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warningsine · 6 months

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Montreal:

Canada said Thursday it had withdrawn 41 diplomats from India -- fallout from a bitter row over the killing of a Khalistani terrorist on Canadian soil.

India planned to "unethically" revoke diplomatic immunity for all but 21 of Canada's diplomats and their families by Friday, forcing Ottawa to pull out the others, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said.

"We have facilitated their safe departure from India," Ms Joly added. "This means that our diplomats and their families have now left."

Relations between India and Canada have plunged since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which India has denied.

Nijjar, who advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.

"Revoking the diplomatic immunity of 41 diplomats is not only unprecedented, but also contrary to international law," Ms Joly said Wednesday, but said Canada did not plan to retaliate in kind, so as to not "aggravate the situation."

"Canada will continue to defend international law, which applies to all nations and will continue to engage with India," she said.

"Now more than ever we need diplomats on the ground and we need to talk to one another," Joly added.

- Countermeasures -

Canada has called for India to cooperate in the investigation but New Delhi has rejected the allegations and taken countermeasures, such as shutting down visa services for Canadians.

Ottawa also expelled an Indian diplomat over the affair.

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar said last month in New York that his country would be willing to examine any evidence presented by Canada.

"We have actually been badgering the Canadians. We've given them loads of information about organized crime leadership which operates out of Canada," Mr Jaishankar said, referring to Sikh separatists.

"We have a situation where actually our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked and often comments are made (that are) interference in our politics," he said.

The Indian government has called the Canadian accusations over the killing "absurd" and advised its nationals not to travel to certain Canadian regions "given the increase in anti-Indian activities."

India also temporarily stopped processing visa applications in Canada.

Nijjar, who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a Canadian citizen in 2015, was shot dead by two masked assailants in the parking lot of a Sikh temple near Vancouver in June.

Canada is home to some 770,000 Sikhs, who make up about two percent of the country's population, with a vocal group calling for creating a separate state of Khalistan.

The Sikh separatist movement is largely finished within India, where security forces used deadly force to put down an insurgency in the state of Punjab in the 1980s.

The tensions between Ottawa and New Delhi have created a delicate situation for close Canadian ally Washington, which has in recent months taken steps to move closer to India as the United States seeks to limit Chinese influence in the region.

#canada #india #politics

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digitaldipayan · 7 months

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Khalistan: A Broader Perspective on the Rising Tensions and India-Canada Relations

The rise of Khalistan, a separatist movement seeking to establish an independent Sikh state in India, has been a contentious issue for decades. This movement has not only posed challenges to India's internal stability but has also affected its relations with other countries, including Canada. In this blog post, we will delve into the history and the rise of Khalistan movement in India, and examine how it has impacted India-Canada relations.

The Historical Context

The roots of the Khalistan movement can be traced back to the early 20th century when Sikhs, a religious and ethnic minority in India, began seeking greater autonomy. The demand for an independent Sikh state, Khalistan, gained momentum during the 1980s, particularly in the state of Punjab, which has a significant Sikh population. The movement was marked by violence, including acts of terrorism, which resulted in the loss of many lives.

The Golden Temple Operation in 1984, a military action to remove armed militants from the Golden Temple in Amritsar, led to significant unrest and the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards later that year. These events escalated the tension between the Indian government and Sikh separatist groups.

India-Canada Relations

Canada has a substantial Sikh diaspora, with a sizeable Sikh community that has contributed significantly to the country's multicultural fabric. This community has deep-rooted ties to their homeland and has been a vocal supporter of Sikh causes in India, including the demand for Khalistan.

One of the key figures in the Khalistan movement was Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who sought refuge in Canada before returning to India and becoming a prominent leader of the movement. This connection between the Khalistan movement and Canada has long been a point of contention in India-Canada relations.

Challenges to Diplomacy

The issue of Khalistan has at times strained diplomatic relations between India and Canada. The Canadian government's perceived tolerance of pro-Khalistan activities and rhetoric within its borders has irked Indian authorities. On the other hand, Canada has defended freedom of expression and assembly, arguing that individuals and groups are entitled to express their views as long as they do not promote violence or terrorism.

