A leading US-based expert on international security Michael Rubin has described the concept of Khalistan as artificial as Pakistan was in its infancy and cautioned the USA establishment against entertaining any Khalistani figures.
In an article titled ‘ Khalistani Extremism: A Growing Threat In The U.S. And Canada’ in the National Security Journal, Rubin explained, “Khalistan today is as artificial as Pakistan was in its infancy. Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Choudhry Rahmat Ali and Muhammad Ali Jinnah created the concept of Pakistan to be a separate state for Muslims upon India’s independence. The name Pakistan, coined by Rahmat Ali, was completely artificial: It was both an anagram, taking the P from Punjab, A from Afghan, K from Kashmir, S from Sindh, I from the Indus River Valley, and the last four letters from Baluchistan, and a pun: Pakistan is both a Persian and Urdu word meaning “land of the pure.””
“Khalistan, likewise, has no historical basis. As with Pakistan, Khalistan literally means “land of the pure,” although it substitutes the Persian/Urdu “Pak” for the Punjabi/Arabic “Khalis.” Khalistani separatists use the term to frame their demand for an independent Sikh state in Punjab. Sikhs comprise slightly over half the population of Indian Punjab; their population is now near zero in Pakistani Punjab due to decades of Pakistani sectarian cleansing,” he alleged.
“Even with half the population in Indian Punjab, though, the Khalistani platform is wildly unpopular, notwithstanding violence in 1984 that culminated in Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Most Sikhs seek integration into India, where traditionally they thrive. Manmohan Singh, prime minister for a decade beginning 2004, was a Sikh. So too was JJ Singh, chief of the army staff between 2005 and 2007, and numerous other military and business leaders,” Rubin pointed out.
“Ignorance is no excuse. On June 23, 1985, a bomb placed by Khalistani terrorists downed Air India Flight 1982 over the North Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 passengers and crew. It was single greatest airplane-involved terror incident until Al Qaeda transformed commercial jets into flying bombs on September 11, 2001. The attack helped inspire the Pan Am 103 bombing three years later over Lockerbie, Scotland,” Rubin recalled.
“Imagine the uproar if the president welcomed Hamas cheerleaders to the White House immediately before meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That is exactly what Joe Biden did last month just hours before meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he welcomed Khalistani militants previous month.”
“While Khalistani terrorism and gang violence has made headlines in Canada, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accusing India—apparently falsely—of assassinating a Sikh extremist and wanted terrorist on Canadian soil, Khalistan extremism has become an increasing problem in America as Khalistan activists use false asylum claims and chain immigration to build large communities in California and New York,” the expert claimed.
Americans remember with outrage Iranian students seizing the U.S. embassy in Tehran or Libyan militants attacking the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, but few realize that Khalistani militants have twice attacked India’s consulate in San Francisco, Rubin noted.
“Extremism in any form and deriving from any religion can pose a danger, but Khalistani extremism, with its Pakistani backing, poses a grave and growing threat. Many Americans may never have heard of Khalistan, but American permissiveness to its militants increasingly could cost American lives.”
Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and formerly served in the Pentagon.
In an article titled ‘ Khalistani Extremism: A Growing Threat In The U.S. And Canada’ in the National Security Journal, Rubin explained, “Khalistan today is as artificial as Pakistan was in its infancy. Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Choudhry Rahmat Ali and Muhammad Ali Jinnah created the concept of Pakistan to be a separate state for Muslims upon India’s independence. The name Pakistan, coined by Rahmat Ali, was completely artificial: It was both an anagram, taking the P from Punjab, A from Afghan, K from Kashmir, S from Sindh, I from the Indus River Valley, and the last four letters from Baluchistan, and a pun: Pakistan is both a Persian and Urdu word meaning “land of the pure.””
“Khalistan, likewise, has no historical basis. As with Pakistan, Khalistan literally means “land of the pure,” although it substitutes the Persian/Urdu “Pak” for the Punjabi/Arabic “Khalis.” Khalistani separatists use the term to frame their demand for an independent Sikh state in Punjab. Sikhs comprise slightly over half the population of Indian Punjab; their population is now near zero in Pakistani Punjab due to decades of Pakistani sectarian cleansing,” he alleged.
“Even with half the population in Indian Punjab, though, the Khalistani platform is wildly unpopular, notwithstanding violence in 1984 that culminated in Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Most Sikhs seek integration into India, where traditionally they thrive. Manmohan Singh, prime minister for a decade beginning 2004, was a Sikh. So too was JJ Singh, chief of the army staff between 2005 and 2007, and numerous other military and business leaders,” Rubin pointed out.
“Ignorance is no excuse. On June 23, 1985, a bomb placed by Khalistani terrorists downed Air India Flight 1982 over the North Atlantic Ocean, killing all 329 passengers and crew. It was single greatest airplane-involved terror incident until Al Qaeda transformed commercial jets into flying bombs on September 11, 2001. The attack helped inspire the Pan Am 103 bombing three years later over Lockerbie, Scotland,” Rubin recalled.
“Imagine the uproar if the president welcomed Hamas cheerleaders to the White House immediately before meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That is exactly what Joe Biden did last month just hours before meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he welcomed Khalistani militants previous month.”
“While Khalistani terrorism and gang violence has made headlines in Canada, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accusing India—apparently falsely—of assassinating a Sikh extremist and wanted terrorist on Canadian soil, Khalistan extremism has become an increasing problem in America as Khalistan activists use false asylum claims and chain immigration to build large communities in California and New York,” the expert claimed.
Americans remember with outrage Iranian students seizing the U.S. embassy in Tehran or Libyan militants attacking the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, but few realize that Khalistani militants have twice attacked India’s consulate in San Francisco, Rubin noted.
“Extremism in any form and deriving from any religion can pose a danger, but Khalistani extremism, with its Pakistani backing, poses a grave and growing threat. Many Americans may never have heard of Khalistan, but American permissiveness to its militants increasingly could cost American lives.”
Rubin is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and formerly served in the Pentagon.
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