The K2 Psywar
How Pakistan has been propagating the K-Movement
“More than anything else, Khalistan is a project for bringing about the destruction of the Indian state in a welter of communal disturbances…”- Holy War Against India, Connor Cruise O’Brien, 1988
Although often looked upon as a modern invention, psychological warfare is of ancient origin. Cyrus the Great employed it against Babylon, Xerxes against the Greeks, and Philip II of Macedon against Athens. Centuries later, in the American Revolution, Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” was but one of many pamphlets and leaflets used to strengthen the British-American colonists’ will to fight. With modern scientific advances in communications, together with important developments in the fields of public-opinion analysis and the prediction of mass behaviour, psychological warfare has become a more systematic and widespread technique in strategy and tactics, and a larger ingredient of warfare as a whole and Pakistan is no naïve.
The emergence of Khalistan Movement: Starting in the early 1980s, radical separatists spearheaded a bloody campaign to carve out an independent, theocratic Sikh state known as Khalistan (Land of the Pure) in Punjab and other parts of Northern India. The idea for an independent Sikh state is being reignited by Sikh emigrants and Pakistan is currently supporting such elements. In Canada and UK, Sikh radical outfits are using social media platforms to organize events which are openly calling for the resurgence of the Khalistan movement.
Through a deep analysis of all the active Khalistan groups and pages going round across Facebook, the common factor which bound them was the link which could be traced all the way to Pakistan.
A private Facebook group ‘Waris Punjab de vs Hindustani’ with a whopping 20K followers is run by ‘Jaspall Jatt Veer’, a Facebook account running from Pakistan. Being a private group, one will not be able to locate it but only gets approval upon being invited by a member who is already a part of the Facebook group. The group was first created on August 30, 2014. Since then, its name has been changed a total of eleven times. From ‘Khalistan vs Hindustan’ to ‘YouTube group Pakistan India,’ its name was finally changed to ‘Waris Punjab de vs Hindustani’ on February 23, 2023. Shuja Jawed is said to be the main handler of the group. Shuja is an active member of ISI.
The group consists of posts only in Urdu language and issues only pertaining to Pakistani politics, instigating anti-India posts and pro-Khalistani graphics.
Shuja Jawed also manages a group named ‘ISPR Social Activity Group’ which pushes content related to Kashmir extremism and Sikh freedom.
Not alone Facebook groups but Facebook pages were also used to disseminate the agenda. The OSINT research traced page ‘Khalistan Khalistan’ with massive 14K followers, also running from Pakistan. The page was created in 2018.
Creating religio-political unrest backed by terror-driven violence in India’s border states of Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab was formally conceived as Pakistan’s evil strategy to create problems for India. That this devious planning did meet with a modicum of success for some years cannot be denied. Pakistan’s “Deep State” — the unholy trinity of the Pakistan Army, its intelligence agencies, and the many terror “tanzeems” it nurtures — has perfected the art of exporting terror. It is not surprising that for decades Pakistan has been dubbed the epicentre of global terrorism.
Pakistan’s ‘K2 Conspiracy’ has gained prominence since 1980s. When Kashmir proved futile, they turned towards Punjab and sometimes, rowed both the boats.
The Facebook group ‘Kashmir and Khalistan Movements’ actively shared the videos of Kashmiri militants and protests organised by Khalistani separatists in UK and Canada. The page is close to 4K followers. Many other pages were running with the agenda of Kashmir and Khalistan freedom. Another private page was running unhinderedly with the name ‘Khalisa Khalistan Ka & Kashmir Pakistan Ka.’ The location of the page is located at Multan.
Another page with a tremendous following of 33K was also found to be running from Pakistan. Except for one or two images of Imran Khan, it only pushes information pertaining to Khalistan referendum, voting information and provocative content on India. With regular updates on ‘Sikhs for Justice’ and videos put out by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun- leader of SFJ, it would give an impression of a page handled by a Sikh at its first glance but to one’s dismay, the location traced was of Pakistan.
However, upon delving deeper, images of ‘Pakistan-Khalistan brotherhood’ were tracked down. The second post on the page in the year 2019, was ‘Khalistan Zindabad and Pakistan Zindabad.’ Derogatory and abusive language for Indian leaders was explicitly used.