The 2018 visit of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to India added fuel to the fire. Accusations of his government being soft on Khalistani sympathizers, coupled with controversies surrounding his outfits during the visit, led to a tense atmosphere between the two countries.

The Way Forward

It is essential to distinguish between the Sikh community in Canada, which is diverse and includes a range of opinions on Khalistan, and the actions or views of certain individuals or groups advocating for separatism. Canada, like any democratic nation, must balance the principles of freedom of speech and assembly with national security concerns and diplomatic relations.

India and Canada share many common interests and values, including a commitment to democracy, human rights, and economic cooperation. While the Khalistan issue has periodically strained their relations, both countries have made efforts to improve ties and foster cooperation in various fields.

Conclusion

The rise of Khalistan in India has been a complex and multifaceted issue, with far-reaching implications for India-Canada relations. Both countries must continue engaging in diplomatic dialogue and find common ground while respecting the principles of democracy and freedom of expression. A constructive approach that addresses the concerns of all parties involved is essential to maintaining positive relations between these two nations in the future.

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college-girl199328 · 1 year

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Groups representing Sikh Canadians are calling for a public inquiry into Chinese government election meddling and India's interference in Canadian politics.

Opposition parties are calling for a public inquiry into foreign election interference in response to reports that the Chinese Communist Party attempted to ensure the Liberal Party won a minority government in the 2021 election.

Intelligence officials have warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the Chinese government is funding a clandestine network of 11 federal candidates running in the 2019 election, which Trudeau has denied.

Johnston was appointed to investigate and recommend a public inquiry into alleged Indian interference in Canada's politics, which includes infiltrating Sikh Gurdwaras, recruiting informants and agent provocateurs, and influencing Canadian diplomats, security officers, and MPs.

The ultimate goal of these operations is to discredit Sikh support for the Khalistan movement in Canada, and the report urged the government to look at other countries' efforts to interfere in Canadian politics.

Singh wants a public inquiry to examine how India's intelligence sector uses consulates and embassies and how they operate within diaspora communities.

Acknowledging the problem is the first step to addressing it, as Canadian intelligence agencies have been aware of India's attempts to interfere in Canadian affairs.

NSICOP's 2018 report looked at tensions between Canada and India and made six findings regarding foreign interference, which were redacted from the public report.

The committee reviewed Trudeau's trip to India in 2018, which became mired in controversy when Jaspal Atwal was invited to dine with Trudeau at a formal event hosted by the Canadian High Commissioner in Delhi.

Rogue political elements in India may have arranged Atwal's invitation to embarrass Trudeau and make him appear sympathetic to Sikh extremism.

The committee concluded that there was a high probability of an orchestrated disinformation campaign to tarnish Canada ahead of the 2019 election. CBC News reported that intelligence services are monitoring efforts by six countries, including India, to influence the election campaign. An integrated intelligence unit is providing Canadian political parties bi-weekly briefings about foreign actors' activities in Canada.

Senior bureaucrats have been warned that China and India would use their diaspora communities to advance their agendas. The British Columbia Gurdwaras Council and the Ontario Gurdwaras Committee are calling on the federal government to take an approach to foreign interference, both legally and diplomatically, by declaring diplomats persona non grata where the evidence warrants it.

National security agencies should disclose India's record of election meddling and political interference in Canada to educate the public and protect vulnerable ethnocultural groups like the Sikh community.

Indian foreign interference negatively impacts Sikhs as a racialized group and emboldens Indian officials to continue interfering in foreign states while violating human rights in Punjab.

The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service did not respond to CBC's request for comment, but Singh believes the constant non-recognition of this issue paints a different picture.

Singh has advocated for an independent Khalistan, a separate homeland for Sikhs, and believes Canada's reluctance to call out Indian governments may be due to trade issues.

India is not the same as China or Russia. Trudeau's government has had a fraught relationship with the Indian government during his time in office. It has been accused of being soft on the Khalistan movement and harboring separatist ministers in his cabinet.

Modi accused Trudeau of kowtowing to Sikh voters after a reference to Sikh extremism was removed from a terrorism threat report, which was seen as a threat to Indian and global security.

Amarinder Singh accused Harjit Sajjan of being a Khalistani sympathizer, but Trudeau reiterated Canada's support for a united India.

