The Delhi Police arrested five suspected terrorists, two of whom were allegedly involved in the recent killing of Shaurya Chakra winner Balwinder Singh in Punjab.
This has made reflections of the long dead and buried Khalistan movement.
What is the Khalistan movement all about?
Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement.
Its aim is to create a separate country called Khalistan in Punjab, as a homeland for Sikhs.
The movement is long dead with the neutralisation of the threat and the ending of the Punjab insurgency in the early 1990s.
It has lost support from the Sikh community within India and the Sikh diaspora across the world.
Overall, attempts to revive the movement from fringe groups have failed.
The killing of Balwinder Singh is one of a few isolated and sporadic incidents that have occurred in the last decade.
A communist, Singh was against religious radicalisation and opposed the Khalistani movement.
He has fought against Khalistani militants in the state for years.
He trained his family to use arms and fight militants.
What is the need for caution?
The Delhi police have claimed that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is seeking yet again to link up terror outfits in Kashmir with pro-Khalistan activists.
Three of the others among the five arrested were from Kashmir.
These claims need to be investigated before any conclusion can be made about the presence of a link.
Also, there is no truth in the allegation that there are pro-Khalistani sections as part of the large-scale protests led by farmers in Punjab.
Nevertheless, the central government should not take the threat lightly.
Notably, agencies such as the ISI have not stopped trying to stir up such violence.
They are doing it either directly by funding fringe sections or by linking them with terror groups in Kashmir.
Security agencies must therefore remain vigilant.
What are the other threats in Kashmir?
Even if the Khalistan movement is no more, the threat of terror in Kashmir remains well and truly active.
Terror incidents and fatalities since the revoking of special status and statehood for J&K in 2019 have remained high.
Many of these incidents have occurred due to acts of terror emanating from within the Union Territory.
However, infiltration of terrorists from Pakistan continues as well.
This is also correlated with the increased ceasefire violations at both the Line of Control and the International Border.
What next?
The pause in terror activities and the relative peace in the Valley from 2011 to 2015 are now a thing of the past.
Renewed violence besides disaffection has become a new normal, even if they have not reached the high levels of the 1990s and the early 2000s.
The persisting disaffection in the Valley can only be addressed by a new political process.
It must seek to review the unilateral changes made to the region’s status.
