Cast From The Past: How Khalistan movement took root in Canada before getting rejected in India

India-Canada relations hit rock bottom after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a shocking claim about "Indian agents' involvement" in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Canada stood accused of sheltering “Khalistani terrorists and extremists”, as the Indian government said that the “inaction of the Canadian government on this matter has been a long-standing and continuing concern”.

What followed was a series of tit-for-tat actions which included the tit-for-tat ousting of diplomats, a pause in free trade talks, back-to-back travel advisory updates and halting of visa processing, and raking up of the issue in national and international fora.

Khalistanis taking shelter in Canada is not new. It has remained a thorn between the two nations for years.

Here's how an ideology, which failed to gain traction in India, grew into a synchronised terror network that proliferated for more than 40 years.

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Khalistani movement finds roots in Canada

Khalistan refers to an imagined homeland of Sikhs in India, incorporating Punjab with parts of other northern states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

In 1971, two years before a separatist resolution in India's Anandpur Sahib town formalised the purported demand for Khalistan, politician and dentist Dr. Jagjit Singh Chauhan had already declared himself the president of Khalistan while residing in Canada.

An advertisement was run by him in The New York Times which proclaimed the birth of Khalistan. "We are going to wait no more. Today we are launching the final crusade. We are a nation in our own right," the advertisement read.

In December 1971, Pakistan's Zulfikar Ali Bhutto extended a supporting hand to the Khalistani leaders. Canadian journalist Terri Milewski in his book "Blood for Blood: Fifty Years of the Global Khalistan Project" wrote about Bhutto's meeting with a delegation of Sikhs, where he quoted the Pakistani leader as saying, "Sardarji, you have the keys to Nankana Sahib. Come there, we'll help you and make it the capital of Khalistan. Start a movement from here."

Khalistan's shared legacy: From Pierre to Justin Trudeau

At a time when Khalistan was growing its roots in Canada, the relations between Ottawa and New Delhi were strained with the detonation of India's first nuclear weapon at the Pokhran test site. It was the use of plutonium from the CIRUS reactor, which was commissioned in July 1960 with Canadian collaboration, that left Ottawa miffed.

India claimed that it was a "peaceful nuclear explosion" and that the country did not violate the terms of the agreement with Canada. However, Canada's then prime Minister Pierre Trudeau - father of current PM Justin Trudeau who lit off the Nijjar row some days ago - withdrew all support from India's nuclear energy programme and the Canadian officials, who were working on another reactor, were recalled.

"Most of the Khalistanis started settling in Canada in the regime of Pierre Trudeau in the late 70s and 80s," former ambassador of India to Canada Vishnu Prakash told WION. "Trudeau and India's then prime minister Indira Gandhi shared differences of opinions."

For years, Canada was a safe haven for Khalistan supporters who have been accused of terrorism by India. "Canada was known to harbour people of all kinds. So, separatists from even other countries like Sri Lanka found refuge in Canada," Prakash said.

Kaniskha flight bombing: A dark chapter

In June 1985, after Khalistani terror organisation Babbar Khalsa orchestrated the bombing of Air India Kanishka, which killed 329 people - mostly Canadians- the head of the terror group Talwinder Parmar was shielded by Pierre Trudeau, which made things worse for bilateral ties.

"The meek Canadian response to the Khalistani challenge was a frequent target of Indian politicians as far back as 1982 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi complained about it to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau," Milewski wrote in his book, stressing Canada's weak response to the growing Khalistani terror.

"It was Pierre Trudeau’s government which refused the 1982 Indian request to extradite Talwinder Parmar to India for murder, on the quaint grounds that India was insufficiently deferential to the Queen," he wrote, referring to Britain's Queen Elizabeth.

Today, Justin Trudeau seems to be simply following the steps of his father.

WATCH | Who is Khalistan supporter Jagmeet Singh and Why is Trudeau dependent on him to be in power?

Why 770,000 Sikhs are important to Canada government

Canada's "vote bank politics," as mentioned by India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, is the likely reason for the meek response of its government, and lack of action against increasing Khalistani extremism on its soil.

There are around 770,00 Sikhs in Canada, which is not a large number. So how do they become a factor in 'vote bank politics'?

"The Sikh community is concentrated in a few areas and they control 8 to 10 seats in the parliament indirectly," pointed out Ambassador Prakash.

He pointed out that at least 80 per cent of them voted for Trudeau and his Liberal Party.

"So, they have political influence much beyond their numbers and they are very well organised. They have funding through gurudwaras. So there is fund flow. They provide material and manpower to support the Liberal Party's campaigns. They also allegedly provide finances. So it is vote bank politics."

He noted that almost all political parties in Canada support the Khalistanis, "but the Liberals have gone out of the way to sup with them."

The former envoy emphasised that not all Sikhs are in support of Khalistani extremism, which gained roots on Canadian soil.

They are rather fearful of the violence these extremists may unfold, he added.

"Overwhelming percentage of Sikhs are peace-loving, they like India and see it as their cultural home. They are religious people, they go to gurudwaras and donate liberally, without necessarily knowing if it is controlled by a Khalistani. This makes the fund flow quite robust within Khalistani organisations and there is no scrutiny over the flow of the funds in Canada," he said.

"The Sikh masses in Canada are afraid of the capability of Khalistanis to commit violence. These extremists control the streets, they have the muscle and the government supports them, which further makes them more active and belligerent in their behaviour," the former ambassador said.

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