Over 2,000 pro-Khalistan demonstrators took part in a rally organised by the United States-based outfit, Sikhs for Justice, on Trafalgar Square in London on Sunday, seeking support to hold a referendum in 2020 for an independent Sikh nation. However, the group has not made it clear whether they hope to have a “Khalistan” carved out of the northern Indian state of Punjab, or seek an independent status for the state.
According to sources in the Punjab government, the rally in London was aimed to campaign and mobilise support for what they call as “Referendum 2020”. Notably, no prominent Sikh leader from the US, Canada or the UK participated in the rally, nor did any elected head of a gurdwara in the UK. In fact, no elected representative of Indian origin was present at the rally.
Sources said “a couple of people of Pakistani origin” addressed the crowd including British-Pakistani, Lord Nazir Ahmed, who was expelled from the Labour Party.
The demonstrators waved flags designed by the Sikhs for Justice group, along with flags of separatist Kashmiri groups.
Interestingly, the Amritsar headquartered one-time hardliner pro-Khalistani group Dal Khalsa as well as Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) leader Simranjit Singh Mann dismissed the idea of “Referendum 2020” calling it “farfetched” and “unworkable”. In July, Dal Khalsa's UK unit “removed” the parent body's president Harpal Singh Cheema and spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh from the party for anti-Panthic and anti-Khalistani activities.
Dal Khalsa had supported the pro-Khalistan efforts by some overseas Sikhs in the early 80s. Simranjit Singh Mann, an IPS officer then, bandied with those elements, particularly Ganga Singh Dhillon, a US-based Khalistan protogonist. After 15 years of bloodshed, peace returned to Punjab when Congress leader Beant Singh led his party to victory, trouncing all the secessionist elements. It is another matter that he became the biggest victim of militancy when he was killed in a bomb blast in the early months of peace. But in the subsequent period, all dominant pro-Khalistani terrorists within the state and elsewhere in India were “neutralised”. After the crackdown, many former militants, who had taken shelter in Pakistan and Germany, returned to their homeland. Some even tried contesting elections swearing by the Constitution of India.
None of the political parties in Punjab has supported the idea of the referendum.While AAP initially supported what they called the Sikh cause, they quickly backtracked, saying they were misreported.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh came down heavily on the AAP leaders while, Shiroman Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia called it a “proof of divisive politics of AAP”.
Will the Sikhs in Punjab support the new efforts being catapulted from far away soils? “There will always be a residual element of the demand for Khalistan. I don't know if it will even become a reality. But now is not the time,” said a senior Akali leader who did not want to be identified.