Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were the main accused in the bombing of the Air India Kanishka flight from Toronto to India on June 23, 1985, killing all 331 people…reports Asian Lite News
Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was the main accused in the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing and later acquitted, was shot dead outside his business office in Surrey near here.
The incident happened on Thursday morning. The 75-year-old, who once supported the demand for Khalistan, was shot three times at about 9.30 a.m. by an unidentified assailant when he reached his business office in his Tesla.
He was shot through the neck, leading to profuse bleeding and death on the spot.
In what appears to be a targeted shooting, the vehicle suspected to be used in the shooting was found engulfed in fire in another part of the city as the assailant reportedly escaped in a getaway vehicle.
Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were the main accused in the bombing of the Air India Kanishka flight from Toronto to India on June 23, 1985, killing all 331 people, mostly Indo-Canadians, on board.
The mid-air bombing off the Irish coast was carried out in revenge for the Indian Army’s action at the Golden Temple in 1984 to flush out Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters from the complex.
While Malik and Bagri were acquitted in 2005, another person — Inderjit Singh Reyat — was jailed for making the bomb used in the downing of the Air India Kanishka flight.
Malik, who came to Canada in 1972 and became a successful business in garments, was taken off the Indian government’s black list of Sikhs living abroad after Narendra Modi came to power.
Malik travelled to India after he was granted a visa in 2019.
Earlier this year in January, Malik wrote to the Indian Prime Minister, thanking him for addressing the long-pending Sikh demands.
In his letter to Modi, Malik wrote, “I am writing you this to express my deer heartfelt gratitude for the unprecedented positive steps taken by yourself to redress long-reading Sikh demands and grievances, including elimination of blacklists that restricted visit to India of thousands of Sikhs living abroad, grant of passports and visas to asylees and their families, reopening of hundreds of 1984-riots closed cases leading to conviction and jail term for some, declaring 1984-riots as ‘genocide’ by then Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh on the floor of the House, giving compensation or Rs 5.00 lakh per family of the anti-Sikh genocide victims, (and) opening of Sri Kartarpur Saheb Corridor facilitating pilgrims from India to visit the revered place of our first Master Guru Nanak Dev Ji.”
In a social media statement, Malik’s son Jaspreet Malik said, “The media will always refer to him as someone charged with the Air India bombing.
The media and RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) never seemed to accept the court’s decision and I pray today’s tragedy is not related.”
Mann, 77, who unsuccessfully contested the Assembly polls in February, won the parliamentary elections from Sangrur in 1999….reports Asian Lite News
In a setback to AAP, which came to power in Punjab three months ago, the two-time MP and former IPS officer, Simranjit Singh Mann, who has been demanding an independent homeland — called Khalistan — on Sunday won the bypoll in the Sangrur parliamentary constituency.
This seat, once a stronghold of AAP, will now be represented by Mann after over two decades.
As per poll results, Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar (SAD-A) candidate Mann defeated his closest rival Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Gurmail Singh in a neck-and-neck battle by over 6,000 votes, with the former leading in the majority of the rounds, including Muslim-dominated Malerkotla Assembly seat.
Mann, 77, who unsuccessfully contested the Assembly polls in February, won the parliamentary elections from Sangrur in 1999.
Mann, has been demanding the opening of borders with Pakistan for traders, is toeing the ideology of Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed during Operation Blue Star that was carried out by the Indian Army in June 1984 to flush out militants hiding in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar.
After winning the election, Mann remembered the contribution of Bhindranwale towards the Sikh cause. He gave the credit of his win to those who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the Sikhs.
Mann remembered the contribution of actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu, accused of being the key conspirator of the Red Fort violence on the Republic Day last year, and slain singer Sidhu Moosewala, who met him days ahead of his killing on May 29.
Just 45.3 per cent voters — 27.1 per cent less than the 2019 elections — cast their franchise to decide the fate of 16 candidates on June 23.
The bypoll for Sangrur was necessitated following the resignation of Bhagwant Mann, who won the Assembly election in February from the Dhuri constituency, and became the Chief Minister.
