbone of the army under India’s colonial and independent rule.

In the 1960s, the idea of a separate homeland for Sikhs reemerged and formed part of the demand for redrawing the boundaries of Punjab state so that Sikhs would be in the majority. The protests were successful, and the Indian government created Punjabi Suba, a state whose boundaries included speakers of the Punjabi language used by most Sikhs. They now compose 58% of the population of the revised Punjab.

The notion of a “Khalistan” separate from India resurfaced in a dramatic way in the large-scale militant uprising that erupted in the Punjab in the 1980s. Many of those Sikhs who joined the militant movement did so because they wanted an independent Sikh nation, not just a Sikh-majority Indian state.

2. Why is the Indian government especially concerned about it now?

The Sikh uprising in the 1980s was a violent encounter between the Indian armed police and militant young Sikhs, many of whom still harbored a yearning for a separate state in Punjab

.

Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, seated center, with his followers in Amritsar, on April 17, 1984

. AP Photo/Sondeep Shanker

Thousands of lives were lost on both sides in violent encounters between the Sikh militants and security forces. The conflict came to a head in 1984 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched Operation Blue Star to liberate the Sikh’s Golden Temple from militants in the pilgrimage center of Amritsar and capture or kill the figurehead of the Khalistan movement, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. He was killed in the attack, and Sikhs around the world were incensed that their sacred place was violated by police action. Indira Gandhi was assassinated in retaliation by Sikh members of her own bodyguard.

In recent years, several firebrand Sikh activists in India have reasserted the idea of Khalistan, and the Indian government fears a return of the violence and militancy of the 1980s. The government of Narendra Modi wants to nip the movement in the bud before it gets too large and extreme.

3. What is the connection between the Khalistan movement and Canada?

After the Sikh uprising was crushed in the early 1990s, many Sikh activists fled India and went to Canada, where they were welcomed by a large Sikh community – many of whom had been sympathetic to the Khalistan idea. A sizable expatriate community of Sikhs has been growing in the country since the early 20th century, especially in British Columbia and Ontario.

Sikhs have been attracted to Canada not only because of its economic opportunities but also because of the freedom to develop their own ideas of Sikh community. Though support for Khalistan is illegal in India, in Canada Sikh activists are able to speak freely and organize for the cause.

Though Khalistan would be in India, the Canadian movement in favor of it helps to cement the diaspora Sikh identity and give the Canadian activists a sense of connection to the Indian homeland.

4. Has the Canadian government been sympathetic to the Khalistan movement?

The diaspora community of Sikhs constitutes 2.1% of Canada’s population – a higher percentage of the total population than in India. They make up a significant voting block in the country and carry political clout. In fact, there are more Sikhs in Canada’s cabinet than in India’s.

Although Trudeau has assured the Indian government that any acts of violence will be punished, he also has reassured Canadians that he respects free speech and the rights of Sikhs to speak and organize freely as long as they do not violate Canadian laws.

5. What is the broader context of Canada-India relations?

The Bharata Janata Party, or BJP, of India’s Prime Minister Modi tends to support Hindu nationalism.

Recently, the Modi government used “Bharat” rather than “India” when referring to the country while hosting the G20 conference, attended by President Joe Biden, among other world dignitaries. “Bharat” is the preference of Hindu nationalists. This privileging, along with an increase in hate crimes, has led to an environment of fear and distrust among minorities, including Sikhs and Muslims, in India.

Considering the high percentage of Sikhs in Canada’s population, Trudeau understandably wants to assert the rights of Sikhs and show disapproval of the drift toward Hindu nationalism in India.

And this isn’t the only time that Trudeau and Modi have clashed over the issue. In 2018, Trudeau was condemned in India for his friendship with Jaspal Singh Atwal, a Khalistani supporter in Canada who was convicted of attempting to assassinate the chief minister of Punjab.

Yet both countries have reasons to try to move on from the current diplomatic contretemps. India and Canada have close trading ties and common strategic concerns with relationship to China. It is likely that, in time, both sides will find ways to cool down the tensions from this difficult incident.

Author

Mark Juergensmeyer
Professor of Sociology and Global Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/09/canada-expels-indian-diplomat-as-it.html

MODI SECRET POLICE ACTIVE IN CANADA

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MODI'S SECRET POLICE

US prosecutors say plots to assassinate Sikh leaders were part of a campaign of planned killings

The attack plans were foiled, prosecutors said, because the hitman was actually an undercover U.S. agent.
Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is pictured in his office on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/ Ted Shaffrey)

December 1, 2023
By  Larry Neumeister

NEW YORK (AP) — A foiled plot to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader in New York, just days after another activist’s killing, was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada, according to U.S. prosecutors.

In electronic communications and audio and video calls secretly recorded or obtained by U.S. law enforcement, organizers of the plot talked last spring about plans to kill someone in California and at least three other people in Canada, in addition to the victim in New York, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

The goal was to kill at least four people in the two countries by June 29, and then more after that, prosecutors contend.

After Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist who had been exiled from India, was shot and killed outside a cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, one of the men charged with orchestrating the planned assassinations told a person he had hired as a hitman that he should act urgently to kill another activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

“We have so many targets,” Nikhil Gupta said in a recorded audio call, according to the indictment. “We have so many targets. But the good news is this, the good news is this: Now no need to wait.”

He urged the hitman to act quickly because Pannun, a U.S. citizen living in New York, would likely be more cautious after Nijjar’s slaying.

“We got the go-ahead to go anytime, even today, tomorrow — as early as possible,” he told a go-between as he instructed the hitman to kill Pannun even if there were other people with him. “Put everyone down,” he said, according to the indictment.

The attack plans were foiled, prosecutors said, because the hitman was actually an undercover U.S. agent.

The U.S. attorney in Manhattan announced charges Wednesday against Gupta, and said in court papers that the plot to kill Pannun was directed by an official in the Indian government. That government official was not charged in the indictment or identified by name, but the court filing described him as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in security management and intelligence.

Indian officials have denied any complicity in Nijjar’s slaying. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Wednesday that the Indian government had set up a high-level inquiry after U.S. authorities raised concerns about the plot to kill Pannun.

Court filings revealed that even before Nijjar’s killing in Canada, U.S. law enforcement officials had become aware of a plot against activists who were advocating for the secession from India of the northern Punjab state, where Sikhs are a majority.

U.S. officials said they began investigating when Gupta, in his search for a hitman, contacted a narcotics trafficker who turned out to be a Drug Enforcement Administration informant.

