Organisations

The institutions, parties and jathebandis behind the events.

• 52nd Bengal Native InfantryA Bengal Army regiment at Jabalpur that mutinied in September 1857 after the execution of Shankar Shah and his son. It was stationed in central India, not in Punjab.
• Aam Aadmi ClinicsPunjab's free neighbourhood clinics, started by the AAP government in August 2022. A row with the Centre over their name cost the state health funds until NHM clinics were rebranded in 2025.
• Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)The party founded in 2012 that has governed Punjab since 2022. It pressed for a 1984 inquiry from Delhi, and as Punjab's government it is now in open conflict with the Akal Takht.
• Ahluwalia MislThe misl of Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, based in the Jalandhar Doab; it became the princely state of Kapurthala under British protection in 1846.
• Ahuja CommitteeThe one-man committee that fixed the official Delhi toll of the November 1984 pogrom at 2,733 in August 1987. Its own report spells the name Ahooja.
• Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De)Sikh political party launched on 14 January 2025 at Sri Muktsar Sahib by supporters of the jailed MP Amritpal Singh, its mukh sewadar. It is not registered with the Election Commission.
• Akhand Kirtani JathaA Panthic jatha devoted to akhand kirtan and a strict rehit, associated with Bhai Randhir Singh. Its members, led by Bhai Fauja Singh, marched with the Damdami Taksal on 13 April 1978 at Amritsar.
• Akhar Seva of HumanityBangalore and Mumbai based Sikh non-profit that in 2013 was helping Sikligar families in Maharashtra with housing, free tuition and Gurbani teaching.
• Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)Student wing of the RSS family, registered on 9 July 1949 after a first convention at Ambala. In 2019 its Panjab University unit accused a student leader of backing a Punjab referendum.
• Alam SenaName given to a force of about 150 men, including turned fighters, said to be raised by Punjab police officer Mohammad Izhar Alam in the Kharku years. Rights groups link it to staged encounters.
• All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)Tamil Nadu party founded by M. G. Ramachandran in 1972. It appears here because the Tamil Sikh Bahujan Dravida Party criticises it for failing Dalits.
• All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF)The Sikh student federation formed in 1944. Led by Bhai Amrik Singh until he died at Blue Star in 1984, it was banned in 1984, split in 1986, and joined the 2013 Geneva petition on 1984.
• All-India Muslim LeagueThe party founded at Dhaka on 30 December 1906 that, from the Lahore Resolution of 1940, led the demand for Pakistan. Sikhs opposed it, and Punjab was divided in 1947.
• Arya SamajHindu reform movement founded in 1875. In Punjab it clashed with the Singh Sabha over the Gurus and Sikh identity, and later led the Hindi drive in the 1951 census and against the Punjabi Suba.
• Atam PargasLudhiana-based registered charity that promotes moral education, including Gurbani-based teaching books, in Punjab. Its 17th Foundation Day was held on 16 June 2025.
• Baatcheet (Indian Army bulletin)The Indian Army’s newsletter for its own soldiers. Issue no. 153, quoted by Inderjit Singh Jaijee, asked troops after Operation Blue Star to report Amritdharis it called dangerous.
• Babbar Akali MovementA secret armed offshoot of the Akali movement, born after the Tarn Taran and Nankana Sahib killings of 1921. It was most active from 1922 to 1923; six Babbars were hanged on 27 February 1926.
• Babbar Khalsa InternationalThe armed Sikh group that grew out of the 1978 Nirankari killings and took the name of the Babbar Akalis. India, the UK, Canada and the US list it as a “terrorist” entity; its record is told two ways.
• Bahujan Dravida Party (BDP)A small party of mostly Tamil Dalit Sikhs that joins Periyar's Dravidian politics to Kanshi Ram's Bahujan politics. It began as a movement in 2019 and fought Hoshiarpur in Punjab in 2024.
• Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)Party founded by Kanshi Ram, born in Punjab to a Ramdasia Sikh family, on 14 April 1984. It won nine Punjab seats in 1992, and Kanshi Ram won Hoshiarpur in 1996.
• Basics of SikhiUK-based Sikh education and outreach project, started in 2012 by Jagraj Singh, known for YouTube videos explaining Sikhi in plain language. It runs on donations and charges nothing for parchar.
• Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB)The Centre-controlled board that runs the Bhakra and Pong dams and shares their water and power. Punjab contests its make-up, and it was at the centre of the 2025 water dispute and floods.
• Bhangi MislOne of the Sikh misls of the eighteenth century, strongest in the 1760s and 1770s. It held Lahore and Amritsar and the great gun Zamzama until Ranjit Singh took Lahore in 1799 and Amritsar in 1802.
• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)India's ruling party since 2014. In Punjab it was the Akali Dal's junior partner from 1997 to 2020, and has since been trying to build its own base among Sikhs, with mixed results.
• Bhindranwale Tiger Force of Khalistan (BTFK)Kharku jathebandi headed by Baba Gurbachan Singh Manochahal, strongest around Tarn Taran. It split in 1990 and lost its head when Manochahal was killed in February 1993.
• Bibekgarh ParkashanPunjabi Panthic publisher of Baljinder Singh Kotbhara's three-volume Kaurnama on Sikh women of the Kharku struggle, and of Bhai Daljit Singh's book on its unsung fighters.
• British Sikh CouncilA small UK charity, founded in 2002, that says it has built gurdwaras, schools and houses for Sikligar, Vanjara and Satnami Sikhs in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
• Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF)Federal anti-racism foundation created from the Japanese Canadian redress agreement. It funded the World Sikh Organization of Canada's April 2026 report on anti-Sikh hate.
• Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)India's federal investigating agency. It led the Khalra probe, the Delhi 1984 prosecutions of Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, and handled seized material from the Sikh Reference Library.
• Central Gurdwara (Khalsa Jatha) LondonLondon's Khalsa Jatha, formed in 1908, opened a gurdwara in 1911 with the Maharaja of Patiala and has been at Queensdale Road since 1969. It calls itself the UK's oldest Sikh place of worship.
• Central Sikh MuseumThe SGPC's museum above the main entrance of Sri Harmandir Sahib, opened in July 1958. Which portraits hang there, from 1984 figures to Manmohan Singh, is repeatedly argued over.
• Church of Signs and WondersIndependent church at Khambra near Jalandhar, started in 2008 by Ankur Yoseph Narula and called the biggest of its region by The Tribune in 2023. Narula denies that money is paid for conversion.
• Citizens Justice CommitteePanel of eminent citizens, with H. S. Phoolka as convener, formed in 1985 to represent the Delhi victims of November 1984 before the Misra Commission. It withdrew on 31 March 1986.
• Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA)A Hindu advocacy group in the US and Canada. It opposed California's SB 509 on transnational repression, which the Sikh Coalition backed, and welcomed the October 2025 veto.
• Dal KhalsaThe Amritsar-based Sikh organisation founded in 1978 that demands an independent Khalistan by political means. It is not the 18th-century Dal Khalsa army, whose name it took.
• Damdami TaksalThe Sikh school of Gurbani recitation and meaning at Mehta Chowk, led from 1977 to 1984 by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Its origin is told two ways: the Taksal's account and the Encyclopaedia's.
• Dasvandh Network (DVN)A US non-profit giving platform for Sikh causes that charges no fee for using it. In 2024 it raised $2.44 million on the platform, plus $570,000 in board grants.
• Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC)The elected statutory body that runs Delhi's historic gurdwaras under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1971. It built the Wall of Truth for the 1984 victims and is split between rival Akali groups.
• Delhi SultanateThe five dynasties that ruled northern India from Delhi from 1206 to 1526, the political world into which Guru Nanak was born and which Babur ended at Panipat.
• Dera Sacha SaudaSirsa-based sect with a large Dalit following. Its chief's 2007 imitation row, the 2015 pardon and its reversal, and his convictions and paroles shape recent Panthic politics.
• Dera Sachkhand BallanThe main Ravidassia religious centre, at Ballan near Jalandhar. After the 2009 Vienna attack on its leaders it announced Ravidass Dharm as a separate religion in 2010.
• DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)Tamil Nadu's Dravidian party, founded in 1949 by C. N. Annadurai. It lost power in May 2026. Its link to Punjab's story runs through state autonomy, delimitation and a Tamil Sikh party's critique.
• East India CompanyThe London trading company that fought the two Anglo-Sikh wars and annexed the Punjab in March 1849, ending Maharaja Ranjit Singh's kingdom. The Crown took over its rule in 1858.