CSIS believes the threat from Sikh extremists in Canada peaked in the mid-1980s and declined.

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bharatlivenewsmedia · 2 years

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Khalistan uprising not gaining desired traction, but we need to be cautious

Khalistan uprising not gaining desired traction, but we need to be cautious New Delhi, Jun 01: The violence in Punjab have brought back traumatic memories of the 80s about the Khalistan movement. The number of killings, acts of terror and violence in Punjab appear to be on the rise and the current dispensation New Delhi, Jun 01: The violence in Punjab have brought back traumatic memories of the…

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#but #cautious #desired #gaining #india #khalistan #need #news #not #traction #uprising

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garudapublication · 2 years

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The masterminds will stop at nothing, not even murder, to realise their goal. Patnaik will need to deploy all his guile and expertise to foil the conspiracy. After the success of the first book, The Viper, author Rajesh Singh presents contemporary facts in a fictionalised setting, bringing to life the realities of geo-politics, back-door stratagem and other challenges being faced by the National Security Advisor, aka the Viper.

#fiction #spystory #mystery #conspiracy #undercover agent

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newsoutbursts · 4 years

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"Pak-Backed" Pro-Khalistan Terror Module Busted With Arrest Of 2 Men

“Pak-Backed” Pro-Khalistan Terror Module Busted With Arrest Of 2 Men

The two men were arrested during a frisking and checking drive along the state’s internal border. (File)

Chandigarh:

A “major terror attack” has been averted in Punjab, the state police said after they claimed to have busted a “Pakistan-backed” pro-Khalistan terrorist module with the arrest of two criminals who were picked up on the basis of “intelligence inputs”.

According to the state’s…

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#pro-khalistan module busted #pro-khalistan movement #Punjab terrorism #terror attack averted in punjab

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publicnews · 4 years

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“Pak-Backed” Pro-Khalistan Terror Module Busted With Arrest Of 2 Men The two men were arrested during a frisking and checking drive along the state's internal border. (File)

#pro-khalistan module busted #pro-khalistan movement #Punjab terrorism #terror attack averted in punjab

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digitaltariq · 4 years

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“Pak-Backed” Pro-Khalistan Terror Module Busted With Arrest Of 2 Men The two men were arrested during a frisking and checking drive along the state's internal border. (File)

#pro-khalistan module busted #pro-khalistan movement #Punjab terrorism #terror attack averted in punjab

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newzzhub · 4 years

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“Pak-Backed” Pro-Khalistan Terror Module Busted With Arrest Of 2 Men The two men were arrested during a frisking and checking drive along the state's internal border. (File)

#pro-khalistan module busted #pro-khalistan movement #Punjab terrorism #terror attack averted in punjab

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ginazmemeoir · 3 years

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Hey. what exactly is going on in India with the farmers protest? There's just so much news to keep track of and idk most of the articles I've read don't really give any useful info

just search farmer protests here, or on my blog.

it’s pretty simple : the govt is implementing colonialist capitalistic laws that will benefit only big farmers and corporations, so farmers are protesting against them. the govt is not pulling them back, so the farmers have now declared protests all over india (idk about the south and the northeast either farmers there don’t know or they’re not being reported). since the protests are spearheaded by punjabi and sikh farmers, the protests are being termed pro-khalistani (khalistan was a terrorism movement in the 80s demanding both pakistan and india relinquish their territories in the Punjab so that it can become it’s own country, which will be based on Sikhism) while the farmers are being labelled anti national and terrorists.

that’s that i guess.

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morbidology · 5 years

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Amar Singh was most commonly known by his stage name, Amar Singh Chamkila. He was a popular Punjabi musician and composer along with his wife, Amarjot Kaur. Amar’s songs focused on the gritty realities of everyday life. He sung about affairs, drug addictions, alcoholism and other toxic aspects of Punjabi masculinity. He was often referred to as the “Elvis of Punjab.”

While Amar was in his prime in the 1980s, Punjab was in a state of strife and terror. The Khalistan insurgency was at its peak and assassinations and bombings were a common occurrence. A number of criminals would use the Khalistan movement as a cloak to cover their own crimes. Due to his controversial songs, Amar had a number of enemies. Nevertheless, at his peek, Amar was performing three shows a day. As his popularity soared, he and Amarjot started to your Canada, USA, Dubai and Bahrain.