The other key contenders were death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana’s foster sister Kamaldeep Kaur, 44, who was in the fray on the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) ticket, BJP’s Kewal Dhillon, 72, and Dalvir Singh Goldy, 40, of the Congress. Both Dhillon and Goldy are former legislators.
Simranjit Mann has declared Rs 8.37 crore assets, including Rs 35.38 moveable and Rs 8.02 immovable. His wife’s assets stand at Rs 4.88 crore.
The bypoll is the first major electoral battle after the AAP’s resounding victory in the state Assembly polls.
Bhagwant Mann had won his first election as Sangrur MP in 2014 with a record margin of over 2.10 lakh votes defeating SAD candidate Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.
In 2019 Bhagwant Mann was the lone AAP MP in Parliament and he had defeated the then Congress candidate Kewal Singh Dhillon by more than 1.1 lakh votes.
Responding to Mann’s victory, SAD President Sukhbir Badal tweeted, “We bow before the mandate of the people in true democratic spirit.”
In the 2022 Assembly elections, AAP recorded a thumping win by claiming 92 of the Assembly’s 117 seats. The ruling Congress won 18, down from 77 in 2017.
All nine Vidhan Sabha constituencies coming under the Sangrur parliamentary seat were won by the AAP MLAs with a record mandate.
The Organization’s primary agenda is raking issues against India…..reports Asian Lite News
The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) which came into being in the 1980s on the plank of ‘Khalistan’, over the years set its footprint as a human-rights champion while following the agenda of yesteryears.
It started roping in educated and talented youth into its fold that has now penetrated into the entire system of the governance of Canada, sources said.
Despite some decrease in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Cabinet, the organisation has increased its grip over various arms of the government.
Pic credits Twitter @WorldSikhOrg
The Organization’s primary agenda is raking issues against India.
WSO has four layers of office bearers, workers and activists. Elders like Gian Singh Sandhu, Prem Vinning, Chahal, Ajit Sahota, Inderjit Singh Bal, Gurpreet Singh, Balwinder Bains can be placed in the first layer.
Sitting board of directors, mostly youth, like Manbir Singh and several professionals can be grouped as its second but strong layer.
Being young, educated, intelligent and fully conversant in using advanced technology, the second layer is currently the brain behind innovative ideas. They make use of all available resources, in addition to creating additional resources, to achieve their agenda.
Educated activists and elected representatives like Balpreet Bal, Balpreet Boparai, Jaspal Singh Bal aka Amanpreet Bal, Jas Sandhu, politicians and those who holding high positions in the government and corporations form the third layer. This layer is perhaps plays the most effective role by participating in debates, creating lobbies, indoctrinating, coordinating with groups/organisations/people of their interests.
The fourth layer is the baseline support that derives support and strength from gurdwaras under the Organization’s control and family circle of WSO world.
Khalistan had become a thing of the past after India trudged on from the grisly period of peaking insurgency in Punjab, the assassination of a powerful Prime Minister, and the anti-Sikh riots that followed.
But certain occurrences in the past few months hint at the unearthing of a buried hatchet. In the light of these developments, an understanding of the evolution, dissolution and reappearance of the movement is called for.
Historical roots
The Khalistan movement started out as a Sikh separatist movement with the intention to carve out a Sikh homeland by way of establishing a sovereign state called Khalistan, meaning the ‘Land of the Khalsa’, in the Punjab region that includes both India and Pakistan.
‘Khalsa’ is a common term of reference for the community that adheres to Sikhism as a faith and also a special group of initiated Sikhs. The word means (to be) pure, clear, or free from. The Khalsa tradition was introduced by Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Guru, in 1699, after his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was beheaded in the reign of Aurangzeb.
The establishment of Khalsa order gave a fresh orientation to Sikhism with a new system of leadership and gave a political and religious vision for the Sikh community. A Khalsa was then initiated as a warrior to protect people from Islamic religious persecution.
Fast forward to modern age, the idea of a separate Sikh homeland took shape during the fall of the British empire. It was in 1940 when for the first time, an explicit call for Khalistan was made in a pamphlet by the same name.
With the political and financial support of the Sikh diaspora, the movement for Khalistan began to gather momentum in Punjab. It continued through the 1970s and reached its pinnacle in the late 1980s as a separatist movement.
