Chandigarh, Oct 4: Is the Khalistan movement still alive? Should a memorial have been built at the Golden Temple in memory of the militants who died during Operation Bluestar in 1984?
The troubling questions were back with the assassination attempt in London on Lt. Gen. (retd) K.S. Brar, who led the Indian Army operation into the Golden Temple 28 years ago.
Even though London's Metropolitan Police have not confirmed the identity of the four attackers with "long black beards", Brar's statement that the attack was the handiwork of Khalistani activists has brought the focus back on Punjab.
The state saw a blood-stained phase of Sikh militancy between 1981-1992 as separatist elements resorted to violence to demand Khalistan (land of the pure) - a homeland for Sikhs.
Even though the Khalistan movement is nowhere active in the state, certain radical elements and groups have unsuccessfully tried to revive it in the last nearly two decades.
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