The murder of Canadian Sikh independence advocate Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada earlier this year has cratered diplomatic relations between Canada and India after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of orchestrating the murder.
We're not going to parse through the evidence here, partly because we don't want to get sanctioned by the India government but mainly because we're in no position to do so.
But what we can speak to is the line that connects hundreds of years of British rule in the Subcontinent with Nijjar's murder. The British effectively practiced a policy of divide-and-conquer and effectively played different ethnic and religious communities against each other. (Not that they needed any help...More on that later.) This policy sowed the seeds of communalism, which would later have a profound impact on the Sikhs' aspirations for an independent Khalistan.
The Sikh community, with its distinct religious and cultural identity, also suffered especially during British colonial rule. While some Sikhs benefited from the opportunities presented by the British, others felt marginalized and discontented due to economic disparities, land reforms, and discriminatory policies. This discontentment would serve as a catalyst for the Khalistan movement in the post-independence period.
And of course, we have the ultimate trauma: partition. The partition of India in 1947, which resulted in the creation of India and Pakistan as separate nations, had a profound impact on the Khalistan movement. The arbitrary drawing of borders divided the Sikh-majority regions between the two newly formed countries, causing significant unrest and contributing to the demand for an independent Sikh state.
But let's be clear: it's not like the Sikhs were thriving before the British came to India. The rulers of the Mughal Empire, which rules large parts of the Subcontinent until the 1700s, systematically attacked many minority groups and launched more than one massacre of the Sikh community.
Not that it needs to be said, but this is another example of how some nonsense colonial policies set in motion hundreds of years ago continue to affect us today.