Insurgency in Punjab, India

Insurgency in Punjab

Affected areas are coloured in red
Date1 June 1984 – 31 August 1995[1][2][3]
(11 years and 3 months)
Location
Punjab, India[a]
Result

Indian victory

  • Rajiv–Longowal Accord in 1985, partially implemented
  • Insurgency quelled, major violence ends after 1995
  • Many Khalistani separatists flee from India
Belligerents
 India

Khalistani separatists

Supported by:

Pakistan Pakistan
Commanders and leaders
Presidents
Zail Singh
Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Shankar Dayal Sharma
Prime Ministers
Indira Gandhi X
Rajiv Gandhi
Vishwanath Pratap Singh
Chandra Shekhar
P. V. Narasimha Rao
Chief Minister of Punjab
Surjit Singh Barnala
Beant Singh  X
Harcharan Singh Brar
Punjab Police
DGP K.S. Dhillon
DGP Julio Riberio (WIA)
DGP D.S. Mangat (WIA)
DGP Kanwar Pal Singh Gill
IGP Trilok Chand Katoch X
DIG Ajit Singh †
SSP Gobind Ram X
SSP Prithpal Virk
SSP A.S. Brar X
SSP Mohammad Izhar Alam
Indian Army
General Arun Shridhar Vaidya (Chief of Army Staff, 1983-1986)  X
General Krishnaswamy Sundarji (Chief of Army Staff, 1986-1988)
Major General Kuldip Singh Brar
Lieutenant General Ranjit Singh Dyal
Major General B. N. Kumar X
Lt. Col. Sant Singh Bhullar X
CRPF
Flag of Central Reserve Police Forces Shival Swarup
Flag of Central Reserve Police Forces T.G.L. Iyer
Flag of Central Reserve Police Forces S.D. Pandey
Flag of Central Reserve Police Forces P. G. Harlankar
Flag of Central Reserve Police Forces S. Subramanian
Flag of Central Reserve Police Forces D.P.N. Singh
Flag of Central Reserve Police Forces S.V.M. Tripathi		 Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale †
Shabeg Singh †
Amrik Singh †
Manbir Singh Chaheru  Executed
Labh Singh †
Kanwaljit Singh Sultanwind †[4]
Paramjit Singh Panjwar
Jagjit Singh Chohan  Surrendered
Ranjit Singh Neeta
Aroor Singh Executed
Avtar Singh Brahma †
Gurjant Singh †
Navroop Singh †
Navneet Singh Khadian †
Pritam Singh Sekhon †
Gurbachan Singh †
Balwinder Singh
Talwinder Singh Parmar †
Sukhdev Singh Babbar †
Wadhawa Singh Babbar
Units involved
  • Babbar Khalsa
  • Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan
  • Khalistan Commando Force
  • Khalistan Liberation Force
  • Khalistan Zindabad Force
  • Others

    • Supported by:

    Strength

    India 150,000-500,000[8][9][5]: 405 

    • BSF 175,000 (158 battalions. Half patrolling against militants)[5]: 406 
    • Punjab Police 55,000-70,000[5]: 395–396 
    • Police from other states sent to help 75,000[5]: 395 
    • Special Police Officers 40,000[5]: 395–396 
    • Home Guards 25,000[5]: 395–396 
    • Police from other states sent to help 75,000[5]: 395 
    • CRPF 150,000 (134 battalions)[5]: 406 
    • ITBP 30,000[5]: 406 
    • CISF 90,000[5]: 406 
    • NSG 6,500[5]: 406 
    • SSG 10,000[5]: 406 
    • IRF 16,500 (15 battalions)[5]: 406 
    • Assam Rifles 35,000 (31 battalions)[5]: 406 
    • Rashtriya Rifles 40,000 (36 battalions)[5]: 406 
    		 6,000 at peak[9]
    Casualties and losses
    3,468 personnel
    1,768 police officers (per K.P.S Gill)[10]: 134 [11]
    1,700 soldiers (per Inderjit Singh Jaijee citing K.P.S Gill)[10]: 134     		 7,946 insurgents[11][12][13]

    11,690 non-combatants deaths (according to the government)

    Independent estimates vary (See End of violence section)[11][12][14][15]
    35,000 civilians and militants arrested/detained under TADA. (223 were convicted) 27,000 others arrested/detained.[10]: 288–292 