Over the ensuing weeks, the pair communicated by phone, video and text messages, eventually looping in their hired assassin — the undercover agent.

The Indian government official told Gupta that he had a target in New York and a target in California, the indictment said. They ultimately settled on a $100,000 price and by June 3, Gupta was urging his criminal contact in America to “finish him brother, finish him, don’t take too much time …. push these guys, push these guys … finish the job.”

During a June 9 call, Gupta told the narcotics trafficker that the murder of Pannun would change the hitman’s life because “we will give more bigger job more, more job every month, every month 2-3 job,” according to the indictment.

It was unclear from the indictment whether U.S. authorities had learned anything about the specific plan to kill Nijjar before his ambush on June 18.

The indictment portrayed Gupta as boasting that he and his associates in India were behind both the Canadian and New York assassination plots. He allegedly told the Drug Enforcement Administration informant on June 12 that there was a “big target” in Canada and on June 16 told him: “We are doing their job, brother. We are doing their New York (and) Canada (job),” referring to individuals directing the plots from India.

After Nijjar was killed, Gupta told the informant that Nijjar was the target he had mentioned as the potential Canadian “job” and added: “We didn’t give to (the undercover agent) this job, so some other guy did this job … in Canada.”

On June 30, Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic at the request of the United States after arriving there on a trip from India. Federal authorities have not said when he might be brought to the United States to face murder-for-hire and conspiracy charges. It was unclear who would provide legal representation if he arrives in the U.S.

Pannun told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that he will continue his work.

“They will kill me. But I don’t fear the death,” he said.

He mocked India’s claim that it is conducting its own investigation into the assassination plots.

“The only thing, I think, (the) Indian government is going to investigate (is) why their hitman could not kill one person. That’s what they will be investigating,” he said.

Pannun said he rejects the Indian government’s decision to label him a terrorist.

“We are the one who are fighting India’s violence with the words. We are the one who are fighting India’s bullets with the ballot,” he said. “They are giving money, hundreds of thousands, to kill me. Let the world decide who is terrorist and who is not a terrorist.”

Some international affairs experts told the AP that it was unlikely the incidents would seriously damage the relationship between the U.S. and India.

”In most cases, if Washington accuses a foreign government of staging an assassination on its soil, U.S. relations with that government would plunge into deep crisis,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Centre’s South Asia institute. “But the relationship with India is a special case. Trust and goodwill are baked into the relationship, thanks to rapidly expanding cooperation and increasingly convergent interests.”

Derek Grossman, Indo-Pacific analyst at the Rand Corp., said the Biden administration has demonstrated that it is prioritizing the need to leverage India as part of its strategy to counter Chinese power.

“I think publicizing the details of the thwarted plot will have very little, if any, impact on the deepening U.S.-India strategic partnership,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Krutika Pathi in New Delhi and Ted Shaffrey in New York contributed to this report.

Alleged Plot to Kill Sikh Separatist Highlights Thorn in India’s Side

The charges are rooted in a decades-old dispute over the demand by some Sikhs for a sovereign state known as Khalistan carved out of northern India.

Members of the Sikh community protesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India in Washington in 2020.

Credit...Drew Angerer/Getty Images


By Sameer Yasir
Reporting from New Delhi
Dec. 1, 2023

The federal indictment this week of an Indian national in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme targeting a Sikh separatist in New York threatens to damage ties between the United States and India just as the Biden administration has been courting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

The charges are rooted in a decades-old dispute: the demand by some Sikhs for a sovereign state known as Khalistan carved out of northern India, which the Modi government opposes.

In addition to directing the unsuccessful plot in New York, the federal indictment said, an Indian government official organized the killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada who was fatally shot in June by masked gunmen outside a temple in Vancouver.

The idea of Khalistan is rooted in Sikhism, a religion with 26 million followers around the world, of which about 23 million live in the state of Punjab in northern India. Sikhs make up less than 2 percent of India’s population of 1.4 billion.

India has outlawed the Khalistani independence movement, and it has only limited support inside Punjab. But it remains a rallying cry among the roughly 3 million members of the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada, Australia and Britain.

The Khalistan movement

Sikhism was founded in the 15th century in Punjab, and in 1699 an influential leader of the faith at the time, Guru Gobind Singh, espoused the idea of Sikh rule. He also gave it a political vision, casting Sikh self-rule as a remedy for decades of misrule under Muslims and corruption among Sikh leaders.

The Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of Sikhism, in Amritsar, India, where in 1984 hundreds were killed in a raid ordered by India’s prime minister, Indira Gandhi, to arrest insurgents hiding there.Credit...Atul Loke for The New York Times

After the Indian subcontinent was partitioned along religious lines in 1947, some Sikh leaders tried to establish a Punjabi-speaking Sikh state, leading to friction between Sikh groups and the Indian government, which was then led by Jawaharlal Nehru.

That effort never came to pass, but the dream of Khalistan survived. In the 1970s and 1980s, it gained traction among Sikhs in Punjab and the worldwide Sikh diaspora. The movement eventually inspired an armed insurgency that lasted for more than a decade. India responded with force, using torture, illegal detentions and extrajudicial killings to suppress the movement.

In June 1984, India’s prime minister at the time, Indira Gandhi, ordered troops to storm the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of Sikhism, in Amritsar, to arrest insurgents hiding there. Hundreds were killed in that raid.

Among those who died during the raid was Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a leader of the armed rebellion, who many historians say was initially supported by Mrs. Gandhi’s government, which used him as a vehicle to split the Sikh movement.

In October 1984, Ms. Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh bodyguards, a killing that prompted a wave of violence that left thousands dead, and included looting and arson against Sikh homes and businesses.

In 1985, separatists linked to the Sikh diaspora bombed an Air India flight, en route to London from Toronto, killing more than 300 people.

Across northern India, from the mountains of Kashmir to the plains of Punjab, people still paste stickers of Mr. Bhindranwale on cars, motorcycles and the front gates of homes as a symbol of Sikh resistance.

But by the early 1990s the insurgency had largely been crushed in Punjab, with hundreds of rebels arrested, killed or driven underground. Hope for a more inclusive future for Sikhs took hold and, between 2004 and 2014, India had its first, and only, Sikh prime minister, Manmohan Singh.

How did Khalistan become an issue among the Sikh diaspora?

During and after the Sikh insurgency, the growing diaspora started demanding accountability for human rights violations committed by Indian forces in Punjab.

A large number of those Sikhs who left India during the separatist violence, or in the years immediately after it, carried wounds that fueled their advocacy for a Khalistani state. But political observers said those activists, while often turning out for protests against India, have largely remained unorganized.