The territorial ambitions of Khalistan have since then expanded to include Chandigarh and much of northern India and parts of western India.
Jagjit Singh Chohan is the discredited founder of the Khalistan movement. Initially a dentist, Chohan was first elected to the Punjab Assembly in 1967. He went on to become the finance minister, but in 1969, he lost the Assembly election.
Building an overseas base
Following his electoral debacle, Chohan moved to Britain in 1969, and began campaigning for Khalistan to be created. In 1971, he went to Nankana Sahib in Pakistan and attempted to set up a Sikh government.
Yahaya Khan, the military dictator of Pakistan, proclaimed Chohan a Sikh leader; he was handed over certain Sikh relics which he took with him to Britain. These relics helped Chohan consolidate support and followers. Subsequently, he visited US upon the invitation of his supporters in the Sikh diaspora.
On October 13, 1971, The New York Times carried a paid ad claiming an independent Sikh state. This ad of Chohan enabled him to gather huge funds from the overseas community.
Towards the end of 1970s, Chohan was associated with the diplomatic mission in Pakistan which aimed to encourage Sikh youth to travel to Pakistan for pilgrimage and indoctrination for separatist propaganda.
Chohan maintained that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, had assured him all assistance in creating Khalistan after the 1971 Indo-Pak war.
Chohan returned to India in 1977, and then travelled to Britain in 1979, and established the Khalistan National Council. The contacts with various groups in Canada, the US and Germany were maintained and Chohan visited Pakistan as a state guest.
On April 12, 1980, Chohan formally announced the formation of the ‘National Council of Khalistan’ at Anandpur Sahib, and declared himself its president. Balbir Singh Sandhu was its Secretary General.
A month later, Chohan travelled to London and proclaimed the formation of Khalistan. Sandhu made a similar announcement in Amritsar.
Lord Nazir Ahmed with Khalistani protesters in London (File)
Eventually, Chohan proclaimed himself the president of the ‘Republic of Khalistan’, set up a Cabinet, and issued Khalistan passports, stamps, and currency (Khalistan dollars).
On June 12, 1984, Chohan was interviewed by the BBC in London.
When asked “Do you actually want to see the downfall of Mrs Gandhi’s government?”, Chohan had asserted, “Within a few days, you will have the news that Mrs Gandhi and her family have been beheaded. That is what Sikhs will do.”
The Margaret Thatcher government in Britain then put a check on Chohan’s activities after this proclamation.
On June 13, 1984, Chohan announced a government in exile, and on October 31, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated.
In 1989, Chohan hoisted the flag of Khalistan at the Anandpur Sahib gurdwara in Punjab. On April 24, 1989, his Indian passport was deemed invalid and India protested when he was allowed to enter the US with a cancelled Indian passport.
Mellowing down of the radicals
Chohan gradually appeared to soften his stance and supported India’s attempts to defuse the tension by accepting surrenders by militants. However, the sister organisations in Britain and North America remained devoted to the cause of Khalistan.
In June 2001, after 21 years of exile, Chohan was permitted to return to India after he was granted pardon by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
Although the government chose to overlook his history of militant pursuits, upon his return, he said in an interview that he would keep the Khalistan movement alive democratically and underlined that he was always against violence.
In 2002, he founded a political party by the name of Khalsa Raj Party and became its president. The aim of this party was admittedly to continue his campaign for Khalistan. However, this notion was no longer attractive to the new generation of Sikhs.
Chohan largely retired from public life in his later years and passed away on April 4, 2007, after a heart attack at the age of 78. With his demise, the Khalistan movement also petered out.
The end of insurgency
The insurgency tapered off in the 1990s and the movement failed owing to several factors, primarily heavy police crackdown on separatists, factional infighting, and disenchantment from the Sikh population.
With annual demonstrations for those killed during Operation Blue Star, there remain traces of some support within India and the Sikh diaspora.
In the light of the recent developments, questions have been raised regarding the resurrection of the notion of Khalistan.
In early 2018, the police had apprehended some militant groups in Punjab. Then Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had remarked that the extremism was backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and Khalistani sympathisers in Canada, Italy and the UK.
