India's 'K' Problem And America's Carrot And Stick Policy
It is no secret that terrorism flourished in Kashmir as the successive governments in the U.S. gave billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan, which in turn diverted a good amount of that money to fund Jihad (Islamic holy war) against arch-rival India for decades. Evidently, terrorism in Kashmir died a sudden death when former U.S. President Donald Trump's administration put a near lid to that massive aid to Pakistan post-2016, paving the way for India to abolish Article 370 in Kashmir and finally integrate the territory with itself in 2019. But India's another 'K' problem - Khalistani terrorism - too seems to have strong backing from the US which considers it as a potent tool in the 'carrot and stick' diplomacy. After the economic downfall of Pakistan and its overtures to China, India is among the most favoured strategic allies of the US in Asia but keeping the 'K' problem on a boil is the undisguised 'stick' of the American policy towards India.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, India's most wanted Khalistani terrorist, has found a safe haven in the US under the incumbent President Joe Biden administration. Akain to Osama Bin Laden's inciting speeches against the US in the late 1990s, Pannun is openly seen fanning anti-India sentiments in several videos widely available on the internet. Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), the organization founded by Pannun, has claimed responsibility for several violent attacks in India including a rocket-propelled grenade attack on police headquarters.
For India, Pannun is a designated terrorist under the country's Unlawful Activities Prevention Act with 22 criminal cases and a reward on his head. Reportedly on December 6, Pannun issued a video openly threatening to shake the foundation of India's Parliament. These threats were followed by a 'dud' (symbolic) gas attack inside the Indian Parliament and its links to the Khalistani terrorists are under probe. There are other videos where Pannun threatens to harm the country's largest airline Air India. Yet, the same U.S. that saw no immorality in sending its famous SEAL teams to kill Bin Laden inside Pakistan, sees no bad in sheltering India's most wanted terrorist. It exposes the travesty of statecraft of the Biden administration and lays bare the contours of its 'carrot and stick' diplomacy to keep India's 'K' problem boiling` - Kashmir and Khalistan are two sides of the same coin.
For a long time, the US has harboured many proponents of Khalistan
Khalistan, a formula to break India, is a separatist ideology that has found deep-rooted support in the U.S. Like the Pakistan-backed terrorists wanted to separate Kashmir from India, the Khalistanis want to separate the state of Punjab and parts of other states.
Sometime in 2022, the Senate of Connecticut, the Council of Norwich & the Council of Holyoke City extended their support to the Khalistani separatist groups and recognized the declaration of 'Sikh Independence' by passing resolutions. Notably, April 29 was also recognised as the ‘Anniversary Day' for the Sikh Independence, which resembled the 'announcement of independence' made by the first Sikh militant group in India called the Sarbat Khalsa of April 29, 1986.
Way back on March 5, 1997, a Congressional Bill introduced in the House Of Representatives in the U.S. referred to the Committee on International Relations "for passing a resolution on allowing a Sikh nation to exercise the right of national self-determination in their homeland, Punjab, Khalistan." The bill had declared that "It is the sense of the Congress that an internationally supervised plebiscite should be held in Punjab, Khalistan, on the question of independence, under international supervision, so that the Sikhs of Khalistan can determine their political future in a free and fair vote in accordance with international law." It was the same demand of an international plebiscite, using which Pakistan had stroked the fire of terrorism in Kashmir.
Sensational revelations of how the seeds of Khalistan ideology were sown have been made by India's former head of counter-terrorism operations in Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), B Raman. His book 'Kaoboys of R&AW -- Down the Memory Lane' says that the then US President Richard Nixon's administration initiated a "covert action plan" in 1971 along with General Yahya Khan-led Pakistani Government to encourage a separatist movement in Punjab for an independent state to be called as Khalistan.
The book further reveals that discreet meetings were organised in New York between then separatist Sikh leader from Punjab Jagjit Singh Chauhan, officials of the United Nations and a few American journalists, by officials of the US National Security Council Secretariat then headed by Henry Kissinger. Before going to the U.S., Singh had travelled to Pakistan to launch his Khalistani outfit. Then too, says Raman, the political leadership of the U.S., UK and Canada did not cooperate with India against the Khalistanis.
Old headlines of a few large newspapers in India further narrates the story of the US support for Khalistan.
Hindustan Times: 12 May 1984- “There is existence of Khalistan terrorist training camps in Canada, with support from Western governments of USA, UK and Canada."
August 1984- “Sikh Separatist leaders Ganga Singh Dhillon and Jagjit Singh Chauhan on the payroll of US Defense Intelligence Agency (USDIA).”
Times of India:
14 September 1984 - “Pakistan is a CIA base for recruiting guerillas.”
November 1984- “CIA has set up centres in Pakistan for subverting the Afghanistan and Indian governments.”
Pannun links to Pakistan
Pannun's links to Pakistan have been revealed by India's counter-terrorist organisation National Investigative Agency (NIA). In December 2023, after a bomb went off in the district court in Ludhiana, Punjab, the German police arrested its mastermind Jaswinder Singh Multani, a Pakistani. The NIA formally charged him for the attacks in sending consignments of weapons comprising explosives, hand grenades and pistols from across the border with the help of Pakistan-based operatives. Multani, reportedly as confessed by Pannun in his videos, is the leading member of his outfit SFJ. Over the years, SFJ has written publically available letters to successive Prime Ministers in Pakistan, Presidents of Russia and China, seeking their support for the creation of Khalistan.
SFJ’s websites have been linked to Pakistani addresses and Pannun has taken part in events organized by the Pakistani embassy in the US in collaboration with groups such as Friends of Kashmir – a Houston-based organization with links to Pakistan. The Hudson Institute report titled 'Pakistan’s Destabilization Playbook: Khalistan Separatism within the US', emphasized the need for investigations into activities of Khalistani operators in the U.S.
In sheltering Pannun and stirring up India's Khalistani problem, the incumbent Biden administration runs a major risk of upsetting the public opinion - both in India and the diaspora abroad - against the U.S. Nearly four million Indians reside in the US and are a key vote bank for the Democrats and the Republicans.
SFJ-backed referendums in the US and the UK, for breaking India to carve out a Khalistan and subsequent accusations by Canada and the U.S. about India's plots to assassinate Khalistani terrorists including Pannun on foreign soil, have only cemented Prime Minister Narendra Modi's macho image ahead of the 2024 general elections in India. For the U.S. there is a lot more at risk.