Protesting outside India’s consulate in Toronto in September.

Credit...Carlos Osorio/Reuters

While blessed with some of the country’s richest agricultural land, Punjab has long struggled with unemployment and drug abuse. Young men often force older relatives to sell land to underwrite their emigration. And once they move overseas, their social interactions are often limited to socializing with other Sikhs during visits to temples.

Sikhs waving Khalistani flags have become a familiar sight outside Indian consulates. At one point a dentist in London, Jagjit Singh Chauhan, even declared himself president of a “Republic of Khalistan.”

Alarmed by the protests, India has responded by demanding that countries, including Canada, take action against Sikh activists, whom New Delhi considers a “threat” to its sovereignty.

Is the Punjab independence movement a threat to India?

Political leaders in Punjab say the Sikh independence movement there has been practically nonexistent for decades. But the Indian government has recently been sounding the alarm and arrested a separatist leader early this year, fearful that a resurgence in India could provoke violence there.

Praying at a gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship, in Punjab, a majority-Sikh state in India

.Credit...Atul Loke for The New York Times

There have been sporadic incidents of violence inside Punjab, including bombings and killings of religious leaders, but the police there have linked the violence to gang rivalry that sometimes transcends borders.

In recent years, New Delhi has also accused Sikh separatists in Canada of vandalizing Hindu temples and, in one instance, attacking the offices of the Indian High Commission during a protest in March.

India’s relations with Canada were already strained before the June killing of the Canadian Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who supported independence for Khalistan. New Delhi has accused Canada of harboring separatist militants linked to the Khalistan movement.

India’s government has repeatedly asserted that any failure by foreign governments to tackle Sikh separatism would be an obstacle to good relations with that country.

Sameer Yasir is a reporter based in New Delhi. He joined The Times in 2020. More about Sameer Yasir

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In India-Canada row, a tug toward faith

Christian Science Monitor's Editorial Board
Wed, September 27, 2023

A bit of shocking news last week forced much of the world to study up on a long-simmering rift in India. Canada accused the Indian government of killing a Canadian citizen near Vancouver who was a prominent activist for an independent Sikh state in his native homeland. While much of the focus has been on Sikh separatists and the diplomatic fallout for India, another spotlight turned on Punjab, the Indian state where Sikhs are in the majority.

There the separatist sentiments that fueled a decade of violence between Sikhs and the state half a century ago have significantly diminished. Instead, many of today’s Sikhs are bridging divides, joining hands with Hindus to restore historic Muslim mosques in Punjabi villages. Some of the funding comes from Sikhs living abroad. Sikh and Hindu families have donated land where new mosques now stand.

These projects – more than 165 so far, according to one Islamic association’s count – demonstrate that religions can lay a foundation for unity by practicing their shared tenets, such as meekness and sincerity. “This kind of brotherhood should prevail across India,” Mohammad Mursalin, a resident of the Punjabi village of Kutba Bamaniya, told Religion Unplugged. “Love must be nurtured, and animosity must dissolve. ... All religions emphasize love; none advocate hate.”

The mosque-building marks a healing counterpoint to the lingering tense relations between Sikhs and India’s nationalist Hindu government. Many Sikhs living abroad still worry they are being surveilled by Indian intelligence services, yet even “hard-core faith groups” in the Sikh diaspora have become apolitical, says Gurharpal Singh, an emeritus professor at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. The reason for that shift is significant. “They’ve become much more spiritually oriented,” he told The New Yorker last week.

That coincides with a prevailing sense of spiritual accommodation at home. A comprehensive Pew Research poll on religious tolerance in India in 2021 found that 95% of Sikhs feel very proud to be Indian. Some 70% of Sikhs said a person who disrespects India cannot be a Sikh, while 82% of Sikhs said they feel very free to practice their religion.

As new mosques rise, the community affections they represent may be aiding calls for a formal process of reconciliation to address the violence against Sikhs during the 1980s, especially now amid rising Hindu nationalism under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Erasing communal divisions, wrote Dharamvira Gandhi, a Hindu former member of Parliament from Punjab, in a newspaper opinion piece, requires repentance, forgiveness, “large-heartedness and broad-mindedness.” Those qualities are consistent with Sikhism’s core tenets of equality, humility, and love-inspired service to others.

It isn’t just mosques. The unity felt in many Punjabi communities has led to shared religious festivals and joint restoration projects of historically significant Hindu and Sikh temples. Such actions are solvents for the fears and suspicions that now have set two democracies at odds with each other.

csmonitor.com


‘Whether it costs our lives or not’: killing of Canadian Sikh leader reignites historic fight

Leyland Cecco in Toronto and Sarah Berman in Vancouver

THE GUARDIAN
Wed, September 27, 2023 at 4:30 AM MDT·6 min read
118



Photograph: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters


Yellow and blue smoke filled the air as protesters in Vancouver tried setting fire to a damp Indian flag. As the flame eventually took hold, people in the crowd waved Sikh separatist flags and chanted calls for the expulsion of India’s top diplomat in Canada.

Tuesday’s protest outside a heavily guarded Indian consulate came a week after Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, told parliament his government had seen “credible allegations” that India was responsible for the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Canadian Sikh leader.

Related: ‘Very messy’: India-Canada row over Sikh killing causes diplomatic shock waves

Amid the pounding of drums and shouts from protesters, the activist Harkeerat Kaur told the crowd that Nijjar’s final words to temple worshippers had been a plea to participate in an upcoming vote calling for an independent Sikh homeland, Khalistan: “[He] stated … we should vow to participate in the peaceful Khalistan referendum. We believe in the ballot.”

Since his death in June, Nijjar has been praised by his community as a martyr – and labelled a terrorist by India. The feuding over his legacy, and mounting concern over what Canada’s government claims was an extrajudicial murder on its soil, has refocused attention on Canada’s Sikh diaspora, their longstanding grievances with India – and the Sikh separatist cause.

Canada is home to the largest Sikh community outside India. Despite a long and layered history in the country, many Canadian Sikhs identify with a sense of historical mistreatment at the hands of both British colonial and post-independence governments in India, said Satwinder Bains, the director of South Asian studies at the University of the Fraser Valley. “They’ve felt those frustrations have never been resolved through the justice system, nor through a parliamentary system. They feel like they’ve tried everything,” she said.

Over generations, some have cultivated hope that Sikhs might one day claim a portion of the Punjab region as their own.