    The Insurgency in Punjab was an armed campaign by the separatists of the Khalistan movement from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.[16][17][18][19] Economic and social pressures driven by the Green Revolution prompted calls for Sikh autonomy and separatism. This movement was initially peaceful, but foreign involvement and political pressures drove a heavy handed response from Indian authorities. The demand for a separate Sikh state gained momentum after the Indian Army's Operation Blue Star in 1984 aimed to flush out militants residing in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, a holy site for Sikhs.[20] Terrorism, police brutality and corruption of the authorities greatly exacerbated a tense situation. By the mid-1980s, the movement had evolved into a militant secessionist crisis due to the perceived indifference of the Indian state in regards to mutual negotiations.[21] Eventually, more effective police and military operations, combined with a policy of rapprochement by the Indian government and the election loss of separatist sympathizers in the 1992 Punjab Legislative Assembly election, largely quelled the rebellion by the mid-1990s.[22]

    The Sikh separatist leader Jagjit Singh Chohan said that during his talks with Pakistani prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto affirmed his support to the Khalistan cause as revenge for Pakistan's defeat in Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.[23] The Green Revolution brought several social and economic changes which, along with factionalism of the politics in Punjab, increased tensions between rural Sikhs with the union Government of India.[24] In 1973, Akali Dal put forward the Anandpur Sahib Resolution to demand more autonomic powers to the state of Punjab.[25] The union government considered the resolution a secessionist document and rejected it.[26] Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale then joined the Akali Dal to launch the Dharam Yudh Morcha in 1982, to implement Anandpur Sahib resolution. Bhindranwale had risen to prominence in the Sikh political circle with his policy of getting the Anandpur Resolution passed, failing which he wanted to declare a semi-autonomous, federal region of Punjab as a homeland for Sikhs.[27]

    Bhindranwale was credited by the government with launching Sikh militancy in Punjab.[28] Under Bhindranwale, the number of people initiating into the Khalsa increased. He also increased the awareness amongst the populace about the ongoing assault on Sikh values by politicians, alleging their intentions to influence Sikhism and eradicate its individuality by conflating it with Pan-Indian Hinduism.[28] Bhindranwale and his followers started carrying firearms at all times for self defense.[28] In 1983, he along with his militant followers occupied and fortified Akal Takht.[29] While critics claimed that he entered it to escape arrest in 1983, there was no arrest warrant issued in his name, and he was regularly found giving interviews to the press in and outside the Akal Takht. He made the Sikh religious building his headquarters and led a campaign for autonomy in Punjab with the strong backing of Major General Shabeg Singh. They then took refuge in the Akal Takht as the extrajudicial violence against Sikhs increased in the months before Operation Bluestar.[30]

    On 1 June 1984, Operation Blue Star was launched to remove him and the armed militants from the Golden Temple complex. On 6 June, on Guru Arjan Dev Martyrdom Day, Bhindranwale was killed by the Indian military in the operation.[31] The operation carried out in the Gurudwara caused outrage among the Sikhs and increased the support for Khalistan Movement.[16] Four months after the operation, on 31 October 1984, the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi was assassinated in vengeance by her two bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.[32] Public outcry over Gandhi's death led to the slaughter of Sikhs in the ensuing 1984 Sikh massacre.[33] These events played a major role in the violence by Sikh militant groups supported by Pakistan and consumed Punjab until the early 1990s when the Khalistan movement was eventually crushed in Punjab.[34]