• EnsaafUS-based human rights group founded in 2004 that documents disappearances and killings in Punjab, 1984 to 1995, and the November 1984 pogrom. It builds on Jaswant Singh Khalra's work.
• Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB)Pakistan's statutory body for the temples and gurdwaras left by Hindus and Sikhs after 1947. It runs the Sikh shrines there, and took over Kartarpur Sahib's management in November 2020.
• Everything's 13A UK Sikh charity founded by Bhai Jagraj Singh; it is the parent of Basics of Sikhi, Mighty Khalsa, Kiddie Sangat and the Sikh Press Association.
• Garg CommissionOne-man inquiry set up by Haryana in March 2011 under Justice T. P. Garg into the killing of Sikhs at Hondh-Chillar, later widened to Gurgaon and Pataudi. It recommended compensation.
• Garhwal RiflesIndian Army infantry regiment raised in 1887 at Almora. Its 9th Battalion fought in the assault on the Darbar Sahib complex in June 1984, where Naik Bhawani Datt Joshi won a posthumous Ashoka Chakra.
• Ghadar PartyRevolutionary party of Punjabi migrants on the US Pacific coast, formed in 1913 to end British rule by armed rebellion. Its 1914 to 1915 rising was crushed and Kartar Singh Sarabha was hanged.
• Government of IndiaThe Union executive under the Constitution; its Punjab record runs from the 1966 reorganisation and Blue Star through the 1985 Accord to the farm laws.
• Government of PunjabThe state government of Punjab: elected chief ministers since 1947, long spells of President's Rule from 1983 to 1992, and an AAP government under Bhagwant Mann since 2022.
• Gur Sikh Temple (Abbotsford)The gurdwara built by Sikh pioneers at Abbotsford, British Columbia, completed in 1911 and opened in 1912; a National Historic Site of Canada since 2002.
• Gurdwara Dera Sahib, LahoreThe Lahore shrine where Guru Arjan Dev Ji gave his life on 30 May 1606. The SGPC rebuilt it from 1930 to 1934; since 1947 Sikhs from India visit it by Pakistani permission.
• Gurdwara Janam Asthan, Nankana SahibThe shrine marking Guru Nanak Dev Ji's birthplace at Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, where 82 to 156 Sikhs were killed on 20 February 1921. Run by the SGPC from 1921 to 1947, it is now managed in Pakistan.
• Gurdwara Karte Parwan (Kabul)The main gurdwara of Afghanistan's Sikhs, in Kabul's Karte Parwan area. A blast and gunmen hit it on 18 June 2022, and at least two people died besides the attackers.
• Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar (Surrey)A gurdwara in Newton, Surrey, British Columbia, that started the Surrey Vaisakhi Parade in 1998 and still sets it off from its doors. The 2025 crowd was put at over 550,000.
• Gurdwara Sahib StocktonThe first Sikh house of worship in the United States, founded at Stockton, California, in 1912 by Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh, and a centre of Ghadar Party activity.
• Gurdwara Sahib Yuba City (Sikh Temple Gurdwara)California gurdwara at 2468 Tierra Buena Road, begun in 1969 on donated almond-orchard land. Its early-November Nagar Kirtan drew 160,000 to 250,000 people in 2022, by the temple's own estimate.
• Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, SouthallWest London gurdwara formed as Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall in 1964. Its Havelock Road building opened on 30 March 2003; the Sabha calls itself the leading Sikh institution outside India.
• Gurmat Academy (Ontario Khalsa Darbar)Weekly Sikh heritage classes at Ontario Khalsa Darbar in Mississauga: Gurmukhi, Gurbani, Sikh history, Gurmat Sangeet, turban tying and gatka, for $50 a month.
• Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara, GravesendGravesend's community-funded gurdwara, opened in November 2010 at a cost of 15 million pounds. Its own site calls it one of the largest outside India, with three prayer halls and two langar halls.
• Guru Nanak Gurdwara SmethwickGurdwara at 130 High Street, Smethwick, in a former Congregational chapel bought for 11,600 pounds, in 1958 or 1961 depending on the source. A 5 million pound annexe opened in October 2012.
• Guru Nanak Khalsa School (GNKS)The Sunday Khalsa school of Sikh Gurdwara San Jose, California, teaching Punjabi, Gurbani, Gurmat and keertan to children in graded levels.
• Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha (Birmingham)Sikh charity built around Sant Baba Puran Singh of Kericho, with its international headquarters at the Soho Road gurdwara in Handsworth, Birmingham. Its schools trust runs six academies.
• Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara (Surrey)A gurdwara on 120th Street, Surrey, that says it has served its sangat since 1973. Its president, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was shot dead in its parking lot on 18 June 2023.
• Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC)The body set up under Haryana's 2014 gurdwara Act to run the state's gurdwaras, which had been under the SGPC; the Supreme Court upheld the Act on 20 September 2022.
• Hindu American Foundation (HAF)A US Hindu advocacy group, founded in 2003, whose positions on California's SB 509 and on India have put it at odds with Sikh American organisations.
• Hindu MahasabhaHindu nationalist body formed in 1915 from regional Hindu Sabhas, among them the Punjab Hindu Sabha of 1909. Savarkar, who led it, counted Sikhs inside the Hindu fold.
• Hunter CommitteeThe British inquiry into the 1919 Punjab disturbances and Jallianwala Bagh. Its majority and minority reports both condemned Dyer, yet no punishment followed.
• Indian ArmyIndia's land force. It carried out Operation Blue Star at Sri Harmandir Sahib in June 1984, the attack the Akal Takht calls the third Ghallughara, and faced mutinies by Sikh soldiers afterwards.
• Indian National Congress (Congress Party)India's oldest national party, founded in 1885. It ruled at the Centre in 1984. Sikh groups hold it responsible for the November killings; the party says its top leadership was not involved.
• International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF)A Sikh youth body formed at Walsall, England, on 23 September 1984 after Operation Blue Star; banned in India and Canada, and in the UK from 2001 until 2016.
• ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence)Pakistan's military intelligence agency. Indian officials say it backed the Khalistan struggle and sheltered Kharku leaders in Lahore; Pakistani accounts are thinner. Most claims are allegations.
• Jakara MovementCalifornia Sikh youth and community organisation that grew from a 2000 conference in Fresno. It runs youth programmes and civic campaigns, and names the abolition of caste among its aims.
• Jana SanghThe Hindu nationalist party founded in 1951 with the RSS, forerunner of the BJP. In Punjab it stood against the Punjabi Suba demand, then sat in Akali-led governments in 1967 and 1970.
• Junior Sikh CoalitionThe Sikh Coalition's student-led programme for Sikh teenagers in the New York area: leadership training, anti-bullying work and langar. Listed as suspended for 2022.
• Justice Ranjit Singh CommissionOne-member inquiry set up by Punjab's Congress government in 2017 into the 2015 Bargari beadbi and the Behbal Kalan and Kotkapura firings. Its 2018 reports named Parkash Singh Badal.
• Karnataka Sikh Welfare Society (KSWS)A Bangalore society that since 2000 has worked for Sikligar Sikh families in Karnataka: schooling for about 500 children, houses, Gurmukhi classes and a link back to gurdwaras.
• KGB (Soviet Committee for State Security)The Soviet security and intelligence agency (1954 to 1991); Mitrokhin's notes say its Delhi operations planted press stories and forged papers on Sikh separatism.
• Khalistan Commando Force (KCF)Kharku armed group named in the Panthic Committee's 29 April 1986 Declaration as the base of Khalistan's defence force; banned by India. Its Lahore-based chief Panjwar was shot dead in 2023.
• Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF)A Kharku jathebandi formed in 1986 to win a sovereign Khalistan by arms. Banned by India in December 2018; its chief Harminder Singh Mintoo died in Patiala jail in April 2018.
• Khalistan ReferendumThe unofficial, non-binding vote that Sikhs for Justice has run in diaspora cities since 2021 on whether Punjab should be an independent Sikh state. India calls it a farce; host governments allow it.
• Khalistan Tiger ForceA group India calls a “terrorist organisation”, linked to Jagtar Singh Tara. India also accused Hardeep Singh Nijjar of leading it, which he denied before he was killed in 2023.
• Khalistan Zindabad ForceA small Khalistani outfit led by Ranjit Singh Neeta, designated a “terrorist organisation” by the EU in 2005. Much of what is said of it comes from Indian agencies and little is verified.
