Introduction

This chapter examines the Punjab/Sikh problem within the framework of ethnic and traditional nationalism outlined in the previous chapters. In particular, the discussion here extends my contention that as the British nation continues to be defined largely in ethnic terms and thereby excludes the legitimate membership of non-white minorities, groups recently settled in Britain are wont to look to their original homelands for security and a sense of certainty. The mobilization of their own distinctive ethnicity will be one important way of asserting difference. This is, however, only part of the story. The second part consists of the kinds of developments occurring in these homelands themselves. The Khalistan question, therefore, serves to illustrate how ethnic nationalism can be aroused and mobilized in support of events in places that are physically far away from the new home of settlement. The important point to bear in mind, however, is that the flames of Khalistani ethnic nationalism are being fed by two fires: exclusion from the British national community, and the dynamics of developments ‘back home’ in the Punjab. And the political pressures released by these heated situations are perfectly compatible.

In this examination of the painful situation in the vast and diverse land which produced Gandhi and Nehru, I want to draw attention to three aspects of the Khalistan question as it relates to Sikhs in the United Kingdom.