Foreign soil, foreign design, harvest of hate

By Kartik Lokhande

The ‘Khalistan Files’ has multiple characters. Some emerged on the horizon suddenly and faded equally fast, but some are still referred to. One of the characters still referred to is Dr Jagjit Singh Chauhan (also spelled as Chohan). Dr Jagjit Singh Chauhan, who had served for a few months in the late 1960s as Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly and then as Finance Minister of Punjab, went to London and renamed the Sikh Home Rule Movement as Khalistan movement. This was part of a design. According to B Raman’s book, “The Nixon Administration colluded with Yahya regime (in Pakistan) by initiating a covert action plan for the destabilisation of India. This plan envisaged the encouragement of a separatist movement among the Sikhs of India’s Punjab for an independent State to be called Khalistan”.

The support was so open that Pakistani military dictator Gen Yahya Khan invited Dr Chauhan to Pakistan and glorified him as ‘the leader’ of Sikhs, handing over to him some Sikh holy relics kept in Pakistan as part of exercise to build his image. He tried to use those relics to win a following in the Sikh diaspora in the UK. In September 1971, he addressed a press conference at London, and gave a call for the creation of an independent Khalistan. Later, he visited New York and met some American journalists and others. Interestingly, this meeting was arranged discreetly by some members on the staff of the US National Security Council Secretariat then headed by Dr Henry Kissinger. On October 13, 1971, he published an advertisement in the ‘New York Times’ proclaiming the beginning of a movement for an independent Sikh State. Enquiries by the R&AW indicated that the Pakistani Embassy in Washington DC had paid for this advertisement.

Since then, the Western media outlets have been giving space to the Khalistani separatists either in news or through advertisement. The separatists appear to be wielding enough influence in some countries, especially Canada, to the extent that they can take out rallies and release videos and play billboard advertisements. Though the times have changed, the propaganda and support to it have not. Getting back to 1971, Dr Chauhan remained active with American and Pakistani encouragement. As per a report in the ‘New York Times’, at the peak of his activities, Dr Chauhan was “self-styled President of the ‘Republic of Khalistan’, appointed a cabinet, issued symbolic passports and postage stamps, and created ‘Khalistan dollars’. He opened embassies in Britain and other European countries”.

Surprisingly, after the defeat of Indira Gandhi in the post-Emergency elections in 1977, Dr Chauhan abruptly returned to India and the Khalistan ‘movement’ became dormant. Again, in 1980, when Indira Gandhi returned to power, Dr Chauhan was back to the UK, resuming pro-Khalistan activities. By this time, some things had changed. A number of other organisations formed by sections of the Sikh youth in the UK, the US, and Canada came into being. These included International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), Dal Khalsa, Babbar Khalsa etc. They advocated violence for creation of Khalistan and repudiated the leadership of Dr Chauhan, who was against resorting to violence.

(To be continued)