Punjab insurgency

The insurgency in the Indian state of Punjab originated in the late 1970s, as Sikh revolutionaries alongside Khalistan proponents turned to militancy. The roots of the insurgency were very complex with the main factors being inadequate recognition of Sikhism and the Punjabi language and alleged mistreatment from the Indian Congress Government since its formation 1947. With all schools in Punjab teaching Punjabi children Hindi, parents and community leaders started to become concerned.

The Punjabi Suba civil movement was started to address the language issue and restore Punjabi as the official language of Punjab. The Punjabi Suba movement was banned by the government on April 14, 1955. During this time the Sikhs were faced with much humiliation and difficulties including peaceful protesters and innocent pilgrims being beaten, hit with bricks, arrested, and temple raids. Following the Indo-Pak war of 1965 Punjabi was finally recognized as the official language of Punjab in 1966 when the Punjab land was further split into the states of Himachal Pradesh, the new state Haryana and Current Day Punjab

However this did not solve all problems, the Sikh community still feeling alienated within India, put forward a resolution to address all grievances they had with the Indian state. In 1973, the Sikhs put forward the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. Within this resolution were issues included both religious and political concerns. From easy issues of recognizing Sikhism as a religion to allowing all states within India to set local state level policies and not be forced to get permission from the central government. The Anandpur Resolution was rejected by the government but the religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale joined the Akali Dal to launch the Dharam Yudh Morcha in 1982, a peaceful march, in order to implement Anandpur Sahib resolution. Thousands of people joined the movement, feeling that it represented a real solution to demands such as a larger share of water for irrigation and the return of Chandigarh to Punjab. The Congress government decided to repress the mass agitation with a heavy hand; over a hundred people were killed in the police firings. The security forces arrested over 30,000 Sikhs in two-and-a-half months. After this Bhindranwale suggested it was time for a militant approach with the help of arms and weapons to solve the problems of majority Punjab population leading to the beginning of the insurgency.

On June 6, 1984 Bhindranwale was shot dead in Operation Blue Star and on October 31, 1984 Indira Gandhi was murdered by her Sikh bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh. These two events played a major role to the Sikh and Anti-Sikh violence that would consume Punjab till the early 1990s.

Punjabi Suba Movement
In the 1950s and 1960s, linguistic issues in India caused civil disorder when the central government declared Hindi as the national language of India. For demanding Punjabi to be the official language of the Punjab a total of 12000 Sikhs were arrested for their peaceful demonstrations in 1955 including several Akali leaders including Tara Singh, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, and Jathedar of Akal Takht Achchhar Singh. The nationwide movement of linguistic groups seeking statehood resulted in a massive reorganisation of states according to linguistic boundaries in 1956. At that time, Indian Punjab had its capital in Shimla, and though the vast majority of the Sikhs lived in Punjab, they still did not form a majority. But if Haryana and Himachal could be separated Sikhs could have a Punjab in which they could form a majority of 60 per cent against the Hindus being 40 per cent. The Akali Dal, a Sikh dominated political party active mainly in Punjab, sought to create a Punjabi Suba. This case was presented to the States Reorganisation Commission established in 1953.

Economic impacts of the Green Revolution
While the Green Revolution in Punjab had several positive impacts, the introduction of the mechanized agricultural techniques led to unemployment. The unemployed youth could have been absorbed by industrial development, but the Indian government had been reluctant to set up heavy industries in Punjab due to its status as a high-risk border state with Pakistan. The resulting unemployed rural Sikh youth were drawn to the militant groups, and formed the backbone of the militancy.

Jarnail Bhindranwale and the Akalis
The second reason was attempts made by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi to use Bhindranwale to undermine the Akali Dal (Eternal Party), a political party. The strategy backfired when 13 Sikhs in Amritsars were killed in Nirankari - Sikh clash .They were holding a demonstration against the Nirankaris who with the permission of the than government holding a peaceful Congressional "Samagam" at the event of Baisakhi. Such a clash took violent shape and a total of 13 lives were lost of Sikhs alone.the peaceful Nirankaris had opened fire on unarmed Sikhs. After that Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale came to know about the real policy of Government and started challenging Indira Gandhi and the Indian government. According to the government, Bhindranwale and his followers became a source of disruption and mayhem, but a secret 3rd agency was also working to make Punjab situation unstable at the behest of the Government. Bhindranwale gained a lot of support from the Sikhs, rural Sikhs especially, because they felt alienated from the Indian government. Their disruptions became so bad that in 1984, Indira Gandhi had to order the Indian Army to flush out Bhindranwale and his followers who were in the Harimandir Sahib complex, Sikhism's most holy shrine, in Amritsar. The operation undertaken by the army was codenamed Operation Blue Star. Most Sikhs militants inside the complex were killed and the Akal Takht was bombed.