• Khalsa AidUK-based humanitarian charity founded in 1999 by Ravi Singh on the Sikh principle of well-being for all. Known for flood, refugee and farmers' protest relief, and a 2025 dispute with its India office.
• Khalsa College AmritsarThe Sikh community's college at Amritsar, planned by the Singh Sabha reformers and founded in 1892. It refused a British offer of university status tied to a royal reception.
• Khalsa Diwan Society (Vancouver)The Sikh society behind Canada's first gurdwara on 2nd Avenue and the Ross Street Gurdwara. It stood with the Komagata Maru passengers in 1914.
• Khalsa Diwan Society, Victoria (Topaz Avenue Gurdwara)The Victoria Khalsa Diwan Society built the Topaz Avenue Gurdwara in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1912, the third gurdwara in the province. Rebuilt in 1969; a provincial heritage site since 2020.
• Khalsa FaujThe army of the Sarkar-i-Khalsa, built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh with European-trained regulars. It lost the first Anglo-Sikh war in 1846 and its remnants surrendered on 14 March 1849.
• Khalsa Primary School (Southall)State-funded Sikh primary school in Southall, west London, for ages 3 to 11. The Southall gurdwara set it up, and it opened in 2009.
• Khalsa Vidyarthi Sabha (Sikh Students Club)A club of young Sikh men formed at Amritsar in 1891 on Dr Sundar Singh Sodhbans's initiative; in 1893 Bhai Multana Singh Ardasia refused to lead its ardas at Sri Akal Takht Sahib.
• Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM)Punjab farm-union platform convened by Sarwan Singh Pandher. It held Shambhu and Khanauri with SKM (Non-Political) in 2024 and 2025, and led the June 2026 protests against the power utility PSPCL.
• Kusum Lata Mittal Committee (Kapur-Mittal Committee)A 1987 inquiry into Delhi Police conduct in November 1984; Kusum Lata Mittal's separate 1990 report indicted 72 officers, and few were punished.
• Lawrence Bishnoi GangCrime network that began in Punjab student politics, led by the jailed Lawrence Bishnoi. Canada listed it a “terrorist entity” in 2025; a US indictment in 2026 names him over Nijjar’s killing.
• Lawyers for Human Rights International (LFHRI)A Chandigarh lawyers' group that says it formed in 1992 after Punjab police began targeting rights defenders. It campaigns against torture and the death penalty.
• Leadership Development Program (SikhLEAD LDP)SALDEF's youth leadership programme for Sikh Americans, begun in 2010. It sits within SikhLEAD, whose internships run in Washington DC, in the states and, newly, in Los Angeles media.
• Madras RegimentIndian Army infantry regiment traced to 1758 under the East India Company. Its 26th Battalion was among the units sent into Sri Harmandir Sahib in the June 1984 attack, Operation Blue Star.
• Master Akali DalThe part of the Akali Dal that stayed with Master Tara Singh after Sant Fateh Singh set up a rival Dal in July 1962. It lost the January 1965 SGPC elections, 45 seats to 90.
• Midland Langar Seva Society (MLSS)UK Sikh charity founded in Walsall in October 2013 that serves free vegetarian langar to homeless and low-income people in Birmingham, Leicester and other cities.
• Misra CommissionOne-man inquiry under Justice Ranganath Misra into the November 1984 killings of Sikhs in Delhi. It reported in August 1986, was tabled in February 1987, and called the violence a backlash.
• Mukti BahiniThe Bengali liberation force of the 1971 war that created Bangladesh, trained and sheltered by India. Major General Shahbeg Singh is credited with raising and training it before he died in Blue Star.
• Nanavati CommissionThe one-man inquiry on the November 1984 Delhi killings, appointed in May 2000 under Justice G. T. Nanavati. Its report, tabled on 8 August 2005, named Tytler and Sajjan Kumar and led to an apology.
• New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP)Canada's social-democratic federal party, led by Jagmeet Singh from 2017 to 2025. Singh moved a 1984 genocide motion in Ontario in 2016 and the NDP pledged in 2024 to seek recognition in Parliament.
• Nishkam Sikh Welfare CouncilDelhi-based Sikh service body founded in 1984. Runs scholarships, a medical centre and work for the Sikligar community, with schooling from 2000 and housing from 2001, starting in Bangalore.