Regrettably, despite Pakistan currently on the verge of total economic collapse and starvation, with its Forex reserves down to a mere 10 days of survival, continues to carry on with its nefarious agenda of re-energising its old “Khalistan” mischief in some Western nations and, importantly, in India’s strategic border state of Punjab. It has been a long-standing stance that the Khalistan agenda is run from Pakistan and these Facebook groups and pages prove the same.
What next was unearthed will directly prove the shared alliance. In the image below, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and Avatar Singh Pannun could be seen with Farah D. Iqbal, who is the vice-president at Pakistan Chambers of Commerce, hailing from Lahore.
Farah Iqbal is also the anchor at TV One USA, which is a Pakistani based TV channel in the USA.
The kind of war Pakistan is planning is fraught with dangers. It is a double-edged sword and if not handled properly, it will cut the hand that wields it. There are already indications that some of the strategic assets that Pakistan has developed are turning against them. Pakistan is facing terrorism from the same groups that it has created. Hillary Clinton’s famous statement of “keeping snakes in your background and expecting them to only bite the neighbours” is coming true. Continued suppression of its populace by the army will induce internal violence for sure.
Upon digging deeper, it was found that the official page of ‘Sikhs for Justice’ with around 10K followers was also managed from Pakistan and Australia. The page was created in 2015 and since then, the only task it has been into is to propagate disinformation and instigate Sikhs against Hindus.
Portraying Hindus against Sikhs and India as their supreme enemy is the common theme binding these pages. Year 2020 gave them a new perspective as SFJ officially announced its referendum voting. The page was the fruit of a year-long labour as it was created in 2019, a year prior to the announcement of the Khalistan Referendum.
Page ‘Free Khalistan’ which claims to be associated with ‘Khalistan Liberation Force’ and ‘delivers messages related to Kha’ is in fact managed from Pakistan.
The group ‘Khalistan Referendum 2020’ which consists of 14K members has all the Pakistani members as the most active contributors. Besides, instigating Sikhs, the group also served the purpose of promoting Imran Khan as the most beloved leader. Burning down Indian flag, rallies organised by SFJ and speeches by Imran Khan were the common content of the group. Unsurprisingly, all the traction which the group has received is from Pakistani citizens only. Ever enthusiastic, Pakistanis were keenly interested in extending their support to the Khalistan Movement.
Besides Khalistani groups and pages, Pakistani citizens have also created another category of pages along the lines of ‘Muslim-Sikh brotherhood’ and how Muslims of Pakistan are always supportive of Khalistan. Various prominent SFJ members have also followed these pages.
Pakistan is now fighting the ‘war’ in India’s hinterland and making use of the fault lines that exist within the country to de-stabilise it internally, so that in the end, India becomes incapable of responding to an invasion from within.
In one of the pages titled ‘Khalistan News’ with 5.5K followers, the admin from Pakistan has even published his phone number on the page. The page was created in 2020.
Facebook page- ‘Khalistan The Name of Freedom’ which has around 7.5K followers has vigorously covered the Amritpal saga. Time and again the page has issued provocative messages and posts to take stringent measures against India. Sikhs at India’s key positions including military, army and air force are also targeted and prod to backstab the Indian government by siding with their Sikh brethren who are demanding Khalistan.
Unable to write ‘separate’ seems like Pakistan is keen to have its ‘sprite’ country as in the case below.
‘Tehreek-e-Khalistan’ puts Jinnah and Bhindranwale in one frame and promotes the Khalistan Referendum. It also actively covers the Sikhs from Pakistan who are in demand of their separate state.
It becomes significant to note that other active pages have also come under the scrutiny. Pages with massive following like the ones attached below are running from New Zealand and France, places with no substantial Sikh population. Thus, the location leaves unnumbered questions.
Looking at the at the number of pages and groups being run from Pakistan it becomes necessary for India to take necessary action to prevent such incidents. It is advisable that the Indian government take stringent measures and address the vast Indian diaspora in some of the most affected nations like UK, Canada and Germany- particularly the hub of K Movement. Respected community leaders should educate the locals, born and settled abroad, about the multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic values of the country of their origin, where intolerance towards any faith is sacrilege and never appreciated.