Khalistan rears up its ugly head
It was reported in February this year that Pro-Khalistan groups like the proscribed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) have been trying to rake up sentiments and revive the movement in Punjab.
Khalistani banners seen outside Himachal Assembly
Expressions of anti-India sentiments from Canada are no secret, but India’s big security concern lately has been this outfit which has a strong virtual presence and is able to radicalise a good number people to rebel against the government of India.
An NIA team reached Canada last November, to probe the funding channels of pro-Khalistan groups which can contribute to unrest in India. Reportedly, over one lakh USD was collected in the name of farmers’ protests, as cited by officials.
On May 5, Haryana Police apprehended four people at a toll plaza in Karnal carrying three IEDs weighing 2.5 kg each.
On May 8, flags of Khalistan were found affixed to the main entrance of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly complex in Dharamsala. Himachal Pradesh Police booked SFJ leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun under UAPA and sealed the state’s borders and beefed up security in the state citing pro-Khalistan activities.
The outfit’s announcement of a Khalistan referendum day on June 6 has also been banned.
On May 9, a Pakistan-made rocket-propelled grenade explosion was reported from the Punjab Police Intelligence headquarters in Mohali, just a day after the state police seized an IED loaded with RDX from Punjab’s Tarn Taran district.
These attacks happened after a communal rift between certain Sikh and Hindu groups in Patiala on April 29, setting off an alarm pertaining to security concerns.
These developments gravely point to efforts of Khalistani elements to sow seeds of distrusts in India, and this is a concern niggling at India’s security.
The sources said that ISI has been contemplating to target Railway tracks especially when the goods trains are passing….reports Asian Lite News
Intelligence agencies have warned that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is planning to entail serious damage on India by directing Khalistani Over Ground Workers or sleeper cells to target railway tracks in Punjab and surrounding states, according to sources in the security network.
Quoting intelligence inputs, the sources said that ISI has been contemplating to target Railway tracks especially when the goods trains are passing.
The ISI has been offering huge funds to the sleeper cells and OGWs of Khalistan with terrorist Harvinder Singh Rinda, hiding in Lahore, coordinating with these elements in Punjab, the sources further said.
Logo of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence organization(wikipedia)
While the state government and the Railway Protection Forces have been asked to increase the surveillance on the rail network in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, the divisional offices of the Indian Railway of the states have been directed to increase patrolling of the tracks with immediate effect.
Evidence gathered by the security agencies prove that Anti-India Elements (AIE) have been trying to disrupt the peace and harmony in Punjab.
“When they (ISI) could not get success in Jammu and Kashmir, they diverted their focus on Punjab to restore militancy in the border state. And in this task, Sikh militant organisations like Sikh for Justice (SFJ) Babbar Khalsa and others, working from abroad, are helping the misguided youths of Punjab to raise arms and execute terror incidents in the state,” a senior official in the security set-up said.
He also said that the recent arrest of four Sikh militants from Haryana’s Karnal district along with a huge cache of arms, ammunition and IEDs shows that they(Khalistani militants) have been expanding their network in other states as well.
The rocket propelled grenade attack at Intelligence Headquarters of Punjab Police at Mohali also testified that arms, ammunition and narcotics have been pushed into India by drones provided by ISI to these militants in Punjab, the officials said.
According to sources, an Inspector General level officer led team will investigate the sources of funding by various organisations abroad for the creation of Khalistan out of India by the banned outfits like SFJ, reports Asian Lite News
A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team probing the funding of local NGOs by foreign secessionist Khalistani outfits like Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) has liaised with the Canadian authorities in Ottawa to seek legal action, including their listing as terror entities.
The NIA team was in Ottawa on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP for better coordinating investigation against entities and individuals suspected of terrorism and to discuss other criminal matters.
The NIA had earlier this year formally requested Canada to declare SFJ a terrorist entity. To buttress its case, the NIA shared dossiers with the Canadian law enforcement authorities during interactions in Ottawa, sources said.
