SUMMARY
In its intrastate armed conflict against the Government of India for an independent state of Khalistan the Sikh insurgents have not only attacked government targets and security forces, but also made use of one-sided violence.
The use of armed force against the civilian population has been a feature of the Sikh armed struggle since the first acts of violence in 1981, but has been subject to fluctuations in intensity and targeting throughout the years. Relatively discriminate targeting for clear political reasons was predominant during the first years of the uprising, whilst more indiscriminate and violent attacks became more common when the Sikh insurgents groups fractionalized, and when many groups also began to look more like criminal outfits than rebels. Most of the violence against civilians has however had a clear link to the Khalistan struggle and extreme forms of Sikh nationalism.
The most prominent category of targets of Sikh insurgents one-sided violence has been the Hindus of Punjab. The struggle for an independent Khalistan is steeped in Sikh nationalism and also portrays the Sikh nation as being oppressed by the Indian majority group of Hindi-speakers and followers of Hinduism. Many Sikh leaders have thus equated the Indian central state with the religious/ethnic/linguistic Hindu group. Subsequently, the Sikh insurgents have attacked and killed many hundreds of Hindus in Punjab throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. More disaggregated motives for these attacks can also be found, for instance, wishing to sabotage the Hindu vote in Punjab (traditionally supportive of Hindu-dominated and anti-Khalistan political parties), and wanting to ethnically cleanse “Khalistan” of Hindus. The period up until 1984 saw relatively precise targeting of Hindus that were openly hostile towards the concept of an independent Khalistan, whilst attacks in the aftermath of the Golden Temple incident (in which perhaps as many as 1,000 militants and civilians were killed) targeted Hindus more indiscriminately. Attacks on Hindus were also carried out by the insurgents as retaliation for the security forces’ heavy-handed counterinsurgency measures, in which many Sikh youths were killed, injured, or arrested. Attacks on Hindus have taken disparate forms, ranging from bombings of Hindu temples to killing migrant laborers and farmers in rural areas.
A second prominent category concerns political opponents and contains both Sikhs and Hindus. The Sikh insurgents carried out attacks on political leaders or supporters of parties that were hostile towards the militants and their goal of an independent Khalistan. In the Hindu sphere this meant followers of most political parties, whilst mainly moderate Sikhs were murdered. The same method of violence was applied also against the media, with journalists and even vendors of newspapers that were deemed to be pro-Indian who were killed.
Some of the Sikh insurgents groups also proclaimed specific codes of conduct for people living in Punjab, specifically the most religiously extreme groups. Such codes of conduct imposed punishments on behavior that was deemed to be against the Sikh religion, including certain types of dress, alcohol, and cigarettes. Many people that did not abide by these regulations were subsequently murdered. This category also includes members of smaller Sikh sects that were declared ‘heretical’ by the more religiously conservative militants and thus targeted for attacks.
Violence against civilians can also be placed in a category of pure criminal endeavors, such as people killed during robberies or after being kidnapped for extortion.
A large number of civilians have also been killed by what appears to be indiscriminate attacks. In such incidents Sikh insurgents have derailed trains, planted bombs that kill indiscriminately or fired into crowds. Any motives for these attacks are hard to derive. Many of the incidents in this category have taken place when the Sikh insurgents have been placed under severe pressure by government forces, and have perhaps been employed purely as a way to make one’s presence felt.
In terms of techniques for carrying out one-sided violence the Sikh insurgents have made use of a wide variety of weapons. Instruments used in the killings have ranged from the traditional Sikh blades to AK47s and bombs. The most commonly used weapon has been the firearm, such as the abovementioned AK47s, which were available in large numbers during the insurgency.
Geographically the violence has, quite naturally, been concentrated on the state of Punjab. Violent acts have, however, also been carried out in the surrounding states at times, with incidents having been recorded also in New Delhi and the states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
Acts of one-sided violence by the Sikh insurgents came to a rapid halt when the insurgency ended in 1993. Sporadic incidents of violence against civilians have been carried out by the militants after this year, but only on very low levels.
The Sikh insurgents first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1989, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in February of that year, after 2 moderate Sikh political leaders were murdered, bringing the total toll to at least 25 deaths.