On a sunny afternoon on the 8th of March, 1988, Amar, Amarjot, and several members of their entourage pulled their van up to perform their concert at Meshampur Village in Jalandhar. Moments later, a group of motorcyclists pulled up alongside them and started to open fire. One member of the entourage ran to a nearby field and witnessed one of the gunmen empty his gun into Amarjot and then Amar. He said he also saw them shoot dead another member of the entourage who had begged for his life. Amar, Amarjot and two other band members died at the scene.

Nobody was ever arrested for the murders but theories have abounded. One theory is that they were killed by Khalistani militants for singing songs that were explicit. Another theory is that they were killed in an honour killing by a family member who wanted to preserve their family name from cultural slander. Some even speculated that they may have been killed by a musical rival who wanted to wipe out the leading competition.

#Amar Singh #Amar Singh Chamkila #Unsolved #Murder #Amarjot Kaur #Mystery #True Crime #Cold Case

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theunknownlists · 6 years

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Know All About Operation Blue Star 1984 and demand for Khalistan - The Unknown (https://youtu.be/OvMkP0qSC_E) जानिए इतिहास के पन्नों में दर्ज ऑपरेशन ब्लू स्टार और खालिस्तान की मांग को कैसे अंजाम दिया गया | Know All About Operation Blue Star 1984 and demand for Khalistan

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moca · 6 years

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Page 12 of Gauri Gill’s zine 1984, which addresses the 1984 anti-Sikh massacres through a mix of photo-documentation and personal testimonies of those affected. Following the assassination of Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984 and mounting tension between the Indian government and Sikh separatists (participants in the Khalistan movement), a series of anti-Sikh pogroms would result in the deaths of some 2000-8000 Sikhs in Delhi and Punjab. The Indian government has yet to persecute those responsible in instrumentalizing these grave acts of violence. One such testimony from Gill’s zine reads,

“There is a habit of damaged souls and collective psyches to proscribe an event to a date and time, in order not to deal with the darkness inside. Date and time somehow sets up a false suture, in that we allow ourselves to believe that those two specifics will somehow suffice instead of real justice or giving real voice to what happened. 'Date and Time' may have a cathartic aspect, but it absolves us. You see, without date and time, we are forced to realize that we are still responsible for those who survived; their cause is our own, as are their terrors. Generations died, generations within a family, children lost their parents; entire families were wiped out forever. In civilized nations this is called genocide, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing. In India it’s called the 'aftermath of the Sikh riots'. How insidious a term is that, how duplicitous and what further proof does anyone need that we are still a society in denial at best, and a vengeful one at worst.

We will never forget. The victims stand beside us as family gathered under our shelters.

Zarina Muhammed” (Page 79)

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classyfoxdestiny · 3 years

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Anti-sedition law: Is it a necessary evil?

On the night of December 17, 1995, a large consignment of weapons, including AK-47 rifles and several hundred rounds of ammunition, was airdropped from an aircraft in the Purulia district of West Bengal. The weapons were confiscated by the police after the locals informed them about the mysterious event. A Dane named Niels Holck, also known as Kim Peter Davy, was later found to be the kingpin behind the operation, and the Central Bureau of Investigation slapped sedition charges in the case.

The sensational events captured the imagination of the public and the political circles: there were allegations that the arms drop was plotted to destabilise the Left Front government of Jyoti Basu in West Bengal. The CBI issued a statement in 2011 dismissing claims that the operation had the nod of “political forces” at the Centre.

An illegal act of this sort, that has the potential to incite an armed revolt against an elected government, can best be described as a seditious act and not just a terrorist plot.

Loknath Behera, a senior IPS officer involved in the investigation of the Purulia arms drop case, said the anti-sedition law should be used sparingly since it entails heavy punishment up to life imprisonment. Moreover, it is also a difficult offence to prove in court. “Sedition cannot be invoked for small offences,” he said. “It has to be used judiciously in the context of the Kedar Nath Singh [vs the State of Bihar] judgment [of 1962], where the constitutionality of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code was tested and upheld.”

