Police in India’s border state of Punjab have been in pursuit of a fugitive Sikh separatist leader for several days — even cutting off mobile internet and text messaging services for the region’s more than 27 million people to prevent his supporters from gathering.
The self-styled preacher, Amritpal Singh, has called on his followers to revive a banned secessionist movement that fought to create an independent state called Khalistan for followers of the Sikh faith in Punjab in the 1980s and early 1990s.
While the separatist movement was largely wiped out in Punjab by the mid-90s, it continues to find some support within India and among the Sikh diaspora, especially in the U.K., Australia and Canada.