That dream has a long – and violent – history. Beginning around partition in the 1940s, the movement transformed into an armed insurgency in the 1980s, under the leadership of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

The Indian flag is torn during a protest outside India’s consulate in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on 25 September 2023. Photograph: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters

In 1984, the Sikh leader, who stood accused of orchestrating a series of attacks on Hindus in Punjab, sought refuge in Amritsar’s Golden Temple alongside other militants.

The Indian army ordered Operation Blue Star, an attack that led to the killing of 400 Sikhs in the temple, many of whom were pilgrims. In retaliation, the bodyguards for Indira Gandhi, the prime minister, shot her dead, triggering anti-Sikh pogroms that killed more than 3,000 people, with little consequence for the attackers.

“It was a horrific time. And in those moments, the idea of Khalistan, of a safe haven for Sikhs, really meant something,” said Neilesh Bose, an associate professor of history at the University of Victoria.

In 1985, Khalistani militants in Canada targeted two Air India flights, widely seen as revenge for Operation Blue Star. A bomb on Air India flight 182 exploded off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people onboard, including 268 Canadian citizens, 27 British citizens and 24 Indian citizens in the worst act of aviation terrorism before the September 11 attacks. The second bomb exploded in the Tokyo airport, killing two baggage handlers. The attacks led to discrimination against Sikh men, identifiable by their turbans, even though many had little interest in the Khalistan cause.

“Punjabi Sikhs in Canada were often seen as enemies of the state, targeted by police and seen as responsible for this attack,” said Bose, adding that both the bombings and public backlash changed how the Sikh diaspora saw itself in the broader Canadian public. “These events – 1984, the Air India bombing – they’re inescapable for so many in the Sikh community. Everybody lives in this context of these moments, and these inescapable legacies.”

The Khalistan movement is banned in India, but in Canada generations of Sikh activists have freely advocated for an independent homeland. While political leaders have emphasised the right to free speech and expression in Canada, they have also long courted the Sikh community as a powerful voting bloc.

That has prompted frustration in India, which has accused Canada of turning a blind eye to extremist Khalistani activity and refusing to act on information about potential threats. Before the Air India bombing, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) failed to act on intel from India about plots against airliners, and successive Canadian governments have refused extradition requests of Sikh activists from India.

Indian authorities allege Nijjar was among the Khalistani activists involved in terrorist activity on Canadian soil. They have accused him of organising an arms training camp for Sikh extremists in British Columbia in 2016, being involved in a plot to assassinate a Hindu priest and police officers in Punjab and heading a banned militant organisation, the Khalistani Tiger Force. The allegations, which he denied, were not investigated by the Canadian authorities and remain unproven.

It remains unclear how popular the Khalistan cause is within Canada’s Sikh population. For some, the movement is forever tainted by violence and the painful legacy of the Air India bombing. For others, it represents a powerful way to counter India’s Hindu nationalist government and the growing persecution of religious minorities.

Already this year, thousands in Ontario and British Columbia have cast ballots in a Khalistan referendum, a global diaspora effort as Sikh activists attempt to unify the disparate groups and co-ordinate pressure on the Indian government.

Demonstrators rally in support of Khalistan outside the Indian consulate in Toronto on 25 September 2023. Photograph: Cole Burston/AFP/Getty Images

The ballots come as a younger generation has grown more emboldened and provocative. In June, a Sikh group in the city of Brampton prompted outrage with a parade float depicting the assassination of Indira Gandhi, which included a blood-splattered effigy of the murdered leader.

On posters for the referendum championed by leadership at the Guru Nanak gurdwara where Nijjar was shot dead, his image appears alongside a photo of the architect of the Air India bombing.

Such incidents have infuriated India. But the brazen murder of Nijjar – which reportedly involved at least six men who fired around 50 bullets – is only likely to sow further mistrust and resentment among a new generation of Sikhs.

Related: ‘His spirit is still among us’: Sikhs defiant in Canada city where activist was murdered

“These are Canadian-born children. They may never have set foot in Punjab,” said Bains. “But through their parents’ or grandparents’ eyes, they have seen the pain, the anger and hurt. And those feelings have been exacerbated over the years because there has been no justice and no closure.”

Indervir Singh, 36, who attended Monday’s rally, said that Nijjar’s death in June and Trudeau’s subsequent allegations are only a reminder of the escalating human rights abuses in India.

“I’m born here. Ever since I was a kid you heard about the atrocity in 1984 when the government killed thousands of innocent people,” Singh said. “We’ve always been rallying against that, fighting against that, and trying to get justice for that.”

Singh said he joined protests in support of Sikh farmers in 2021, but had largely been ambivalent about the pro-separatist movement. “Personally I didn’t really think about it, nor was I supporting it,” he said. “But now that this happened, I think from a sovereignty perspective we’re demanding that.”

While he doubts independence could ever be achieved in India, he said: “As Sikhs we’re known to fight against injustice – whether it costs our lives or not.”
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Is the idea of Khalistan, a Sikh homeland, still alive?

Murali Krishnan in New Delhi

DW

Tensions are flaring up between India and Canada over Khalistan separatists, with the row also sending out shockwaves throughout the Sikh diaspora. But the independence movement seems to have lost steam back home.

The late Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist, became a Canadian citizen after moving there in the 1990s

Image: Ethan Cairns/ZUMA Press/IMAGO

India and Canada have engaged in tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions as part of an intensifying row over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist, on Canadian soil.

The 45-year-old came to Canada as a refugee decades ago and had since became a Canadian citizen. He was an ardent advocate of establishing a sovereign state of Khalistan, a Sikh homeland in India's Punjab region.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claims that Indian agents were involved in the murder of Nijjar. India dismissed the allegations as "absurd." However, Indian officials view Nijjar as a terrorist, a member of the banned Khalistan Commando Force, whom India links to targeted killings of various political and religious figures.
No threat to India's unity

While the accusations from Prime Minister Trudeau are likely to further strain relations between the two nations, the row has also brought renewed focus the issue of Khalistan. Some in India fear a revival of militant Sikh separatism that once threatened to tear the country apart.

Pockets of Punjab are also afflicted by social problems such as a drug epidemic and unemployment. But a senior Indian intelligence official told DW there is not much to worry about.

"There is currently no unrest in Punjab, one of the country's most successful states. Khalistan is not a threat to India's unity, but it could affect its foreign policy because of the sharp rhetoric of the community living abroad," he told DW.

"All mainstream political parties, including in Punjab, have denounced violence and separatism," the official added.