In the Kedar Nath Singh judgment, the Supreme Court narrowed down the scope of the anti-sedition law, saying that mere criticism of the government was not seditious unless it incited violence or disturbed public order. This meant that if the law was not read in the context of this interpretation, it threatened to engulf any expression of opposing opinion—written or spoken—qualifying it as incitement of hatred or disaffection towards the government.

In the last few years, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has slapped sedition charges in a series of cases. Leaders of the proscribed organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) and terror-accused in Kashmir to politicians and activists protesting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in 2019 became the accused in these cases. The NIA, set up in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has mixed experience in courts on sedition cases. While the agency successfully proved the charges in some, it failed in many others.

“The anti-sedition law has its relevance,” said a senior NIA official. “When a banned outfit like the SFJ, which propagates the idea of a separate Khalistan state, enters into a social media campaign besides invoking the anti-terror law, such activities also attract penal provisions defined under IPC Section 124A which explains the offence more clearly.”

But there has been a plethora of cases where courts have acquitted the accused. Recently, the NIA court in Guwahati acquitted activist and MLA Akhil Gogoi and three others in a sedition case slapped against them during the height of the anti-CAA protests in Assam in 2019.

Successive governments have used the anti-sedition law with impunity to quell dissent. The result is that several writers, journalists, cartoonists, politicians, activists and students got entangled in the dreaded colonial-era statute. And, the level of sedition charges has stretched the imagination of the law itself.

Two months ago, a sedition charge was slapped against an Assam woman for using a table cloth that resembled the national flag while celebrating Eid. In June, the Guwahati High Court granted her bail. In another instance in Punjab in 2020, a political leader was accused of sedition when he posted a message on social media about the lack of ventilators during the pandemic. The bail order by the Punjab and Haryana High Court termed the use of sedition in this case as an “overzealous exercise of power” by the police. The trial is yet to commence.

The courts are now dealing with several cases of visibly apparent misuse of the anti-sedition law, and this has drawn the ire of the Supreme Court. On July 15, the Supreme Court asked the Union government as to why it was not repealing the provision used by the British to silence people like Mahatma Gandhi.

“Is it still necessary to keep this statute even after 75 years of Independence?” asked the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana, while agreeing to examine the pleas filed by the Editors Guild of India and an army veteran, challenging Section 124A. The bench issued a notice to the Union government and pointed out that the conviction rate in sedition cases is extremely low.

Section 124A was inserted into the IPC by the British in 1870. Repealing obsolete and archaic laws was a poll promise of the BJP. After it came to power, more than 1,200 redundant laws were struck off. A special committee has been set up in the prime minister’s office to review archaic laws and make recommendations to the government. But the final word on making changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure, IPC and anti-terror laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and National Security Act lies with the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA). The ministry has constituted a five-member committee to look into overhauling such fossilised legislations, or removing them.

With the review of the sedition law on its table, it is not the first time Home Minister Amit Shah and Home Secretary A.K. Bhalla are burning the midnight oil. The first option is to revise the draconian legislation to make it in sync with the changing times. Second, to issue guidelines based on the directions of the Supreme Court, and third, to strike it down if it has outlived its purpose.

“There is a need for wider consultation on the matter,” said D. Raja, general secretary of the Communist Party of India. “The government should consult stakeholders and get public opinion while making changes to any laws.”

In 2012, the UPA government had walked a few steps to review the anti-sedition law but developed cold feet. A group of ministers was then constituted to suggest changes based on recommendations of the law commission. Former home ministry officials said the view taken was to retain the law after revising the definition for sedition. Several changes were proposed including replacing disaffection against “government” with disaffection against “Parliament, state legislature, Constitution, national flag, national anthem and national emblem”, and reducing the punishment for sedition to a seven-year jail term with a fine. But the proposals never saw the light of day. In the meantime, law enforcement agencies were asked to avoid misuse of sedition and make use of other provisions in the IPC to deal with similar offences of a lesser category.

In the mid-1980s, the Union home ministry had shown greater political will when it came to drafting a law to quell separatist tendencies. P. Chidambaram, former Union home minister told THE WEEK: “In 1987, the Terrorists and Disruption Activities (Prevention) Act was drafted and passed in the context of the rising terrorism in Punjab. It was intended to be a temporary law.” Chidambaram, who was then minister of state for internal security, sat down with M.K. Narayanan, the then director of Intelligence Bureau, and a senior Punjab police officer, to draft TADA that encompassed a wide range of activities, including protests of all sorts. For the first time, it made confessions before a police officer admissible in court, put restrictions on bail and gave enhanced powers to detain suspects. TADA was in force between 1985 and 1995.

