Pakistan is the main force fueling the momentum to create a ‘so-called Khalistan’ or independent homeland for Sikhs, and Islamabad-backed extremists pose serious threats to India and Canada, according to a report by a leading Canadian think tank.
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s’ Khalistan: A Pakistan Project ‘report notes that Pakistan is “actually driving the Khalistan bus” at a time when “the Khalistan movement has gone nowhere in the Sikhs’ home state. “from Punjab.
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The report, written by veteran journalist Terry Milewski, who has tracked pro-Khalistan groups in Canada for decades, says Pakistan’s support of the pro-Khalistan group involves leveraging Canadian-based extremists, including supporters. with ties to terrorism, due to lack of traction. in Punjab.
Although the Canadian government has already said that it will not recognize the so-called referendum on Khalistan scheduled for November by groups like Sikhs For Justice, which was banned by India in 2019, the report warned that the measure “provides oxygen that fuels extremist ideologies, radicalizes Young Canadians, wreak havoc on reconciliation and usurp legislatures, ”said the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
In their foreword to the report, former Canadian Cabinet Minister Ujjal Dossanjh and Shuvaloy Majumdar, program director of the think tank, said: “The Milewski report should be essential reading for anyone wishing to understand Pakistan’s influence on the guidance of Khalistan’s proposal, his perversion of the Sikh faith and his ongoing campaign of extremism and terrorism in two of the world’s most important democracies. ”
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The perceived weakness of the Justin Trudeau government towards pro-Khalistan groups in its first season during 2015-19 was one of the key reasons for a recession in relations between India and Canada. The Liberal Party government in Canada cited freedom of speech as one of the main reasons for allowing the activities of pro-Khalistan groups, but this found few stakeholders in New Delhi.
The 2018 Public Report on the Terrorist Threat to Canada originally cited “extremist Sikh (khalistani) ideologies and movements” among the top five national security issues for the country, but this was later replaced in a revised version of the report by “extremists who support violent means to establish an independent state within India ”following pressure from an international lobbying campaign advocating for an independent Khalistan, according to the report.
“The proposal for an independent Khalistan, in truth, is a long overdue idea. It is a proposal without economic or democratic logic, which does not love the very Punjabis whose lives it would most directly affect. It is a fantasy rooted in religious intolerance and chauvinism, kept alive in Canada by thugs and political con artists who do not care about the innocent lives that have been lost in their name, ”said Dossanjh and Majumdar in their foreword.
“It is a proposal hostile to Canada’s interest in seeing a united and prosperous India, and in that sense, it threatens not just one country, but two. In the service of this cause, extremists encouraged by Pakistan seek to distort history and betray the vast majority of Sikhs who live in peace and freedom, ”they added.
In addition to tracing the long-standing links between pro-Khalistan terror groups and Pakistan’s Interservice Intelligence (ISI) agency and how Khalistani terrorists were protected in Pakistan in the 1990s, the report notes the failure of the Canadian security establishment to prevent the bombing of Air India Flight 182, which killed 329 people, most of them Canadian citizens.
“No matter how low support for Khalistan in India sinks, and it has sunk very low, the cause still survives in Pakistan, where jihadist groups have made common cause with Sikh separatists against their common enemy, India,” says the report.
“An example is the main Khalistani figure in Pakistan, Gopal Singh Chawla, who does not scoff at his friendly alliance with Pakistani jihadist Hafiz Saeed, leader of the dreaded Lashkar-e-Taiba,” he added.
A Canadian citizen, Satinderpal Singh Gill from Surrey, BC, lived for years in Pakistan as a senior official in the International Federation of Sikh Youth, which has been banned as a terrorist organization in India, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, but not for Pakistan, the report noted.
The report also highlighted the dichotomy between the harassment of the Sikh minority in Pakistan and the unconditional support offered by pro-Khalistan leaders such as the head of Sikhs For Justice, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, one of the main drivers of the 2020 referendum.
Although Panun claims to lead a human rights movement, he sided with China in its border dispute with India, writing to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, swearing that, “If India ever attacks Pakistan, Sikhs will Khalistan will extend their full support to Pakistan. ”
The report also questioned the maps of the proposed Khalistan, noting that they do not represent even “an inch [of] traditional Sikh lands in Pakistan, not Lahore, where Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled a Sikh empire two hundred years ago, or even Nankana Sahib, the holy birthplace of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru. ”
“It seems, then, that Pakistan wants Sikhs to be free, but not in Pakistan. The separatists, in turn, clearly know where their employer sets the limits. Even drawing a map that boasts of Pakistan’s generosity is a step too far, one that could cut the lifeline that has sustained Khalistan’s dream for so long, “he said.
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