Abstract

This article examines the contemporary Khalistani separatism as a transnational phenomenon. It has shifted from being a territorial insurgency in Punjab to a diffused security challenge driven by small sections of the diaspora groups. The article argues that a small separatist fringe amongst the Sikh diaspora has generated security externalities for India. While the overwhelming majority of Sikhs in India and abroad remain loyal to the Indian state and are invested in its democratic framework.

Conceptually, the paper brings together securitisation theory and scholarship on diaspora politics. The paper also discusses long-distance nationalism, and analysis of hybrid and transnational threats to explain how Khalistan has been framed, institutionalised and contested across borders.

The core of the article identifies four pathways through which foreign-based Khalistani networks affect Indian national security. These pathways include at first, direct and indirect support for terrorism and violent extremism. Secondly, diplomatic and strategic friction in India-Canada relations. Thirdly, information and psychological operations that seek to delegitimise the Indian state. Fourthly, by diffusing more risks to communal harmony and internal cohesion. The article then assesses the evolution of India’s policy responses. It argues that the Indian response was initially more reactive and coercive counter-insurgency. Now, the response has evolved towards a more proactive, multi-domain strategy.

The paper concludes that Khalistan today persists less as a mass separatist movement than as a transnational security irritant. The effective management of which requires calibrated firmness against a radical fringe alongside sustained partnership with mainstream Sikh diasporic institutions in Canada and beyond.