Sikh Terrorism

Terrorist acts by militant Sikhs, members of a religion that began in northern India in the 1500s, reached a peak in the 1980s with the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India and the bombing of Air India Flight 182. Militants have attacked the Indian government because Sikhs want an independent homeland. In addition, many acts of Sikh terrorism were committed as revenge for a 1984 attack by the Indian military on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the holiest of Sikh shrines. Militant Sikhs have also targeted moderates and critics in the Sikh community and members of nontraditional or minority Sikh sects.

The vast majority of Sikhs live in India, although substantial Sikh communities can be found in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. Most Sikhs in India live in the northwestern state of Punjab, where they constitute a narrow majority. For the first half of the nineteenth century, this area was an independent Sikh kingdom, until it was conquered by the British in 1849. When India and Pakistan became independent nations in 1947, Sikhs agitated for the creation of either an independent Sikh state or an autonomous Sikh entity within India. Although no such state was created, the borders of Punjab were eventually redrawn to create a Sikh-majority state. A Sikh political party, the Akali Dal, was created to promote greater political autonomy for Sikhs.

No single group has come to dominate militant Sikhism—by 1990 even the Panthic Committee, an umbrella organization of Sikh militants, had splintered into three factions. But radical Sikh groups generally trace their roots to a single individual, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Bhindranwale, the [Page 544]leader of a Sikh fundamentalist sect and a fiery orator, who rose to prominence in the mid-1970s. In 1977, a party coalition, including the Akali Dal, came to power in Punjab, defeating India's then-dominant Congress Party, led by Indira Gandhi. In an effort to gain popularity among Sikhs, the Congress Party began to support Bhindranwale.

In 1978, followers of Bhindranwale battled with members of a small Sikh sect, and at least 18 people died in the fighting. Bhindranwale and his followers gathered arms and turned their religious center into a fortress. On September 9, 1981, the chief editor of a chain of newspapers harshly critical of Bhindranwale was assassinated, and police arrested Bhindranwale at his fortress. Bhindranwale's followers embarked on a month-long campaign of violence to obtain his release, attacking Hindus, derailing trains, and even hijacking an Air India plane.

Bhindranwale was released from prison on October 14, 1981. He appeared so powerful that even the Akali Dal attempted a rapprochement. Bhindranwale was able to assume effective control of the All-India Sikh Students Federation, a large youth organization. In April 1983 a high-ranking police officer was assassinated in front of the Golden Temple in broad daylight, apparently on Bhindranwale's orders. Once again, however, he was not prosecuted.

Murders of individuals rapidly gave way to massacres. In October 1983, six Hindu bus passengers were slaughtered by Sikh militants, leading the Indian government to impose emergency rule in Punjab. To avoid arrest, Bhindranwale moved himself and his followers into the Golden Temple.

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