Millions of Sikhs abroad

The Sikh separatist movement has long been a source of tension in Canada-India ties. Canada is home to the world's largest Sikh diaspora, comprising of about 800,000 people, which is roughly 2% of its population. Some 3 million Sikhs are estimated to live outside India, mainly in the UK, the US, Australia, and Canada.

The movement to create an independent Sikh nation, known as Khalistan, led to the killing of tens of thousands of people in the 1980s and 1990s. The violence was inspired by radical preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

An especially traumatic event for the Sikh community was the storming of the Golden Temple — the holiest shrine for Sikhs — in 1984. Indian security forces allegedly hoped to capture Bhindranwale in a surgical strike, but the operation went awry after they encountered resistance. Officials say hundreds of lives were lost, but Sikh activists claim the death toll was much greater.

Additionally, Sikhs around the world were incensed that their sacred place was violated by police action and former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated in retaliation by Sikh members of her own bodyguard.

Since then, India has outlawed the Khalistan movement and groups associated with it are listed as terrorist organizations under the terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Radicalization easier outside India

Sikh organizations say there is no consensus on the support for Khalistan even if it might have traction amongst the diaspora.

"Sikhs in Punjab and those settled in other parts of the country do not support a separate Khalistan," Partap Singh, secretary general of the Sikh Forum in Delhi, told DW. At the same time, Sikhs feel hurt and have "serious grievances," for the way they've been treated after the India-Pakistan partition, he added.

"There is a need for long awaited healing by political dialogue with full understanding and compassion instead of the use of unethical techniques and forces in spreading hatred against Sikhs," added Singh.

Pramod Kumar, director of the Chandigarh based Institute for Development and Communication, who has studied the issue closely, points out that radicalization of Sikhs was pre-dominant among the community abroad.

"Sikh terrorism is not about to erupt again in Punjab and does not have the legs. The diaspora abroad tries to give it moral muscle," Kumar told DW.

Khalistan 'without bombs and bullets'

He cited the detainment of Amritpal Singh, a radical separatist whom Punjab who was the target of a weeklong manhunt before reportedly surrendering in April this year. His activities raised fears of a resurgence of militant Sikh separatism.

"He anointed himself leader of Waris Punjab De but when he was arrested, it did not prompt significant protests suggesting there was little support. That should have settled the matter," said Kumar.

Still, many Sikh organizations in Punjab remain wary of the future. The latest incident in Canada has forced the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages Sikh places of worship, to express "serious concern" over the allegations levelled by Trudeau against India over the killing of Nijjar.

The organization also strongly condemned what they see as hate propaganda against Sikhs and Punjab by a large section of the media.

But Nijjar's death has apparently struck a different chord with the pro-Khalistani organization Dal Khalsa. After news of Nijjar's death was first reported in July, the Dal Khalsa held a protest march, and many of its activists were arrested.

Its spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh told DW about the movement's vision of the future.

"We believe in a Khalistan which is without bombs and bullets. It will be democratic and without bloodshed and violence. This is something which you cannot rob us of," he told DW.

Why Sikh Americans again feel targeted after the Indianapolis shooting

Opinion by Simran Jeet Singh
 Sat April 17, 2021

Sikh Coalition representative: Heartbroken and in pain after shooting
03:01/03:01Source: CNN

(CNN)On Thursday night, a gunman killed eight people and injured several others before killing himself at a FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis. Four of the eight dead identified as Sikh and the facility was known to employ a significant number of members of the Sikh community.

The shooting came just days after Sikhs, who comprise the world's fifth-largest religious community, celebrated Vaisakhi, the most significant holiday of our calendar, and also as the state of Indiana was honoring its Sikh residents with an awareness and appreciation month -- one of several states to do so.
The FBI has not determined the killer's motives -- and may never do so given that he turned the gun on himself and is now deceased.

Sikh Americans once again feel targeted. As we come upon 20 years since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the racist backlash that ensued, we cannot ignore the long history of hate violence against Sikhs in this country. FBI hate crime data shows Sikhs to be one of the most commonly targeted religious groups -- behind Jews and Muslims -- in modern America.

We also know that much of the violence that Sikhs face has to do with the cultural and religious illiteracy of others. Despite being one of the world's largest religions, most Americans do not know who Sikhs are. A 2013 study led by the Stanford Innovation Lab and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund found that 70% of Americans misidentified Sikhs when shown a Sikh man in a picture, with many believing they were Muslim.

The distinctive Sikh appearance -- which often includes brown skin, facial hair and turbans wrapped upon our heads -- has made Sikhs regular targets of racist violence. Balbir Singh Sodhi, a turbaned Sikh immigrant from Punjab, India, was the first casualty of a hate crime after 9/11. His murderer, Frank Roque, on a shooting rampage that included attacks on an Afghan couple and a man of Lebanese descent, wrongly associated Sodhi's Sikh identity with terrorism and killed him at point-blank range outside Sodhi's gas station in Mesa, Arizona, on Sept. 15.


We can point to various factors that contribute to such unnecessary tragedies: unchecked access to deadly firearms, xenophobic rhetoric that sanctions bigotry, a history and climate of racism that makes those who look different frighteningly vulnerable.

And while we may not know the Indianapolis killer's motive, we do know the immense cost of our cultural ignorance. If nothing else, this tragedy might spur more people to learn about their Sikh neighbors.

The Sikh religion (Sikhi, in Punjabi) is one of the world's youngest, originating about 500 years ago in the Punjab region of South Asia, which is currently split between Pakistan and northwest India.

The faith's founder, Guru Nanak, was born in 1469 and was disenchanted with the suffering, divisions and social inequities he saw around him. He sought to establish a new community with a new vision rooted in oneness, love and justice. He taught that all people are equal and interconnected, and that human beings have no legitimate basis for creating hierarchies or discriminating against one another. Rather, each of us is inherently divine and we ought to treat one another accordingly. To serve humanity is to serve God (Vahiguru).

Guru Nanak put his vision into practice, establishing institutions that would live beyond him. For example, he started the tradition of langar, a free communal meal open to all with only one condition -- everyone must sit on the ground together as equals. This tradition remains alive and well today

.
Guru Nanak traveled around South and Central Asia spreading his message and building a following. These people referred to themselves as Sikhs, a term that derives from Sanskrit and means "students." The mindset was that we are lifelong students, always seeking to learn and grow.