According to police officers of that era, the law was grossly misused. Over the years, the Supreme Court read down the application of the law to prevent its misuse. “Safeguards were introduced and the law was upheld by the courts, but still, the law was misused,” said Chidambaram. “The Congress government under P.V. Narasimha Rao allowed the Act to lapse.”

Shantanu Sen, former joint director in CBI who was then deputy inspector general in Punjab Police, said: “I was part of the consultations that drafted TADA. While it was useful at one time to fight terrorism and organised crime in Punjab, I am not mourning its end.”

In western countries, said Sen, various forms of incarceration are there: individuals can be put under house arrest and other steps taken to control their movement if they are found on the wrong side of the law which are not heavily punishable. “But here, the situation of an undertrial is the same as that of a person who is convicted for a crime,” he said. Sen added that simply because the sedition law is being misused, it cannot be struck down. “However, the government should immediately bring provisions to control its misuse,” he said.

The danger, according to law enforcement officers, is that it may open a pandora’s box of new forms of misuse. Also, offences that strictly qualify as seditious speech or writing might be stretched as offences under some stringent laws like the UAPA.

The recent death of the 84-year-old Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, an accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, while being in judicial custody, raised several questions on the use of draconian laws like the UAPA. Swamy was booked under various sections of the UAPA; there was no sedition charge against him. He had already spent nine months in jail, before his death on July 5, waiting for his trial to start. There are many others like Swamy, booked for sedition and anti-terror charges, waiting in jails for years awaiting trial.

Undeniably, state police have different experiences with sedition, owing to their different social concerns and history of crime and terrorism. The number of cases varies from state to state. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the Maoist-infested state of Chhattisgarh had just one case filed under Section 124A in 2019. Whereas Karnataka had 22 cases, Assam had 17 and Jammu and Kashmir 11.

Vishwaranjan, former director-general of police, Chhattisgarh, explained why there was no need to invoke too many sedition cases in the state. “There is no denying that the Maoist literature, speeches, actions were all seditious,” he said. “But until their claims were backed by seditious activity that could damage law and order, we arrested them under normal sections of the IPC.”

M. Mahender Reddy, director-general of police of Telangana, said sedition is used only against top Maoist cadres who use the ‘barrel of the gun’ to threaten the state. N.R. Wasan, former special director in CBI, said in his career spanning 36 years he never used sedition against any accused. “There were all kinds of cases under investigation, from insurgency to Naxalism, but I did not feel the need to use it,” he said.

There have been efforts by state governments to ensure judicious use of the anti-sedition law. In 2015, the home department of Maharashtra issued a circular asking police stations to issue guidelines to prevent the misuse of the law. The circular mentioned that words against politicians and government servants cannot be termed as sedition, obscenity or vulgarity does not fall under sedition and a legal opinion must be obtained in writing from a law officer of the district, giving reasons why the charges are being invoked.

Shishir Hiray, a special public prosecutor in Maharashtra, points out that there are many provisions to prevent unnecessary arrests which can be used to stop the misuse of laws like sedition. “For example, Section 41A of the CrPC has penal provisions that can be invoked against an investigating officer if he flouts the rules of arrest,” he said.

P.D.T. Achary, former secretary- general of the Lok Sabha, said Article 19(2) of the Constitution authorises the government to impose reasonable restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression. And, it is under this umbrella that sedition exists on the statute book to date. Achary, however, noted that the problem persists in the law which is arbitrary and unjustifiable at any stage. “The Supreme Court should strike it down now,” he said.

Parliamentarians have time and again argued about the number of sedition cases in the country under different governments. The method of calculation varies as in some FIRs Section 124A is not a primary offence but a secondary one. This is one of the reasons why figures of the NCRB on sedition cases are at odds with the numbers recently revealed by Article 14—a portal run by a group of lawyers, journalists and academics which has tracked sedition cases between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2020. Their data showed a massive 96 per cent rise in cases since Narendra Modi came to power. The home ministry officials said they have started maintaining a separate database on sedition since 2014, unlike the UPA regime when all sedition cases were clubbed with IPC cases.