• Ontario Khalsa Darbar (OKD)Gurdwara at 7080 Dixie Road, Mississauga, known as the Dixie Gurdwara. Established in 1978 in a farmhouse, its building was inaugurated on 25 June 1989, and the site has grown to about 38 acres.
• Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC)The Sikh committee formed in Pakistan in April 1999 under the Evacuee Trust Property Board to run gurdwaras and receive pilgrims. Ramesh Singh Arora has been its president since March 2024.
• Panthic CommitteeFive-member body named by the Sarbat Khalsa of 26 January 1986 to lead the Panth. It issued the Declaration of Khalistan on 29 April 1986; later rival committees used the same name.
• Parachute Regiment (Indian Army)The Indian Army's airborne and special forces regiment, re-raised on 15 April 1952. Its 1 Para Commandos had a part in the plan for Operation Blue Star in June 1984.
• Parliament of IndiaIndia's legislature: the President, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. It passed the Punjab Reorganisation Act, Punjab's 1988 emergency powers, TADA, and the farm laws and their repeal.
• People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)Indian civil liberties body founded in 1976 and made a membership organisation in 1980. With PUDR it published Who Are the Guilty?, an inquiry into Delhi's November 1984 Ghallughara, within weeks.
• Phulkian MislThe twelfth misl: the Malwa chiefs south of the Sutlej descended from Phul, from whom came Patiala, Nabha and Jind. It stood outside the Dal Khalsa command and took British protection in 1809.
• Punjab Agricultural University (PAU)The Ludhiana farm university set up in 1962 that calls itself the Mother of the Green Revolution. Its first vice-chancellor was Prem Nath Thapar; M.S. Randhawa served from 1968 to 1976.
• Punjab Boundary Commission (Radcliffe Commission), 1947The panel under Sir Cyril Radcliffe that fixed the India-Pakistan line through Punjab; its award split the Sikh community and left shrines and canal colonies in Pakistan.
• Punjab Christian MovementA Jalandhar-based Christian advocacy body led by president Hamid Masih, which protests attacks on pastors and answers calls for an anti-conversion law.
• Punjab National BankA bank founded in Lahore in 1894 by Punjabi swadeshi promoters, uprooted at Partition to Delhi, nationalised in 1969 and now one of India's biggest public sector banks.
• Punjab PoliceThe state police force that carried out the 1984 to 1995 counter-insurgency. Courts and rights groups document illegal cremations and disappearances; rights groups say its architects were never tried.
• Punjab Students UnionLeft student body of Punjab, traced to a 1963 union at Panjab University. It joined the Naxalite current in 1968, was reorganised in 1971 and was at the head of the Moga agitation of 1972.
• Punjab University LahoreThe university set up at Lahore on 14 October 1882 that gave Punjabi and Gurmukhi a place in higher education. Partition split it in 1947; it survives as the University of the Punjab in Pakistan.
• Qaumi Insaaf MorchaSikh-led protest movement holding a continuous sit-in on the Mohali and Chandigarh border since 7 January 2023 for the release of the Bandi Singhs and justice for the 2015 beadbi cases.
• Radha Soami Satsang BeasA Sant Mat movement based at Dera Baba Jaimal Singh, Beas, founded in 1891 and led since 1990 by Gurinder Singh Dhillon. One of Punjab's largest deras, it has traditionally stayed out of politics.
• Ramgarhia MislOne of the eleven Dal Khalsa misls, named for the Ram Rauni fort at Amritsar and led by Jassa Singh Ramgarhia (1723 to 1803). Ranjit Singh took its territories in 1808.
• Rashtriya Sikh SangatThe RSS’s Sikh wing, formed in 1985 or 1986. Sri Akal Takht Sahib named it anti-Panth in 2004 and told Sikhs again in 2017 to follow that edict.
• Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)Hindu nationalist volunteer body founded in Nagpur in 1925. In 2004 the Akal Takht told Sikhs to keep away from its activities, and it repeated the call in 2017.
• RAW (Research and Analysis Wing)India's external intelligence agency, set up in 1968. Named in the Third Agency claims about 1984 and, by US prosecutors, in the 2023 plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)Canada's federal police. It let Sikh officers wear turbans from 1990, was faulted by the Air India inquiry, and in 2024 linked agents of the Government of India to violence against Sikhs.
