Canada has the largest Sikh population in the world after India.
Sikhs now hold positions of authority in all tiers of the Canadian government, and the growing Sikh population is one of the nation’s most significant political constituencies.
But Canada has for long been considered a safe haven for Khalistan supporters and militant voices accused of terrorism in India. The meek Canadian response to the Khalistani challenge has been a frequent target of Indian politicians.
WHO ARE SIKHS AND WHERE DO THEY LIVE?
Sikhism is one of the world’s major religions, founded in the 16th Century in the Punjab region of what is now India and Pakistan – which was divided between the two countries after the end of British rule in 1947.
There are around 25 million Sikhs worldwide, making it the fifth largest faith group.
The vast majority live in India, where they make up around 2% of the country’s 1.4 billion people. But significant diaspora populations exist as well.
Canada is home to the largest population outside India, with around 780,000 Sikh people – more than 2% of the country’s population – while both the US and UK are home to around 500,000 and Australia around 200,000.
THE KHALISTAN MOVEMENT
It wants an independent Sikh state carved out of India and dates back to India and Pakistan’s independence in 1947 when the idea was pushed forward in negotiations preceding the partition of the Punjab region between the two new countries.
Sikh separatists demand that their homeland Khalistan, meaning “the land of the pure”, be created out of Punjab.
The demand has resurfaced many times, most prominently during a violent insurgency in the 1970s and 1980s which paralysed Punjab for over a decade.
HOW INDIA PERCEIVES THE KHALISTAN MOVEMENT?
The Khalistan movement is considered a security threat by the Indian government. The bloodiest episode in the conflict between the government and Sikh separatists occurred in 1984.
Then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent the military into the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, to evict armed separatist leader Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters, which infuriated Sikhs around the world.
A few months later, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards at her home in New Delhi. The army launched operations in 1986 and 1988 to flush out Sikh militants from Punjab.
Sikh militants were also blamed for the 1985 bombing of an Air India Boeing 747 flying from Canada to India in which all 329 people on board were killed off the Irish coast.
The insurgency killed tens of thousands of people and Punjab still bears the scars of that violence.
Although the Khalistan movement has little support now in India, it has small pockets of backing among sections of the Sikh diaspora in Canada, which has the largest population of Sikhs outside Punjab, and in Britain, Australia and the U.S.
Khalistan is a red line for India because the scars of the violence in the 1980s are still fresh.
All political parties in India are united in their opposition to Sikh independence, so no Indian government can afford to overlook the Khalistan issue in the interest of bilateral diplomatic relations
HOW DOES THE ANGLE OF KHALISTAN IMPACT INDO – CANADIAN RELATIONS?
Indian diplomats based in Canada have on numerous occasions said that Ottawa’s failure to tackle “Sikh extremism”, and the constant harassment of Indian diplomats and officials by Khalistanis, is a major foreign policy stress point.
Indian Prime Minister raised strong concerns about Sikh protests in Canada with Canadian Prime Minister on the sidelines of a G20 summit in New Delhi this month.
Canada has paused talks on a proposed trade treaty with India.
WHY INDIA PUTS PRESSURE ON GOVERNMENTS OF CANADA, AUSTRALIA AND THE UK?
The backdrop to the diplomatic tensions is the growing pressure India has put on governments of three countries with sizeable Sikh populations: Canada, Australia and the UK.
India’s government has openly said that a failure to tackle what it calls “Sikh extremism” would be an obstacle to good relations.
Australian officials said they would look into vandalism of Hindu temples by pro-Khalistan activists, but would not stop Australian Sikhs expressing their views on an independent homeland.
Canada has come in for Delhi’s most open criticism for what it sees as a failure to oppose the pro-Khalistan movement there. While PM Justin Trudeau has said he will stop the ongoing violence, he has also pushed back against “foreign interference”.
In the UK context, a row kicked off in March after protests outside the Indian High Commission in London, which saw crowds wave yellow “Khalistan” banners and a man detach the Indian flag from the first-floor balcony of the building.
WHY IS INDIA WORRIED NOW?
In April this year, India arrested a self-styled preacher and Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh for allegedly reviving calls for Khalistan, sparking fears of new violence in Punjab.
Earlier this year, India hit out at Canada for allowing a float in a parade depicting the assassination of Indira Gandhi, perceiving this to be a glorification of Sikh separatist violence.
India has also been upset about frequent demonstrations and vandalism by Sikh separatists and their supporters at Indian diplomatic missions in Canada, Britain, the U.S. and Australia, and has sought better security from local governments.
WHO WAS HARDEEP SINGH NIJJAR?
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a Canadian citizen shot dead outside a Sikh temple on 18 June in Canada, at the age of 45.
He was born in Bharsinghpur village in Punjab’s Jalandhar, and moved to Canada in 1997.
First he worked as a plumber, and later became a prominent Sikh leader in the western Canadian province of British Columbia.
India designated him a terrorist in 2020, for his alleged links to Khalistan Tiger Force – a group campaigning for independent Khalistan in the Punjab region of India.
His supporters called these accusations “unfounded” and said that he had been the target of threats in the past because of his activism.