Militancy
A section of Sikhs turned to militancy in Punjab; some Sikh militant groups aimed to created an independent state called Khalistan through acts of violence directed at members of the Indian government, army or forces. Others demanded an autonomous state within India, based on the Anandpur Sahib Resolution. A large numbers of Sikhs condemned the actions of the militants.

By 1983, the situation in Punjab had become highly volatile. In October 1983, some Sikh militants stopped a bus and shot six Hindu bus passengers. On the same day, another group of extremists killed two officials on a train. The Congress(I)-led Central Government dismissed its own Punjab's government, declaring a state of emergency, and imposed the President's Rule in the state. During the five months preceding Operation Blue Star, from 1 January 1984 to 3 June 1984, 298 people had been killed in various violent incidents across Punjab. In five days preceding the Operation, 48 people had been killed in the violence.

Operation Bluestar
Operation Bluestar which occurred between 3rd–8 June 1984 was an Indian military operation, ordered by Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, to eliminate Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was accused of amassing weapons in the Sikh temple and starting a major armed uprising.

The government seemed unable to stop the violence in Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi. Indira Gandhi ordered the army to storm the temple complex in Punjab.Operation Blue Star was a mixed success. A variety of army units along with paramilitary forces surrounded the temple complex on 3 June 1984. The army kept asking the militants to surrender, using the public address system, but according to civilians inside the complex no announcements were made and the Army termed everyone inside the complex as enemies. The militants were asked to send the pilgrims out of the temple premises to safety, before they start fighting the army. However, nothing happened till 7 PM. General Brar then asked the police if they could send emissaries inside to help get the civilians out, but the police said that anyone sent inside would be killed by the militants. They believed that the militants were keeping the pilgrims inside to stop the army from entering the temple. Finally, around a hundred sick and old people were let out. These people informed the army that the others were not being allowed to come out. The army had grossly underestimated the firepower possessed by the militants. Thus, tanks and heavy artillery were used to forcefully suppress the anti-tank and machine-gun fire. After a 24 hour firefight, the army finally wrested control of the temple complex. According to the Indian Army, 136 army personnel were killed and 249 injured. while insurgent casualties were 493 killed and 86 injured. Unofficial figures go well into the thousands. Along with insurgents, many innocent worshipers were caught in the crossfire. The estimates of innocent people killed in the operation range from a few hundred of people.

Anti-Sikh massacre
The Operation Bluestar inflamed the Sikh community. Many saw it as an attack on their religion and beliefs.

On 31 October 1984, the Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi was gunned down by her two Sikh bodyguards. In the wake of Indira Gandhi's assassination, rioting mobs allegedly led by Congress leaders, who are still facing the court cases, rampaged through the streets of Delhi and other parts of India over the next few days, killing several thousand Sikhs. The police "worked to destroy a lot of the evidence about who was involved with the killings by refusing to record First Information Reports" Hundreds more were refused because the victims wanted to name Congress leaders like Sajjan Kumar, HKL Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler. Human Rights Watch reports "In the months following the killings, the government sought no prosecutions or indictments of any persons, including officials, accused in any case of murder, rape or arson." Hundreds of murders are yet to be even registered by police. The New Delhi Police was reported to be doing nothing to stop the rioting, as was the state and central government. It was only after three days of rioting in the capital of the country that army was called in to restore order. As violence rose, Punjabi Hindus were killed in retaliation and fled their home state Punjab.

After the riots
The Anti-Sikh riots across Northern India had repercussions in Punjab. A small number of Hindus were killed by ragtag gangs of Sikh militants. Trains were attacked and people were shot after being pulled from buses. In 1987, 32 Hindus were pulled out of a bus and shot near Lalru in Punjab by Sikh and Muslim militants. According to Human Rights Watch "In the beginning on the 1980s, Sikh separatists in Punjab attacked non-Sikhs in the state,.

Indira Gandhi's son and political successor, Rajiv Gandhi, tried unsuccessfully to bring peace to Punjab (He was not able to do so because his life was abruptly ended in an LTTE planned explosion. Between 1987 and 1991, Punjab was placed under an ineffective President's rule and was governed from Delhi. Elections were eventually held in 1992 but the voter turnout was poor. A new Congress(I) government was formed and it gave the police chief of the state K.P.S. Gill a free hand.

Gill was ruthless against civilians and insurgents alike, and his methods severely weakened the insurgency movement. However, Gill's reign is regarded as one of the bloodiest in the history of the country, thousands of innocent Sikhs were killed in fake encounters and countless disappeared from their homes in the dark. His police force was also accused of crimes such as rape and torture of women and children according to several reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.