Sidhu Moose WaIa: India police probe Punjabi singer’s murder
Al JazeeraJUL 2022
Pakistan-based Islamist groups and Kashmir-centric terrorist groups are behind Amritpal Singh, a Khalistani activist and currently India’s most wanted and notorious fugitive. It’s no secret that the Khalistan agenda has been primarily kept alive from foreign soil by Sikh hardliners attempting to revive the insurgency in Punjab — India’s only Sikh-majority state — with a massive financial push. The Indian government must come down heavily on all anti-national elements.
Traditional political parties in Punjab have failed to solve long-standing socio-economic crises such as unemployment, drug addiction, and theocratic-political crises including releasing Sikh political prisoners. The erosion of faith within political parties, and not Amritpal Singh, has revived the demand for a larger religious and social transformation in Punjab. However, Amritpal’s radical posturing and the recent increase in activities of pro-Khalistani forces is a dangerous trend that may destabilize the state and the country again.
The passionate protests seen to be growing not only in India but also worldwide are just the beginning of Sikh solidarity. The current treatment of the Punjab area is nearly identical to events preceding the 1984 Sikh genocide. The longer governments worldwide continue to let India treat a minority community in this manner, the more fervent Sikh protests are likely to become.