The Khalistan movement began as an expatriate venture . In 1971 , the first explicit call for Khalistan was made in an advertisement published in '' The New York Times '' by an expat Jagjit Singh Chohan . With financial and political support of the Sikh diaspora the movement flourished in the Indian state of Punjab , which has a Sikh-majority population and reached its zenith in the late 1970s and 1980s , when the secessionist movement caused large-scale violence among the local population including assassination of PM Indira Gandhi and bombing of Air India plane killing 328 passengers . Various pro-Khalistan outfits have been involved in a separatist movement against the Government of India ever since . In the 1990s the insurgency petered out , and the movement failed to reach its objective due to multiple reasons including a heavy police crackdown on separatists , divisions among the Sikhs and loss of support from the Sikh population . The extremist violence had started with targeting of the Nirankaris and followed by attack on the government machinery and the Hindus . Ultimately the Sikhs also targeted other Sikhs with opposing viewpoints . This led to further loss of public support and the militants were eventually brought under control of law enforcement agencies by 1993
bombing of Air India plane
Air India Flight 182
Khalistan movement