• loathsome dongeater@lemmygrad.ml
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    10 days ago

    There is a state in India called Punjab which is a major center for the Sikh demographic. There is a Sikh separatist movement that calls for a state for Sikhs which they call Khalistan. The adherents of this movements are Khalistanis.

    Now I don’t know how legitimate this “threat” of Khalistanis is because the news is useless here. They have some history of organising and violence. For example, Indira Gandhi (former prime minister) was assassinated by her bodyguards who belonged to this movement.

    These days though they are more often than not just used as the enemy to fearmonger. They still have a presence but not like before. If you have read about Trudeau talking about Indian state-sanctioned assassinations in Canada, that was related to this but I am not sure how closely.

    • Rasm653u [He/him] @lemmygrad.ml
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      10 days ago

      For example, Indira Gandhi (former prime minister) was assassinated by her bodyguards who belonged to this movement.

      Being assassinated by your own bodyguards is quite ironic.

      • Ozmanthius@lemmygrad.ml
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        10 days ago

        IIRC this was following the massacre she unleashed on their most sacred temple. The Gandhi Family is Bourgeoisie scum like every other indian politico family. personally looted and kept the country down for so long.

      • loathsome dongeater@lemmygrad.ml
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        10 days ago

        It was a whole thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Blue_Star

        Operation Blue Star was a military operation by the Indian Armed Forces conducted between 1 and 10 June 1984 to remove Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other Sikh militants from the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib), a holy site of Sikhism, and its adjacent buildings.

        The military underestimated the firepower possessed by the Sikh militants, whose armaments included Chinese-made rocket-propelled grenade launchers and ammunition with armour-piercing capabilities. Hoping to avoid damage to the holy site, Indian forces unsuccessfully assaulted the temple using light weaponry and quickly resorted to using heavy weapons, including tanks, helicopters and artillery to dislodge the well-fortified Sikh militants.

        The assassination was at the back of this.

    • darkcalling@lemmygrad.ml
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      9 days ago

      IMO that movement has many of the hallmarks of being a propped up US/western destabilization and balkanization operation much like their support for that terrorist movement in Xinjiang in China. Their support is lower key perhaps because they want to maintain good relations against India to use it against China but it’s still there.

      • loathsome dongeater@lemmygrad.ml
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        9 days ago

        It’s possible but if that is the case, the Indian state’s and news’ narrative of it does not consider that angle at all. The closest we have come to this is the discussion around the fact that Canada has a large Sikh community and would not let India wantonly assassinate them. Besides this, the movement is just painted as TERRORIST without any further explanation ignoring the common trend of Indian administration of othering the communities that are not upper caste North Indian Hindus.