Numerous secessionist movements have been continuing in India to get rid of the oppressive regime of New Delhi. Besides the Kashmir freedom struggle, the Naxalites and Maoist activists have been struggling against Indian suppression. The Khalistan movement is getting momentum in the Indian state of Punjab to create a separate homeland for Sikhs.
In recent reports, the Sikh diaspora living in various countries of the world is overwhelmingly participating in the Khalistan Referendum to support the creation of a separate country in the Indian state of Punjab. Hundreds of thousands of Sikh people participated in the Referendum and voted in favour of Khalistan, demonstrating the people’s will.
On the other hand, the international community has turned down Indian Government’s request to stop the Referendum. Canada, England, and now Australia has refused to ban the Referendum being led by a US-based organization, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ). They declined to undermine freedom of expression, a fundamental human right.
In Toronto alone, over 70,000 people participated in the phased Referendum and voted in favour of Khalistan, while thousands of Sikh people also supported a separate homeland in the voting held in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe.
Now the referendum exercise has reached Australia. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese conveyed to the Indian Government that Canberra cannot stop the legal right to expression of pro-Khalistan Sikhs in Australia after New Delhi demanded a ban on Khalistan Referendum in Brisbane.
It is pertinent to mention that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue with the Australian Government after over 50000 Sikhs turned up to vote for the Khalistan Referendum in Melbourne for the first phase of the Referendum at the end of January this year.
SFJ has claimed that Sikhs have come under attack from hardliner Hindutva supporters in Australia, and they were captured on videos defacing Khalistan Banners hanged at the Sikh temples. Similarly, members of the Sikh community also blockaded entry to the Indian Consulate in Brisbane and raised slogans for justice. The Queensland Police have said the pro-Khalistan and anti-India protest was lawful and peaceful.
SFJ General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in a video message, said that the Hindutva-influenced Modi-led Indian regime is pursuing violence to crush the Khalistan Referendum. However, SFJ is using voting to resolve the decades-old conflict between the Sikhs and the Union of India.
Besides negative tactics by the Indian Government, including a sponsored cyber attack to disrupt the Referendum, over 11,000 Sikhs took part in the Referendum to support the idea of secession from India.
India’s Hindutva supremacist Modi regime is violating fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression and religion. Lives of minorities in Modi-led India have become hell as their rights are being curtailed, and their lives and properties are facing serious risk. That is why the issue of Khalistan is again making headlines and flashing TV screens of the news media after the carnage at the Golden Temple—the most sacred place in Sikhism, in 1984.
Dubai-returned Amritpal Singh—pro-Khalistan leader of a Punjab-based organization’ Waris Punjab De’, has become a poster boy in the Indian Punjab. He has great attraction for the youth of Punjab in his agenda to create a separate homeland for Sikhs.
Seeing the rising graph of the Khalistan movement. It can be said that the day is not far away when there will be an independent Khalistan that can also play the role of buffer state between Pakistan and India and can bring last peace and stability to South Asia.