For immigrants like me, the 'Great Pretend' doesn't work anymore

Guru Nanak's community also grew, and before he died, he appointed a successor, Guru Angad. There were 10 total gurus (enlighteners) in the lineage of Guru Nanak, the last of whom, Guru Gobind Singh, passed away in 1708. From that time onwards, Sikh authority would rest in two entities -- the Guru Granth Sahib, scriptural canon that was compiled and primarily composed by the Sikh gurus themselves, and the Guru Khalsa Panth, the community of initiated Sikhs. To this day, Sikhs view these two entities as their eternal guru.

As part of their practice, Sikhs maintain long, uncut hair, which they often wrap in turbans on top of their heads. Many see their appearance as a public promise to live by their faith. Sikhs cherish their identities as gifts from their gurus and shared aspects that bind them to their co-religionists, present and past.

Sikhs continued to grow in numbers and disperse around the world over the decades. After British colonizers took control in Punjab in 1849, more and more Sikhs moved to regions controlled by the British Empire, including the United Kingdom, Southeast Asia and East Africa.
The first Sikhs entered North America as laborers in the late 1800s -- and they came face-to-face with American racism soon thereafter. In 1907, in Bellingham, Washington, angry mobs of White men rounded up Sikh and other South Asian workers, beat them and drove them out of town, an event known today as the Bellingham race riots.

Most of the early Sikhs in America arrived on its West Coast, and over the years, they have dispersed all across the country. There are now an estimated 500,000 Sikhs in the United States and about an equal number in Canada. All of this together makes the Sikh community about one million strong in North America.

While the Sikh American community continues to face racism in the US, it has also demonstrated incredible fortitude and resilience. Many see us as victims, but Sikhs tend to see themselves as they always have. The Sikh community's grief over the killings in Indianapolis will not change its own commitment to justice and spiritual progress.

Simran Jeet Singh (@simran) is a scholar and historian of South Asia, a senior fellow for the Sikh Coalition, the author of a guide for reporters covering Sikhism and a 2020 Equality Fellow for the Open Society Foundations. The views expressed here are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

Bomb disrupts funeral for 25 Sikhs killed in Afghan capital
HOW'S THAT PEACE DEAL GOING

By TAMEEM AKHGAR March 26, 2020

Afghan Sikh men mourn their beloved ones during a funeral procession for those who were killed on Wednesday by a lone Islamic State gunman, rampaged through a Sikh house of worship, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 26, 2020. An explosive device disrupted Thursday's funeral service for 25 members of Afghanistan's Sikh minority community, killed in an attack by the Islamic State group on their house of worship in the heart of the capital. (AP Photo/Tamana Sarwary)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An explosive device disrupted Thursday’s funeral service for 25 members of Afghanistan’s Sikh minority community who had been killed by the Islamic State group. No one was hurt in the blast, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.

The explosion went off Thursday near the gate of a crematorium in Kabul, as the frightened mourners struggled to continue with the funeral prayers and cremation.

A 6-year-old child was among the victims of Wednesday’s attack by a lone IS gunman, who rampaged through a Sikh house of worship in the heart of Kabul’s old city. After holding some 80 worshippers hostage for several hours and wounding eight people, the gunman was killed by Afghan Special Forces aided by international troops.
The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for the attack on the group’s Amaq media arm, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks militant postings and groups. The gunmen was identified as Indian national Abu Khalid al-Hindi.

Maroon-colored cloth covered the many coffins surrounded by more than 100 family members who came to say their final farewell. The coffins were taken from their house of worship, known as a Gurdwara, to the crematorium for burial.

Dozens of wailing women remained behind in the Gurdwara as their loved ones were carried away.
 
An Afghan Sikh girl looks at a funeral procession and cremation ceremony for those who were killed on Wednesday by a lone Islamic State gunman, rampaged through a Sikh house of worship, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 26, 2020. An explosive device disrupted Thursday's funeral service for 25 members of Afghanistan's Sikh minority community, killed in an attack by the Islamic State group on their house of worship in the heart of the capital. (AP Photo/Tamana Sarwary)

Among the dead was Tian Singh, an Indian national, India’s External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

Sikhs have suffered widespread discrimination in the conservative Muslim country and have also been targeted by Islamic extremists.

“I am under pressure from my people, who say we cannot cannot live in this country anymore. Our children and our women are not secure,” said Narindra Singh Khalsa, a member of Afghanistan’s Parliament representing Sikhs and Hindus.

As news of the attack first broke, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed tweeted that the Taliban were not involved. Earlier this month, Afghanistan’s IS affiliate struck a gathering of minority Shiite Muslims in Kabul, killing 32 people.

Afghan Sikh men mourn their beloved ones during a funeral procession for those who were killed on Wednesday by a lone Islamic State gunman, rampaged through a Sikh house of worship, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 26, 2020. An explosive device disrupted Thursday's funeral service for 25 members of Afghanistan's Sikh minority community, killed in an attack by the Islamic State group on their house of worship in the heart of the capital. (AP Photo/Tamana Sarwary)

The Taliban and the U.S. signed a peace deal last month that would eventually see all American troops leave the country, with the final withdrawal tied to Taliban pledges to deny space in Afghanistan to other militant groups, such as their rival, the Islamic State group.

This month’s attacks on religious minorities in Afghan capital raises concerns that the Islamic State is reasserting itself, striking out at religious minorities that are reviled by the violent Sunni militant group as heretics.

In July 2018, a convoy of Sikhs and Hindus was attacked by an Islamic State suicide bomber as they were on their way to meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in the eastern city of Jalalabad. Nineteen people were killed in that attack.

Under Taliban rule in the late 1990s, Sikhs were asked to identify themselves by wearing yellow armbands, but the rule was not enforced. In recent years, large numbers of Sikhs and Hindus have sought asylum in India, which has a Hindu majority and a large Sikh population.


Afghan Sikh men attend a funeral procession and cremation ceremony for those who were killed on Wednesday by a lone Islamic State gunman, rampaged through a Sikh house of worship, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 26, 2020. An explosive device disrupted Thursday's funeral service for 25 members of Afghanistan's Sikh minority community, killed in an attack by the Islamic State group on their house of worship in the heart of the capital. (AP Photo/Tamana Sarwary)


Afghan Sikh men attend a funeral procession and cremation ceremony for those who were killed on Wednesday by a lone Islamic State gunman, rampaged through a Sikh house of worship, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 26, 2020. An explosive device disrupted Thursday's funeral service for 25 members of Afghanistan's Sikh minority community, killed in an attack by the Islamic State group on their house of worship in the heart of the capital. (AP Photo/Tamana Sarwary)

 In 2020, a small but timely library of Sikh history

Distinctive in style and scope, these three Sikh histories will fascinate any religion or history nerd.

