ABSTRACT
Although one of the smallest religious communities in the world, numbering about 20 million, the Sikhs have presented dramatic challenges to various polities across the world. In the Indian state of Punjab, in which Sikhs form a precarious majority, they were depicted as posing a substantial threat to the survival of India as a geographical entity during the 1980s and early 1990s (Singh 2000). In this campaign, which began for a certain degree of autonomy for Punjab, the Sikh diaspora was also embroiled and played a significant role, firstly, in internationalizing the conflict, secondly, through material and moral support for the campaign, thirdly by providing financial aid to rehabilitate many victims of state oppression. As a diaspora, the Indian state has viewed overseas Sikhs, or at least some of the community leaders, with suspicion and apprehension and signed extradition treaties with three major states, while asking them for stringent measures against ‘Sikh terrorists’ based abroad (Tatla 1999). Apart from the 1984 event, which had immense implications for the community in Punjab as well as in the diaspora, Sikhs in several overseas countries have been making demands of various kinds, which at first seem quite unreasonable, above the normal requirements of a liberal society aiming at equality of opportunity and natural justice for all of its people regardless of colour and ethnicity. In countries such as Britain, Canada and the United States, where Sikhs form a substantial portion of the local population, these demands have centred on the right to wear turbans and kirpam (a small sheathed sword carried by baptized Sikhs). Such campaigns have led to considerable tensions at local and, in some cases, at the national level, while for some individuals have involved, a stark choice between job and faith, and in cases of perceived discrimination a loss of dignity tied to their religious convictions.
