There is an insidious strategy at work in Punjab to keep the Khalistan movement alive, despite its lack of popular support. The Intelligence Bureau’s report to the Ministry of Home Affairs lays bare the involvement of ISI and pro-Khalistan groups, which are hiring local criminals to exterminate people opposing the push for secession. While blood is being spilt on the ground, a UK-based group has taken to social media to recruit people and widen its support base. The money required for funding an operation of this scale is channelled through hawala and the primary beneficiaries are goons who have become the foot soldiers of the struggle.

The international network of pro-Khalistan groups is also providing jobs to the family members of the hoodlums in European countries. The masterminds based abroad are secure in the belief that law-enforcement agencies in India won’t be able to arrest them. As the plot unfolds with chilling details, the state government of the Congress party appears utterly clueless or too feeble to crack down on terror. While from the late Seventies, ISI was majorly sponsoring the Khalistan movement, it didn’t give up hope when the Indian government crushed the backbone of the rebellion.

It has come back with renewed vigour using foreign soil to further its agenda. Islamabad may cry itself hoarse denying any involvement in attempts at inciting Sikh pilgrims visiting the country, there is mounting evidence revealing its support for the Khalistan movement. Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, too, is actively backing Khalistanis in Pakistan. Last month, India had sent a strong message through the Pakistani diplomat in New Delhi, urging the neighbouring country “to immediately stop all such activities that were aimed at undermining India’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and incitement of disharmony in India”.

While it does come as a surprise to many that things have gone this far, what’s astonishing is the level of coordination among members from India, Pakistan, Germany, UK and the US who assembled for a conference in New York to work out the modalities. The murder of RSS pracharak Ravinder Gosain in Punjab – borne out of a transnational conspiracy – prompting the NIA to chargesheet 15 people, indicates that pro-Khalistan groups are facing stiff resistance from Sangh members who are working at the grass roots. Ironically, history repeats itself because some people do not learn from their mistakes.

Those working to tear Punjab apart and compromise India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity have conveniently forgotten the steep price the state had to bear when misguided youth under Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale took up arms. The reprisals from Indian security forces and the police, culminating in Operation Bluestar in 1984, had scarred the state, physically and emotionally. It took years for the people to come to terms with their losses, and now with another storm brewing, Punjab will once again be in deep trouble. New Delhi must step up efforts to nip the second coming, so to speak, in the bud. The peace-loving majority do not deserve another round of prolonged bloodletting.