The NIA team’s visit comes as the federal anti-terror agency has evidence to substantiate India’s claim that SFJ was fueling violence in India, particularly in Punjab, as part of its separatist agenda. The SFJ is also spearheading the Punjab Referendum at the behest of Pakistani agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Headquartered in New York, the SFJ, aided by ISI, has spread its tentacles globally and has emerged as an influential voice among pro-Khalistan elements in Canada. The SFJ was banned in India last year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Public Safety Canada’s currently listed entities include two Khalistani outfits — Babbar Khalsa International and International Sikh Youth Federation — other than groups like the Taliban, Islamic State, Al Qaida and its affiliates Boko Haram, Haqqani Network, Hizbul Mujahideen, Indian Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayabba among several others.
“The NIA team led by an Inspector General of Police held detailed discussions with senior RCMP officials to collate evidence on several ongoing investigations into cases of terrorism and other serious crimes in order to bring about successful prosecution of the accused in both India and Canada,” the Indian High Commission in Ottawa said in a statement.
The NIA delegation also “held additional meetings with the International Crime and Counter-terrorism Bureau of Global Affairs Canada and with senior officials from the International Affairs Division of Public Safety Canada, with a view to deepening and expanding India-Canada collaboration on counter-terrorism and interdiction of global terrorist financing.”
The NIA and RCMP officials also discussed issues related to evidentiary requirements in India and Canada and possible cooperation for capacity building in police investigation between the two agencies.
The Indian delegation invited their Canadian counterparts to visit India at their earliest convenience to continue the ongoing collaboration between police agencies.
India and Canada share common views on the need for strong concerted action against global terrorism and for curtailing terror financing. The police and security agencies of the two countries pursue investigation, prosecution and suppression of crime, including crime related to terrorism, through cooperation and mutual assistance in criminal matters.
The two countries have a range of ongoing bilateral mechanisms including a Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism. The two countries had signed a treaty on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters in 1994 and have an Extradition Treaty since 1987.
During the farmers agitation against the three farm laws in Delhi in January and February, it was reported that some NGOs like ‘Khalsa Aid’ and others were funded by these Sikh organisations and supported the agitation for long. Around 40 persons including a Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu and Khalistani sympathizer Baldev Singh Sirsa were summoned by the NIA for questioning in the ‘Sikhs For Justice Referendum case.
Recently on November 1, the SFJ organised a referendum in London to carve out Khalistan in India, which badly failed to garner support of the Sikhs due to punitive actions taken by the Indian government.
The Indian authorities have cancelled the visas of 12 Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) status for their involvement in anti-India activities abroad. The US based SFJ deliberately tried to organise a referendum in London on November 1, 2021 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the UK, attending a global summit on Climate Change in Glasgow.
The think tank warned that the involvement of Kashmir American Council and head Fai and Kashmir-related groups in the US based Khalistan milieu should be taken seriously…reports Sanjeev Sharma
The most worrisome aspect of US-based Khalistan agitation is the likelihood that Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI is responsible to a considerable degree, according to a report by the Hudson Institute.
The research titled, “Pakistan’s Destabilization Playbook: Khalistan Separatist Activism Within the US”, says that in 2011, the FBI identified the Kashmir American Council and its head, Ghulam Nabi Fai, as tied to “a decades-long scheme to conceal the transfer of at least $3.5 million from the government of Pakistan to fund his lobbying efforts in America related to Kashmir.”
Fai had long partnered with Khalistani organizations and Sikh activists. In 1992, for example, he and a number of Khalistani supporters attended the Democratic Party convention to lobby for Kashmiri and Sikh secessionism.
In 2000, Indian media reported that Fai and Paramjit Singh Ajrawat, founder of the Anti-Defamation Sikh Council for Khalistan, together visited a gurdwara in Silver Spring, Maryland, where they called for the US and the UN to increase their efforts to obtain a peaceful solution to the “liberation of the Sikh homeland, Khalistan and the 52-year-old Kashmir conflict”.
The involvement of Fai and Kashmir-related groups in the US based Khalistan milieu should be taken seriously, the report said.
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, a US citizen and director of the Kashmiri American Council (KAC), was arrested and pleaded guilty to criminal counts of conspiracy to conceal material facts, impede the IRS in the collection of revenue, and impede the administration of tax laws, the report said.
