Sikh separatism

The Khalistan movement was a Sikh separatist movement, which seeks to create a separate country called Khalistān (Punjabi: ਖਾਲਿਸਤਾਨ, "The Land of the Pure") in the Punjab region of South Asia. The territorial definition of the proposed country Khalistan ranges from the Punjab, to parts of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Rajasthan. While no longer of significance in India, it continues to have few supporters in the overseas Sikh community, especially Canada.

The Sikhs have traditionally been concentrated in Punjab region of undivided India although not in a majority in either Punjab in Pakistan or Punjab in India. Sikhism was pan-Indian, with the main Sikh scriptures Guru Granth Sahib drawing from works of saints in North as well as South India, and the several of its major seats (such as Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, Panj Takhts Takht Sri Patna Sahib in Bihar, Hazur Sahib Nanded in Maharashtra) outside of Indian Punjab. Before its conquest by the British, it had been ruled by the confederacy of Sikh Misls founded by Banda Bahadur ruled over the entire Punjab from 1767 to 1799, until their confederacy was unified into the Sikh Empire by Maharajah Ranjit Singh. However, the region also has a substantial number of Hindus and Muslims, and before 1947, the Sikhs formed the largest religious group only in the Ludhiana district of the British province. When the Muslim League demanded a separate country for Muslims via the Lahore Resolution of 1940, a section of Sikh leaders grew concerned that their community would be left without any homeland following the partition of India between the Hindus and the Muslims. They put forward the idea of Khalistan, envisaging it as a theocratic state covering a small part of the greater Punjab region.

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