- Three decades after sectarian violence mauled Punjab, the radicalist threat appears to be raising its head again.
- Sectarian violence is hardly unknown to India, but what is not clear is why Sikh extremism has, of late, gained a new lease of life.
- The emergence of a self-styled Sikh extremist preacher, Amritpal Singh, modelling himself on Bhindranwale of yore is, hence, to be seen at best as a cover for something that has deeper roots.
- Resemblance of the ‘impostor’ to Bhindranwale is, at present, limited to style, but it seems to be galvanising the extremist fringe among the Sikh youth, including the Sikh diaspora in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- Links have been established by this ‘core group’ with pro Khalistan groups such as the ‘Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), the Babbar Khasla, and the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF)’.
- The real cause for concern is that the current security dispensation does not appear to have learnt the right lessons from past mistakes.
- The Bhindranwale phenomenon was not a sudden development, which, if properly handled, could have been checkmated well before 1984, and the subsequent violence leading to ‘Operation Blue Star’ and the damage caused to Akal Takht avoided.
- This was what inflamed Sikh opinion and the lesson was to ensure that this is not repeated any time in the future.
- Effecting the arrest of Amritpal Singh is but an initial step. More important is how to deal with him and his coterie.
- Most important is to avoid treating all that is happening now as evidence of a foreign conspiracy — of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and other like minded forces — instead of facing up to the reality that this may be more than a mere emotional outburst of the Sikh extremist fringe, and that it could have deeper underpinnings.
- Blaming the current violence on the drug mafia with links to Pakistan can at best be a proximate, but not the real cause.
- Hence, good intelligence is the key.
- Prioritise intelligence analysis
- One of the tragedies of intelligence today is that intelligence analysis has low priority.
- It still bears mentioning that central and State intelligence agencies cannot have missed signs of growing insecurity among sections of Sikh youth and discontent prevailing among the Sikh peasantry essentially over the decline in their economic conditions, as also the threat posed to the Sikh religion from conversions to other religions, such as Christianity.
- At the very least, Amritpal Singh’s escapade of leading a mob armed with guns and other weapons to attack a well protected police station (Ajnala, a few kilometres from the border of Pakistan) in February this year, should have alerted the authorities to what was taking place just below the surface.
- Amritpal Singh’s anointment as the head of ‘Waris Punjab De’ last year.
- In the normal course, all this would also have been shared with friendly intelligence agencies abroad, specially in countries where the Sikh diaspora is present in strength.
- The events of January 2021, which witnessed violent protests over the now repealed farm laws also clearly mattered, for it was not merely a visible symbol of agrarian protest but also implicitly carried the seeds of self determination that India believed it had put to rest by the late 1990s.
- The sentiment for Khalistan has, no doubt, long existed among Sikh radicals residing abroad, but it is also important now to introspect as to whether there are incipient signs of a revival of the idea of Khalistan within the country.
- Convincing the world is key
- India has clearly failed to convince much of the world of the true nature of the radicalist Khalistan threat, and its close links with terrorist groups.
- India needs to effectively convince the rest of the world of the threat posed by radicalised forces such as the KLF and the SFJ.
- In large parts of the world, liberal values are already embattled; India should not yield to the temptation of resorting to hard measures without understanding the true causes and join the ranks of nations that solely believe in strong arm methods, such as Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the Mullahs in Iran.
- India needs to steer between the extremes of the right and left, and ensure a greater sense of unity within the country, according due respect for individual dignity and human progress, and demonstrating leadership in the comity of nations.