Lt General Shokin Chouhan, former chairman of the Ceasefire Monitoring Group in Nagaland, said: “More than numbers, the cause for disaffection toward any government needs to be addressed. Whether it is the Central or state government, lack of [good] governance breeds disaffection.”

Lubhyathi Rangarajan, a lawyer who heads the Article 14 project, said inherent in the meaning of sedition lies a stigma—it is desh droh (traitor) in several Indian languages. While the word sedition awaits a final decree on its fate, the silver lining is that it is never too late for the government to build the affection of people.

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thecontemporarian · 3 years

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K factor in the farmers protests

Punjab has been in a peace zone and has been a blissful state for the past few decades, prior to the bloody phase the state went through the most part of the 70s, 80s and in the early 90s. Khalistani terrorists and the armed separatists unleashed a reign of terror in Punjab and in the neighboring states for close to three decades with the active support and involvement from the Pakistani establishment, read the ISI. It took several years and the precious lives of a sitting PM (Mrs Gandhi) and a sitting CM (Beant Singh) and scores of civilians, policemen and armed forces personnel before semblance of peace could be achieved on that front.

Punjab achieved the long awaited peace and harmony in the late 90s through the sustained efforts by the Police and the armed forces. A lot of credit goes to the then DGP of Police, KPS Gill who crushed the Khalistani militancy with an iron fist, but with greater difficulties. Khalistani terrorists were heavily funded & trained by the ISI and the Punjab police along with the armed forces had a long haul to curb them completely. Operation Bluestar on Bhindranwale, the subsequent killing of Mrs Gandhi and the Sikh riots would be watershed moments in the Indian history for time immemorial. The events led to the shaping up of a new approach to tackling the militancy in Punjab.

The decades after the turbulence, the state witnessed a relative peace and prosperity limping back to Punjab, though the Khalistani elements based abroad always nurtured and dreamed of a separate Khalistan state instead of Indian Punjab. Needless to say, the Pakistanis have been fueling the Khalistani fire for sometime now. The recently enacted farm laws seem to have given these rogue Khalistani elements a chance to take a shot on their long cherished dream of separate Khalistan. From the word go, the farm protests were conceived, conducted and executed by the Khalistani ideologues, both within and outside India. Some of the speeches by the Khalistani supporters on the farm laws are unequivocal about the realization of Khalistani dream. The ultimate message to India and the Indian government is - Farm laws are immaterial and they are just a tool to stoke separatist Khalistani movement.

So far, the government has been giving the protestors a very long rope and it has successfully unmasked the protestors on the 26th January, which will again go down as a watershed moment in the Indian history. Nevertheless, the government needs to act really tough on the Khalistani elements which are hiding behind the ‘so called’ farmers and trying to stoke separatism in the name of farmers protests. The tweets by Rihanna, Greta Thunberg and Mia Khalifa point towards a larger International conspiracy to stoke the separate Khalistani idea and in a way to destabilize the Indian idea. Canada based Khalistanis seem to be the prime suspects on stoking and fueling the unseemingly, unending farmers protests which are not based on data and facts, but largely on the rhetoric.

It's high time the government gets hard on the Khalistani elements who are within and outside India in substantial numbers. With the International dimension getting into the picture, the larger plans to destabilize Indian state seems to be the obvious motive of the International personalities who are hand in glove with the separatists. Canadian government led by its immature PM Justin Trudeau flirting on the Khalistani theme for the exchange of local political support from the Khalistanis is something worrisome and uncalled for.

A democratically elected PM in Canada fanning the separatist idea is something India should work on and take them to the relevant International fora. Pakistan's repeated attempts to stoke Khalistani separatism seems to have faded, but the recent protests have given them yet another chance to take on the dying idea. It's imperative that the government crushes the Khalistani elements right at the budding stage. A lesson for Pakistan and the Khalistanis is most needed in the present scenario. Not to forget the fact that the innocent and ordinary Punjabis are no longer interested in the separatist theme any more and are more than willing to demonstrate their allegiance to the unity and integrity of the country!

V GOPALAKRISHNAN

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