Courtesy images

December 29, 2020

By 

Simran Jeet Singh

(RNS) — I know I speak for people everywhere when I say that 2020 has been the longest year in history. The pandemic. The U.S. presidential election. The recounts.

And yet, there are many comforts to consider. Health, for those of us who have survived or avoided the virus. Loved ones. Hope for the future.

One of the real pleasures of this year for me was enjoying three ground-breaking books of Sikh history written by Sikh women. The subject itself is consistently underrepresented and traditionally dominated by the voices of men. Each of the books published this year is distinctive in style and scope, and yet any religion or history nerd can enjoy all three.

The Wheat Fields Still Whisper: Faith, Gender, and Activism in the Punjab Conflict
By Mallika Kaur

As I write, Indian farmers are leading a historic protest on the streets of New Delhi, opposing new agricultural laws that benefit large corporations and harm small farmers. Most analyses of the situation remain limited to the immediate issues, but, as with most uprisings, there is far more to it than meets the eye.

Kaur’s “The Wheat Fields Still Whisper” unlocks the complexities behind the current crisis. She explains why much of the movement is being led and driven by Punjabi Sikhs, guiding us through the neglect, abuses, resistance and resilience that the Punjab’s Sikh population has withstood in the immediate past decades to deliver an understanding of what’s going on in India right now.

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RELATED: Farmers’ protests against India’s new agriculture laws follow long Sikh tradition

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Kaur’s vehicles are three of Punjab’s inspirational human rights defenders: Baljit Kaur, Justice Ajit Singh Bains, and Inderjit Singh Jaijee. Their relative privilege has allowed them to support their community in violent conflict, and their life stories pull in dozens of other everyday heroes who haven’t been written about thus far, or in this detail.

She tells the story beautifully as well, mixing incisive analysis with prose that makes it easy for the reader to not only understand what is happening, but to empathize with those who are going through it. It’s a masterful work of contemporary history and a joy for anyone interested in discovering the Punjabi Sikh community and their psyche.

Royals and Rebels: The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire
By Priya Atwal

Perhaps my favorite period in Sikh history is the time from the late 1400s to the early 1700s, when the 10 Gurus lived. But a close second is the period of autonomous rule known as the time of the Sikh Empire. The glorious reign began when Maharaja Ranjit Singh wrested control of Punjab from the Mughal overlords in the late 18th century. Sikh rule expanded rapidly, stretching from Tibet to Afghanistan before eventually being felled by the British just before the 20th century dawned.

Despite its storied past, the Sikh Empire is little mentioned today. Priya Atwal’s Royals and Rebels not only restores this period to historical memory but also gives it dignity.

Atwal’s splendid historical scholarship brings forward voices and stories that have been marginalized in previous tellings, delivering a fascinating story full of women and even children whose contributions are as essential as any male ruler. But it’s no slow crawl through sociological data: Atwal’s is a chronicle of politics, royalty, family and intrigue with all the makings of a series for Masterpiece Theater.

The First Sikh: The Life and Legacy of Guru Nanak
Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh

For decades, Kaur Singh has been the preeminent feminist writer in Sikh studies — stress on writer: Though an academic historian, she leans into her poetic sense, an ability that makes her latest book, “The First Sikh,” an enchanting account of the life and legacy of Guru Nanak, the founder and first guru of the Sikh tradition and songster-poet himself.

Instead of the typically dry prose of academic historical writing, Singh fuses translations of first-hand testimony, oral histories and Guru Nanak’s own writings to produce the best and most accessible modern account of Guru Nanak’s worldview and teachings.

India resumes issuing visas to Canadians after spat

an hour ago



Photo used for illustrative purpose.India will reopen visa services for Canadians, its embassy in Ottawa announced on Wednesday, a move that could reduce tensions in a bitter dispute over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

Relations between India and Canada plunged after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, allegations New Delhi called "absurd."

Nijjar, who advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.


Canada has called for India to cooperate in the investigation into his death and expelled an Indian diplomat over the affair.

New Delhi expressed outrage, and reacted by taking countermeasures such as shutting down visa services for Canadians.

"After a considered review of the security situation that takes into account some of the recent Canadian measures in this regard, it has been decided to resume visa services," the Indian High Commission said in a statement.

Canada announced last week it had withdrawn 41 diplomats from India as a result of the row.

New Delhi was about to revoke diplomatic immunity for all but 21 of Canada's diplomats and their families, forcing Ottawa to pull out the others.

The Indian government had also advised its nationals not to travel to parts of Canada "given the increase in anti-Indian activities."

Nijjar, who emigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a Canadian citizen in 2015, was shot dead by two masked assailants in the parking lot of a Sikh temple near Vancouver in June.

Canada is home to some 770,000 Sikhs, who make up about two per cent of the country's population, with a vocal minority calling for creating a separate state called Khalistan.

The Sikh separatist movement is largely finished within India, where security forces used deadly force to put down an insurgency in the state of Punjab in the 1980s.

Hundreds of Sikh protesters rallied outside Indian diplomatic missions in Canada last month, burning flags and trampling on pictures of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Agence France-Presse

Punjab’s ‘Aeroplane’ temple: Where India-Canada tensions meet Sikh anxiety

Thousands of families in Punjab — who have migrated for the Big Canadian Dream for decades — have found themselves left in the lurch by the transnational crisis.

Bringing small toy airplanes to the Sikh temple Talhan Gurdwara has become an urban legend amongst the Sikh community. Visitors bring their small planes as a push for luck in getting Canadian Visa applications approved. 

Photo courtesy Talhan Sahib Instagram

October 16, 2023

RNN

By Yashraj Sharma

JALANDHAR, India (RNS) — Standing near a fragile brick wall of a Sikh temple in the scorching heat, a 23-year-old farmer hovers over the toy airplanes stacked on a wooden plank. Life has taken an unexpected turn in the last few weeks for Tejinder, and he has pinned his last hopes at a Gurdwara on an offering: a mini Boeing 747.

Tejinder, who requested to be identified only by his first name, has had his plans to move thrown into disarray by the diplomatic row between India and Canada. On a video call with his mother, who lives in Toronto with the rest of the family, he told her, “I just don’t know how to get out of here now.”

She replied: “To hell with Trudeau and his useless tongue.”

On Sept. 18, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking to the House of Commons, accused “agents of the government of India” for the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh leader and a Canadian citizen, who was slain by masked gunmen in June, near Vancouver, British Columbia. New Delhi dismissed the accusations as “absurd” and lashed out at Canada for offering what it says is a “safe haven” to people India accuses of terrorism, including Nijjar.