• SAD Sudhar LeharRebel Akali leaders' 2024 reform movement against Sukhbir Badal. Dissolved on 9 December 2024 after the Akal Takht's edict; a rival Akali faction led by Giani Harpreet Singh followed in August 2025.
• SAF InternationalSikh charity from Surrey, BC, registered as the Sikhi Awareness Foundation. It runs schooling, water and housing projects with Sikligar families in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and near Hyderabad.
• SALDEF (Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund)Washington-based Sikh American civil rights group, begun in 1996 as an all-volunteer media-watch body. It gives legal help, runs the SikhLEAD youth programme and speaks on hate crimes.
• Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM)The platform of farmer unions that led the year-long 2020-21 protest at the Delhi borders. It split over politics in 2022 and again in 2024, and a rival wing now leads the MSP agitation.
• Sandhawalia clan (Sandhanwalia sardars)Jat Sikh family of Raja Sansi, kin of Ranjit Singh's Sukerchakia line. Its sardars killed Maharaja Sher Singh, his son and a minister on 15 September 1843 and were destroyed the next day.
• Sant Nirankaris (Sant Nirankari Mission)A Delhi-based movement with a living Satguru, begun in the 1920s or 1930s as an offshoot of the Nirankaris; its 1978 Amritsar convention led to a clash that killed Sikhs.
• Sarbat KhalsaThe assembly of the whole Khalsa Panth, meeting before the Guru Granth Sahib at the Akal Takht. Its gurmatas bound every Sikh. Revived in 1986 and 2015, its authority is still contested.
• Sehajdhari Sikh Federation (now Sehajdhari Sikh Party)Body of Sehajdhari Sikhs formed in 2001, now the Sehajdhari Sikh Party. Its petition got the 2003 order barring Sehajdharis from SGPC polls quashed in 2011; Parliament's 2016 amendment overrode that.
• SGPC Dharam Parchar CommitteeThe SGPC's body for religious preaching, which runs the Shaheed Sikh Missionary College and village Gurmat camps. The 2025-26 SGPC budget set aside Rs 110 crore for it.
• Sher-e-Punjab DalPolitical party announced in June 2024 by Bhai Baldev Singh Wadala, a former Hazoori Ragi of Sri Darbar Sahib, on a Panthic platform against SGPC faction control and Akali Dal family rule.
• Shiromani Akali DalThe Sikh political party founded on 14 December 1920 as the Akali movement's task force. It led the morchas and the Punjabi Suba campaign and is now split into rival factions.
• Shiromani Akali Dal (Punar Surjit)The Akali breakaway led by former Akal Takht jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh. Formed in 2025 after the Akal Takht's directions to the Badal-led Akali Dal, it is now looking for allies before 2027.
• Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)The elected body that runs the historic gurdwaras of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, born of the Akali reform movement of 1920 and governed by the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925.
• Sikh CoalitionThe US Sikh civil rights organisation that began on the night of 11 September 2001. It fights hate crimes, school bullying and turban and beard bans, in court and in Congress.
• Sikh Durbar (Lahore Darbar)The court and government of the Sikh state at Lahore, the Sarkar-i-Khalsa, from Ranjit Singh's capture of the city in 1799 to the British annexation of the Punjab in 1849.
• Sikh Educational and Religious FoundationOhio-based Sikh publisher and tax-exempt foundation behind Ranbir Singh Sandhu's 1997 essay on Bhindranwale and his 1999 translation of Bhindranwale's speeches, Struggle for Justice.
• Sikh Educational Conference (Sikh Educational Committee)Singh Sabha era effort to spread Sikh schooling. The sources document the Sikh Educational Conference, formed in 1908 by Chief Khalsa Diwan leaders; none uses the name Sikh Educational Committee.
• Sikh Family CenterA US nonprofit, launched in 2009, that supports Punjabi Sikh survivors of gender-based violence through a Punjabi-English helpline, prevention education and training.
• Sikh Gurdwara San JoseA gurdwara founded in 1984 by the South Bay Sikh community in California. Its 40-acre Evergreen campus, completed in 2011, is described as the largest gurdwara in North America.
• Sikh Missionary College (Ludhiana)Sikh education and parchar institution founded in 1980, with its head office in Ludhiana. It runs a two-year correspondence course on Sikhi in Punjabi, Hindi and English, and study circles.
