The claim for ‘Khalistan’: Legality under international law

Under international law, territorial integrity is the rule and secession is an exception, and the latter may be regarded as legal only when the dual thresholds of gross human rights abuse and lack of internal self-determination are met. 

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What are the roots of the Khalistani movement?

DEMANDS for a land 'for the' or 'of the' pure is not new in the context of the Indian subcontinent. The last time, in 1947, when someone had demanded a land 'of the pure' or 'for the pak', the subcontinent had witnessed the largest mass migration of people in the history of the world, apart from untold suffering and loss of lives.

Around the same time, in the 1940s, the Akali movement led muted demands for a 'homeland' for the Sikhs encompassing areas which included most parts of present-day Indian Punjab and Pakistani Punjab, and some parts of present-day Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. As with most history which exists in the grey, the demand for a separate homeland at the time did not necessarily mean a separate 'country', but rather fluctuated between the demand for a separate country and for the creation of a separate Punjabi-speaking province or 'suba' within India.

Another milestone in the movement for a separate Sikh homeland was the Anandpur Sahib resolution passed by the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1973, which called for greater autonomy for Sikhs 'within' the Indian State. For most parts of the following decade after 1973, demand for this 'promised land' remained on the backburner, until the 'Man from Moga' arrived.