In a quickly escalating situation, both countries expelled top diplomats and halted the trade talks; India suspended all visa applications for Canadians, which includes a large Sikh diaspora, and warned of “growing anti-India activities and politically condoned hate crimes.”

Since Tejinder’s mother moved to Canada three years ago, he has been scheming to follow her. However, his most recent visa application got rejected again. “I just want to live with her,” he said, standing on the shining marble porch of his two-story home in a village outside Jalandhar, in Punjab. He lives alone here.

Thousands of families in Punjab — who have migrated for the Big Canadian Dream for decades — have found themselves left in the lurch by the transnational crisis. An elder cousin of Tejinder, who lives next door, is supposed to be married in December. While the venues and caterers have been booked, the family that remains in India isn’t very sure of the Canadian bride-to-be’s presence.

On Thursday, Tejinder visited the Talhan Gurdwara, a Sikh temple located outside Jalandhar. As urban legend goes, a toy airplane offered at the 150-year-old Gurdwara, popularly known as the “Visa Temple,” gives flight to the dreams of moving abroad.
RELATED: India’s visa temples attract devotees aspiring to go abroad


Away from the city’s bustle, the Talhan Gurdwara is surrounded by lush fields of wheat and sugarcane, checkered by narrow streams. The shops that line up in front of the temple have Canadian flags in every form: head scarfs, key chains, jute bags, bracelets and, of course, on toy airplanes.

Thousands of devotees line up every morning outside the gurdwara wishing for a divine intervention in their visa applications. Gurdeep Singh, a 40-year-old cloth retailer from Jalandhar, woke up with the sun Thursday to visit the temple with his wife and a close friend. Fourteen members of his family, including his twin sons, age 5, live in Canada.


Mounds of toy airplanes pile up on tables inside Talhan Gurdwara.

 Photo courtesy Talhan Sahib Instagram

“I’m the only person left behind with my wife,” he said, the white hair in his beard flashing in the sunlight. “Our children tell us about the clean cities and a better quality of life there. I’ve also applied for the visa.”

He climbs up a floor and walks toward the main prayer hall of the temple, where the devotees bow down to the holy Scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, and offer mini Boeings — despite a ban on the practice by the head Golden Temple, in Amritsar. In a corner of the hall, lit by low-hanging chandeliers, sits Balwinder Singh, his eyes tightly closed.

“It is my birthday today,” the 22-year-old says later, walking out of the hall. He didn’t wish for a visa. Not today. “My sister moved to Canada two years ago. I prayed for her well being in these circumstances.”

The exodus to Canada has a long history for Sikhs in Punjab, Paramjit Singh Judge, a retired professor with a doctorate in political sociology and former president of the Indian Sociological Society, told Religion News Service. “The migration started toward the end of 19th century, a practice that’s 125 years old,” he says.

“In India, the Sikhs, or Punjab, are not part of the mainstream politics,” he said. India’s 543-member parliament has only 13 representatives from the Punjab state. Whereas, Judge said, in Canada, which is home to the largest Sikh population outside India — roughly 2% of the national population — they are an influential constituency.

An agrarian crisis caused by overuse of soil, controversial farm laws and a rampant drug crisis has paralyzed Punjab’s youth for over a decade. A shot at life abroad is often the brightest possibility for many, said Balwinder Singh, the devotee.

“Last year, I learned to repair the ACs (air conditioners), but nobody is willing to pay me here,” he said. “In Canada, there is money and respect for skilled labor. It is better than corporate jobs in India.”

Singh’s sister works part time at Tim Hortons, a popular Canadian coffeehouse chain. His gallery is full of her photos in well-lit frames. The young man was brought up in a colony designated for retired armed forces personnel in Jalandhar. “It is not the same place anymore,” he said. “Everyone has moved abroad in the last few years. First children, then parents and now grandparents. It is like a ghost town sometimes.”

Talhan Gurdwara, a Sikh temple located outside Jalandhar, is home to a rising tradition involving toy airplanes. 

Photo courtesy Talhan Sahib Instagram

The killing of Nijjar, the Canadian-Sikh leader, and the following reported warnings to Sikh activists globally has swept the diaspora with anxiety. Nijjar, who worked as a plumber, also was an activist at his local gurdwara, organizing for a symbolic referendum for an independent Sikh state in India, known as Khalistan.

In India, the movement goes back decades and is punctuated by several bloody incidents, including the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi after the assassination of India’s then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who had ordered the crackdown on Sikh militants in the Golden Temple that left over 400 killed. In 1985, Canada had its own tragedy, when a plane bombing killed 329 people onboard, including 268 Canadian citizens and 24 Indian citizens. A Sikh militant and Khalistani separatist group was implicated in the attack, with one Sikh immigrant from India pleading guilty.

RELATED: Why India fears the Khalistan movement and how Canada became embroiled in diplomatic spat over killing of Sikh separatist

The separatist movement is banned in India, and polls show most Sikhs are proud of their Indian identity. Even so, the Modi government has swiftly clamped down on any hint of the ideology, considering it a threat to its Hindutva politics.

“Our activists, young people who dare to talk, are in jails,” said Tejinder, a devotee at the Talhan Gurdwara. He categorically denies he supports the idea of Khalistan. “India is never going to let that happen. But I want to get out of here at first chance. We don’t even get basic rights.”

Vinod Kumar, the chairperson of the Punjab University’s sociology department, argues that India’s response to the Canadian accusations was “immature.”

“It was also a show of Hindutva strongmen politics to the Sikh population in India,” he said. And, above all, he adds, it was a move by both sides to secure their next election, with both Trudeau and Modi appeasing their own constituencies.

“The biggest losers in the outcome of this diplomatic crisis would be the Sikh diaspora,” said Kumar, who has expertise in the Sikh diaspora and migration. “The Punjabis who are eyeing to settle in Canada will end up suffering here. This will also lead to discrimination against the diaspora abroad itself.”

The flight of toy airplanes sacrificed at the Gurdwara ends next door at an extravagantly large hall for community lunch. Jagdeep Singh, 45, sits guard at the gate, giving away the airplanes to every kid he can. He has been doing this every day for the last seven years. But he has never offered one for himself, he says. Neither has he ever set a foot outside of Punjab.

His family of four lives off $120 every month and some food allowances from the Gurdwara. “I recently started sending my children to a private school so they can learn English,” he said. He hopes to send his children to Canada — a multi-thousand dollar affair.

“If this Gurdwara wills, my children would take a flight, too, someday.”