• Sikh Prachar Conference (Sarb Hind Sikh Mission)The SGPC's April 1936 preaching conference at Amritsar, called after Ambedkar's 1935 vow to leave Hinduism. It founded the Sarb Hind Sikh Mission; Ambedkar and his followers did not convert.
• Sikh Relief (formerly SOPW)UK charity that began as the Sikh Organisation for Prisoner Welfare and helps Sikh prisoners and their families in India. Indian media have alleged links to violence, which it denies.
• Sikh Sadbhawna DalA Panthic reform group led by Bhai Baldev Singh Wadala. Its sit-in on Heritage Street, Amritsar, over the 328 missing saroops began in November 2020; an FIR followed in December 2025.
• Sikh Temple of WisconsinThe gurdwara in Oak Creek where a white supremacist killed six worshippers on 5 August 2012 and a seventh victim died in 2020. The sangat has kept it open since.
• Sikh Youth Alliance of North America (SYANA)Volunteer Sikh youth body in the US and Canada that traces itself to 1968. It runs Gurmat camps, a retreat and the International Sikh Youth Symposium, a speaking and debate contest for ages 6 to 22.
• Sikh Youth of Punjab (SYP)The youth wing of Dal Khalsa, formed after a general body decision on 8 August 2008; it campaigns on Bandi Singhs, Sikh symbols and student causes.
• Sikhs for Justice (SFJ)A New York group founded in 2007 that took 1984 cases to US courts and now runs the Khalistan Referendum. India banned it in 2019; a US court has heard a plot to kill its general counsel.
• SIT 1984The special investigation teams set up since 2015 to reopen closed cases from the November 1984 Delhi massacre of Sikhs: first the Home Ministry's, then the Supreme Court's in 2018.
• Sri Akal Takht SahibThe senior seat of Sikh religious authority, raised opposite the Harmandir in Amritsar by Guru Hargobind in 1606. Its hukamnamas bind the Panth, and who holds its jathedar's office is hotly contested.
• Sukerchakia MislThe misl of Gujranwala, one of the Dal Khalsa's fighting bands, from which Maharaja Ranjit Singh rose to found the Sarkar Khalsa.
• Surya magazineIndian magazine (Surya India) whose September 1984 cover story, citing RAW sources, said a special agency under the Prime Minister's office supervised arms smuggling into the Golden Temple complex.
• Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)Tamil Nadu party founded in February 2024 by the actor C. Joseph Vijay. In its first election, in 2026, it won 108 of 234 seats and took power from the DMK and AIADMK.
• TarakiUK not-for-profit company founded in October 2017 by Shuranjeet Singh to change how Punjabi communities deal with mental health, through research, media, training and men's peer support.
• The Marathas in PunjabThe Maratha Confederacy's push into Punjab in 1758 with Adina Beg and Sikh help, and its dealings with the Sikh chiefs until it was displaced by the British in 1803 and 1806.
• Tom Lantos Human Rights CommissionBipartisan human rights body of the US House, set up in 2008. It held a briefing on the November 1984 Delhi massacres on 30 September 2014 and a hearing on transnational repression on 24 June 2025.
• Unionist Party (Punjab)Cross-communal party of Punjab's landholders that governed the province from 1937 to March 1947. The Akali Dal opposed it until the 1942 pact; the Muslim League broke it in 1946.
• United Christian FrontPunjab body of Christian churches whose state president, Kamal Bakshi, told ThePrint in 2021 it had committees in 8,000 of Punjab's 12,000 villages. Its figures are its own claims.
• UNITED SIKHSInternational Sikh humanitarian and civil rights NGO founded in 1999 in the New York area. Known for its Afghan Sikh relief, the 2020 US Census campaign and a 2025 report on anti-Sikh hate crimes.
• Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)Hindu nationalist religious body founded at Bombay on 29 August 1964. Master Tara Singh attended its founding conference; the VHP counts Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists in the wider Hindu fold.
• Waris Punjab DeThe Punjabi Sikh organisation Deep Sidhu founded in 2021 and Amritpal Singh took over in 2022. Its leader won Khadoor Sahib from jail in 2024 and has been in custody since April 2023.
• World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO)The Ottawa-based Sikh advocacy body, the Canadian branch of the World Sikh Organization formed after Operation Blue Star in 1984. It argues Sikh religious rights in court and documents anti-Sikh hate.