OPINION: India Is Countering Khalistan Narrative Well, But Will Have To Play Its Cards Cautiously

Challenge before Indian diplomacy is to make it clear to these so-called champions of free speech & democracy that they can’t seek best ties with us while allowing anti-India movements on their land.

Khalistan supporters protest outside Indian Embassy in Washington, USA, on March 26, 2023.

Source : PTI

The third week of March witnessed many violent attacks on Indian government facilities and Hindu temples by Sikh protesters in the UK, the USA, Australia and Canada. The governments of the countries largely remained mute witnesses to these incidents of arson on the pretext of respecting freedom of speech. The Indian government reacted furiously as these protesters desecrated Indian symbols of sovereignty. Top diplomats from these countries were summoned and told in a stern language that it was the responsibility of the host governments to protect the official facilities of Indian government as guaranteed under the Vienna convention.

The Khalistan separatists have spread their wings in many capitals of the western world, who through their planted agents like Amritpal Singh are creating troubles in the Indian state of Punjab. That the 31-year-old Amritpal has no local support is evident from the fact that the ordinary masses are not bothered about his wellbeing, and their sentiments are being exploited in the name of Guru Granth Sahib. There has been no demonstration of public support to protest against the arrest of Amritpal in India but the Sikh activists abroad are agitated because their game plan has been exposed.

It is well known that some Sikhs who reside in these countries willy-nilly fall in the trap of these Khalistani separatists. After all, they have to survive in a totally alien environment, for which they need mental and financial support. The migrant Sikh youths are known to be offered services like getting asylum and resettlement, job etc. These Sikh youths then become torch-bearers of the Khalistani cause, which is thriving only on the distant lands. These youths, who migrate to these developed countries in search of good life and employment, can’t dare to speak against the activists as they have money and muscle power, and find themselves trapped in the Khalistani plot. The Punjabi youth who go to these countries from rural Punjab are brainwashed and terrorised to support them and take part in anti-India activities.

Efforts to revive the Khalistan movement has been on the cards for the last few years but alarm bell rang only when Amritpal Singh laid siege to a police station in Ajnala, near Amritsar, on February 23. Later, when the security agencies went to arrest Amritpal Singh on March 18, a huge cache of modern firearms was found, indicating the grand plan to launch armed insurrection against the Indian state.

The so-called movement for Sikh homeland has always received covert and overt support from foreign powers, from the West to the East, where the Sikh diaspora reside in large numbers. Initially, when the Sikh homeland rule movement in the sixties and the seventies began, a small group of Sikh separatists emerged and thrived in these countries. They were treated as minor pawns of Cold War politics in the south Asian context.

In the next decades of eighties and nineties, the movement adopted terrorist methods, with financial and military training from Pakistan, to terrorise and destabilise the Indian government and instigate the masses in Punjab to revolt against Indian State. But the Sikh separatists failed to mobilise the ordinary masses, and were given a death blow by Indian security forces. The Sikh movement later waned for some years, but they regrouped from foreign lands where they evidently spearheaded their movement with the tacit support of local governments.

As the Sikh diaspora continued to grow in numbers in countries from the UK to Canada, to Australia and the USA, they became prominent players in domestic politics and started to be treated as major vote banks. The local politicians sought their support during elections. The Khalistanis grabbed the opportunity with s well-laid-out strategy chalked out by Pakistan's ISI along with financial help to mobilise their support world over. In the name of fighting human rights violations and discrimination, the separatist Sikhs formed Sikhs for Justice, which appealed to the uninformed Western politicians and human rights activists. They even organised so-called worldwide referendum among the Sikh diaspora for a separate homeland, under the very nose of the governments of the Western countries who nowadays vouch for strong strategic partnership with India. To show concern for India, the governments of countries where the Sikh diaspora reside in large numbers must tell the activists that they would not like any anti-India activity on their soil, which seeks to break up and destabilise India.

The Challenge And Task Before India

The challenge before the Indian diplomacy is to convince these so-called champions of free speech and democracy that they can’t simultaneously seek best relations with India while allowing anti-India separatist movements on their lands. An India embroiled in domestic separatist movements would not prove to be the best partner, who will have to focus most of its resources and energy in countering these anti-India separatists. The Western governments must realise that Pakistan ISI has been orchestrating these movements through a dedicated plan to destabilise India. After all, they have been allowing the Chinese government to station its police to have a close watch on the activities of Chinese dissidents. Should this not be construed as an attack on individual freedom? But the host governments from the UK to Australia, Canada and the USA have kept mum and only started initiating action against the Chinese police stations when tension started brewing between China and these governments.

When Indian tri-colour was pulled out of the Indian High Commission in London on 19 March, there was a furious reaction from India, which yielded some results. The UK government promised to provide full security to Indian facilities in the country. But there has been no promise of taking direct action against Khalistan activists. Unless these activists are reined in, threat to life and property of Indians and Indian government will remain very high. Khalistani activists attacked and defaced Indian temples in the US, Australia and the UK, but the local police treated these incidents of arson in a casual manner.

As India’s economic and political clout on the world arena grows, the western government would not like to antagonise India, but India will have to play its card cautiously. After all, the western governments whose survival depends on their vote banks, which has become an important factor in electoral democracy, also have to think of their constituencies. Since these democratic countries also vouch for respect of rule of law in all circumstances, Indian interlocutors must provide credible evidence of full respect of democratic values in India as enunciated in the much respected Indian Constitution.

The author is a senior journalist and strategic affairs analyst.

[Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs, and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs, and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.]