For years, the KAC “held itself out to be run by Kashmiris, financed by Americans and dedicated to raising the level of knowledge in the United States about the struggle of the Kashmiri people for self-determination. But according to court documents, the KAC was secretly funded by officials employed by the government of Pakistan, including the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate.”
The Kashmir American Council presented itself as an advocate for Kashmiris’ human rights, working to create awareness of and support for the Kashmiri people’s struggles to attain these rights.
To further these efforts over the years, KAC and Fai employed a major Washington-area lobbyist, contributed to the campaigns of certain Congress members, organized rallies and conferences against India, and attempted to influence US policy on South Asia, all without acknowledging that Pakistan and its intelligence service were funding their efforts, the report said.
According to the US Department of Justice, Fai “repeatedly submitted annual KAC strategy reports and budgetary requirements to Pakistani government officials for approval. For instance, in 2009, Fai sent the ISI a document entitled ‘Plan of Action of KAC/Kashmir Centre, Washington, DC, for the Fiscal Year 2010,’ which itemized KAC’s 2010 budget request of $658,000 and listed Fai’s plans to secure US congressional support for US action in support of Kashmiri self-determination.
The Department of Justice stated that Fai also “accepted the transfer of such money to the KAC from the ISI and the government of Pakistan through his co-defendant Zaheer Ahmad and middlemen (straw donors), who received reimbursement from Ahmad for their purported ‘donations’ to the KAC.” Fai failed to inform the IRS that these straw donors were being reimbursed by Ahmad “using funds received from officials employed by the ISI and the government of Pakistan.”
Although Fai had most likely been receiving funding from Pakistan’s ISI since KAC’s 1992 inception, he was investigated and indicted only after the deterioration in US-Pakistan relations in the aftermath of the 2011 raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed, the report said.
Kashmiri and Khalistani activists have benefited from having the same friends in high places. In 2011 following the discovery that Pakistan’s ISI was bankrolling Fai’s KAC, the New York Times reported that three members of the US House—Joe Pitts, Dan Burton, and Dennis J. Kucinich—had been working closely with Fai and his group. Rep Burton, the Times reported, had taken a particularly “aggressive role in promoting the agenda pushed by Mr Fai.”
A small minority of the Sikh diaspora in N. America want to create a separate state for Sikhs within the Indian state of Punjab. Is #Pakistan using this as a cudgel against #India?
In 1997, the Washington Post noted that “nearly a quarter of the individual donations to Burton’s 1996 campaign came from the Sikh and Kashmiri communities in the United States.”
Following Fai’s arrest in 2011, it emerged that Burton, who retired in 2013, had received significant sums of money from Fai himself. Burton has consistently denied any knowledge that Fai’s group was “linked to any foreign intelligence operation.”
However, particularly interesting but scarcely discussed, Burton also appeared to be a leading Congressional advocate for the Khalistani cause, sponsoring “many resolutions in Congress and [castigating] India for its ‘profound lack of respect for Sikh life and culture.'”
In 2004, Burton invited Fai and Gurmit Singh Aulakh, president of the Council of Khalistan, to address the Committee on Government Reform on the issue of alleged Indian brutality.
Burton is not the only member of the US Congress to openly advocate for both the Khalistani and Kashmiri causes. In 1998, Rep Edolphus Towns, who represented New York from 1983 to 2013, openly advocated for Aulakh’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, lauding his efforts to “expose the oppression of Sikhs.”
As per the report, other members of the US Congress who have jointly called for the liberation of Sikhs and Kashmiris include Rep Philip M. Crane (Republican from Illinois, 1969–2005); 128 Rep John T. Doolittle (Republican from California, 1991–2009); 129 Rep Roscoe Bartlett (Republican from Maryland, 1993–2013); 130 Rep Lincoln Diaz-Balart (Republican from Florida, 1986–2011); 131 Rep Wally Herger (Republican from California, 1987–2013); 132 and Rep Cynthia McKinney (Democrat from Georgia, 1993–2003).
Many others in Congress regularly promote the Khalistani cause while not also advancing the agenda of Kashmiri separatists.
