Vaisakhi Sarbat Khalsa

Who: The Sikh sangat assembled for the Vaisakhi Sarbat Khalsa of 13 April 1986, and the five-member Panthic Committee that a Sarbat Khalsa at Sri Akal Takht Sahib had nominated on 26 January 1986: Giani Aroor Singh, Jathedar Gurbachan Singh Manochahal, Bhai Gurdev Singh Usmanwala, Bhai Dhanna Singh and Bhai Wassan Singh Zaffarwal. Attendance and who presided are not established.

What: The Declaration of Khalistan, issued by the Panthic Committee on 29 April 1986, says that at the time of the Sarbat Khalsa called for 13 April 1986 the Sikh congregation enthusiastically endorsed the call for Khalistan. Two English renderings carry the sentence: one circulated by the Khalistan Affairs Center and printed in World Sikh News on 1 May 1992, the other on 1984 Tribute. The Declaration names both assemblies: the committee was nominated by the Sarbat Khalsa of 26 January, and the endorsement came at the one of 13 April.

The April gathering had been planned. The January assembly, called by the Damdami Taksal at Sri Akal Takht Sahib, announced Vaisakhi and Diwali as the next two occasions for a Sarbat Khalsa. UPI reported that about 15,000 armed supporters attended in January and that the gathering declared the SGPC disbanded.

The record on 13 April itself is thin. No contemporaneous report, attendance figure, presiding name or text of a Vaisakhi resolution was found. What exists is the Declaration's own statement.

Where: Amritsar. The January assembly met at Sri Akal Takht Sahib and the Declaration was issued from there; the Declaration does not itself say where the April assembly met.

Why it mattered: Sixteen days later the Panthic Committee proclaimed Khalistan from Sri Akal Takht Sahib. It cited the 1984 attack on Sri Darbar Sahib and the killings after it, and it rested the proclamation on the sangat's endorsement as well as on its own nomination. On 30 April police and paramilitary forces entered the complex in a 13-hour operation, and the five committee members, wanted over the Declaration, escaped, according to The Christian Science Monitor. It reported that three Cabinet ministers and two Akali Dal leaders resigned, calling the entry grave sacrilege, and that 11 people were killed in the three days after the raid.