    1. ^ Mahmood 1996, p. 83: "Here, I concentrate on the epochal battle at the Golden Temple between the militants and the Indian Army that has spawned what we now know as the Khalistan movement."
    2. ^ Karim, Afsir (1991). Counter Terrorism, the Pakistan Factor. Lancer Publishers. p. 36. ISBN 978-8170621270. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2021. Previously the conflict had been limited to a few radical groups, after [Operation Blue Star], it touched the whole of Punjab, with organized insurgency not taking root in Punjab until after the operation.
    3. ^ Gates, Scott; Roy, Kaushik (2016). Unconventional Warfare in South Asia: Shadow Warriors and Counterinsurgency. Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 978-1317005414. Retrieved 10 October 2017 – via Google Books.
    4. ^ Mark Juergensmeyer (September 2003). Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (3rd ed.). University of California Press. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-520-24011-7.
    5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Jaijee, Inderjit Singh (1999). Politics of Genocide: Punjab, 1984–1998 (PDF). Ajanta Publications. ISBN 978-8120204157. OCLC 42752917.
    6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Kiessling was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
    7. ^ Martin 2013, p. 190.
    8. ^ "Punjab Military Conflict" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. 12 December 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
    9. ^ a b Telford, Hamish (1 August 2001). "Counter-Insurgency in India: Observations from Punjab and Kashmir". Journals of Conflict Studies. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
    10. ^ a b c Jaijee, Inderjit Singh (1999). Politics of Genocide: Punjab, 1984–1998. Ajanta Publications. ISBN 978-8120204157. OCLC 42752917. 1,769 policemen and (according to Gill) an equal number of soldiers -say roughly 1,700- who were killed...In the same speech Gill also said "only 0.07 per cent of the 16,000 to 17,000 people held for militancy in Punjab were convicted as people were afraid to give evidence." He added that at present there were 700 militants under detention in Punjab and 1,700 policemen and an equal number of army men had lost their lives in tackling terrorism
    11. ^ a b c Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015, 4th edition Archived 27 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Micheal Clodfelter, p. 608, McFarland
    12. ^ a b "Punjab Militant attacks". One India. 27 July 2015. Archived from the original on 5 August 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
    13. ^ "Operation Bluestar". DNA. 5 November 2015. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
    14. ^ Martin, Gus (2017), Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues, Sage, ISBN 9781506385839, archived from the original on 5 April 2023, retrieved 19 March 2023, Casualty estimates vary widely, from 25,000 Sikhs and Hindus killed in the fighting to claims of an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 deaths, although these latter (higher) claims are disputed.
    15. ^ Sharma, Divya. Ethics, Ethnocentrism and Social Science Research. Routledge. p. 10. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2022. Martin does not cite any source for this information. In their work, Singh and Kim (2018) note that the official number of deaths during the insurgency was 30,000. Martin's estimates are closest to the estimates given by the Council of Khalistan.
    16. ^ a b Ray, Jayanta Kumar (2007). Aspects of India's International Relations, 1700 to 2000: South Asia and the World. Pearson Education India. p. 484. ISBN 978-8131708347. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
    17. ^ Brar, K. S. (1993). Operation Blue Star: the true story. UBS Publishers' Distributors. pp. 56–57. ISBN 978-81-85944-29-6.
    18. ^ Dogra, Cander Suta. "Operation Blue Star – the Untold Story". The Hindu, 10 June 2013. 9 Aug 2013.
    19. ^ Mahmood 1996, pp. Title, 91, 21, 200, 77, 19.
    20. ^ "How the Akalis let Bhindranwale take over the Golden Temple". Scroll.in. The SGPC president, Mr Tohra and the moderate leadership of the Akalis helped Bhindranwale; otherwise nobody can live in the premises of the Golden Temple without the permission of the SGPC president. After all, Bhindranwale did not just walk in.
    21. ^ The Punjab Crisis: A disastrous case of failed negotiations (Report). South Asia Institute Department of Political Science University of Heidelberg. June 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
    22. ^ Singh, Jagrup; Singh, Nirmal (1 February 2021). "Rise, Dynamics, and Decline of Violence in Punjab: A Critical Reassessment of Existing Explanations". International Journal of Punjab Studies. 22 (1): 43–64. ISSN 0971-5223. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
    23. ^ Gupta, Shekhar (15 December 1993). "You can't get Khalistan through military movement: Jagat Singh Chouhan". India Today.
    24. ^ Ray, Jayanta Kumar (2007). Aspects of India's International Relations, 1700 to 2000: South Asia and the World. Pearson Education India. p. 484. ISBN 978-8131708347. Archived from the original on 30 March 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
    25. ^ Singh, Khushwant (2005). The Anandpur Sahib Resolution and Other Akali Demands. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-908059-5. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2013. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
    26. ^ Cite error: The named reference Giorgio2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
    27. ^ Joshi, Chand, Bhindranwale: Myth and Reality (New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1984), p. 129.
    28. ^ a b c Mahmood 1996, p. 77.
    29. ^ Muni, S. D. (2006). Responding to Terrorism in South Asia. Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 2006. p. 36. ISBN 978-8173046711. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
    30. ^ Cite error: The named reference Robert2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
    31. ^ Asit Jolly (25 June 2012). "The Man Who Saw Bhindranwale Dead: Col Gurinder Singh Ghuman". India Today. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
    32. ^ "Operation Blue Star: India's first tryst with militant extremism". Dnaindia.com. 5 November 2016. Archived from the original on 3 November 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
    33. ^ Singh, Pritam (2008). Federalism, Nationalism and Development: India and the Punjab Economy. Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-415-45666-1. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
    34. ^ Documentation, Information and Research Branch, Immigration and Refugee Board, DIRB-IRB. India: Information from four specialists on the Punjab, Response to Information Request #IND26376.EX, 17 February 1997 (Ottawa, Canada).


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