Khalistan and Sikh Self-Determination

Overview

Recall questions on the origins of the demand, 1984 and its aftermath, and the range of Sikh opinion on it.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is Khalistan?

   Model answer

   The name used for a proposed sovereign state for Sikhs in Punjab. The case for it rests on the claim that Sikhs are a qaum whose religious and political life cannot be secured within a state where they are a small minority; the claim is contested among Sikhs and rejected by the Indian state.

2. 2

   Outline the grievances behind Sikh demands for greater autonomy.

   Model answer

   Partition in 1947 divided Punjab and left major shrines, including the birthplace of Guru Nanak, in Pakistan, with mass displacement and killing. Afterwards came the long campaign for a Punjabi-speaking state, achieved in 1966, and continuing disputes over the sharing of river waters, the status of Chandigarh, and how much autonomy states should have.

3. 3

   What was the Anandpur Sahib Resolution?

   Model answer

   A statement adopted in 1973 setting out demands for greater state autonomy within India alongside religious and economic claims. Its authors presented it as federalism, opponents read it as a step toward separation, and the dispute over what it meant became part of the conflict that followed.

4. 4

   What happened in 1984?

   Model answer

   In June the Indian Army attacked the Harmandir Sahib complex, which had been fortified by armed men, in an operation in which many pilgrims present for a martyrdom anniversary were killed and the Akal Takht was badly damaged. In October the Prime Minister was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards, and mass killings of Sikhs followed in Delhi and elsewhere, with thousands dead and long-standing complaints that those responsible were never brought to trial.

5. 5

   Why does 1984 matter to Sikhs who do not want a separate state?

   Model answer

   Because an army assault on the community's central shrine, and the killings that followed, are felt as an attack on Sikhs as such, and because the question of justice for the victims remains open. Many Sikhs hold these grievances strongly while firmly rejecting separatism.

6. 6

   What form did the conflict take after 1984?

   Model answer

   A decade of insurgency and counter-insurgency in Punjab, with killings by militant groups and by the security forces, disappearances and heavy civilian loss. The bombing of an airliner leaving Canada in 1985 killed 329 people and remains the deadliest attack associated with the movement, and organised violence had largely ended by the mid-1990s.

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