Following Fai’s release from jail, he has remained an active partner of radical fellow travellers, including Sikh activists, and continues to write regularly about the ostensible persecution of Sikhs in India, publishing across a variety of Pakistani media. In addition, since at least 2016, Fai has led annual protests made up of Sikh, Islamist, and Kashmiri activists outside the United Nations building in New York, the report said.
At the 2017 protest, Fai and his new organization, the World Kashmiri Awareness Forum, were supported by Sikh activists, Pakistani regime officials, and such Kashmiri separatists as Syed Ali Geelani, who once served as “head of jihad” for the Kashmiri branch of South Asia’s violent Islamist movement Jamaat-e-Islami.
At the 2019 protest, one newspaper reported that joining Fai was “a prominent Sikh leader, Sardar Amarjit Singh,” who “also voiced support for the cause of Kashmir and reaffirmed his call for the establishment of Khalistan.”
In July 2021, Singh and other Khalistani activists joined Fai again — filmed by a camera crew from television channel TV84 (a project of various Khalistani activists, including activists from the Khalistan Affairs Center and Sikhs for Justice)139—to honor “Kashmir Martyrs Day.
Hudson Institute’s report says that Washington needs to monitor activities of Khalistani groups to prevent reoccurrence of the violence orchestrated by the Khalistan movement in the 1980s, reports Asian Lite News
In a recent report by a top American think tank, Hudson Institute, ‘Pakistan’s Destabilization Playbook: Khalistani Activism in the US’ published on Tuesday, it examines the conduct of “Khalistan and Kashmir separatist groups within the United States” to investigate their support by Pakistan.
The report looks at these groups’ ties to militant and terrorist outfits in India, and the possible detrimental effects of their activities on US foreign policy in South Asia.
The report demonstrates that “like Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist groups, the Khalistan groups can emerge under new names.”
“Unfortunately, the United States government has shown no interest in violence committed by Khalistan activists, even though the Khalistan campaign’s most ardent supporters are located in western countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States,” it said.
“Unless the US government prioritises oversight of Khalistan-related militancy and terrorism, it is unlikely to identify groups that are currently engaged in violence in Punjab in India or are preparing to do so. One seldom finds what one is not looking for,” it said.
Hudson Institute says that anticipation constitutes a crucial part of national security planning, and, therefore, investigating, within the limits prescribed by law, the activities of Khalistani groups located in North America is important to preventing a reoccurrence of the violence orchestrated by the Khalistan movement in the 1980s.
Importantly, the recent increase in Khalistan-related anti-India activism within the US is occurring as the United States and India are collaborating to confront the rise of China, especially in the Indo-Pacific, it said.
“The Khalistan movement’s history and recent mobilisation should serve as a reminder that, unless the threat it poses is somehow preempted, it could expand to a level where action might be too late to prevent large-scale loss of life,” it said.
The report calls upon the US government to India’s concerns seriously and dedicates the requisite intelligence and law enforcement resources to help India address these concerns.
The report said the US government should Include all groups responsible for terrorist attacks in India in its list of designated global terrorist groups and designate as terrorists the various individuals that India and US intelligence and law enforcement have established as being connected to designated terrorist entities.
“Apply terror financing laws and regulations to the various groups espousing Kashmiri and Khalistan separatism; Investigate US-based groups espousing Kashmiri and Khalistan separatism for possible violations of US laws related to foreign funding,” it said.
“Use legal means established specifically to combat terrorism, including FISA warrants, to monitor suspected Kashmiri and Khalistan terrorism sympathisers and advocates,” the report said.
Observing that Sikh radical groups are active in the New York area and in California, the report said that in addition to disseminating anti-India propaganda, the focus of these organizations is advocating the Khalistan cause, and to secure the support they target local politicians, US think tanks, and human rights activists.
“Khalistan activists also use Sikh places of worship, gurdwaras, to attract followers, organising special events to commemorate the ‘martyrdom’ of terrorists in Punjab. They also commemorate Operation Blue Star and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots to proselytise younger Sikhs into believing that there is a religious conflict between Sikhs and other Indians,” it added.
