Dal Khalsa

What it is: Dal Khalsa is a Sikh political organisation, headquartered in Amritsar, that stands for an independent Khalistan and says it pursues it by political means. Do not confuse it with the Dal Khalsa of the eighteenth century, the united Sikh fighting force formed on 29 March 1748 under Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, which the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism describes. The modern body took the older name.

How it began, two dates: Dal Khalsa’s own account, given to The World Sikh News, is that its founders decided to form it on 6 August 1978 and announced it at Chandigarh on 13 August 1978. It names six founders: Gajinder Singh, Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib, Tejinder Singh, Harsimran Singh, Jaswant Singh Thekedar and Manmohan Singh Khalsa, and says Sirdar Kapur Singh gave them the name. The Tribune calls Gajinder Singh a co-founder. Wikipedia’s infobox gives 13 April 1978, the day of the Nirankari killings at Amritsar, but its own text says only “in the immediate aftermath”, so the August dates are the organisation’s own and the better supported.

Leaders, in order: Gajinder Singh led it as chairman until he stepped down in 2005, and Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib followed him (Wikipedia). Harcharanjit Singh Dhami was Dal Khalsa’s president in September 2015. After the May 2016 merger with Panch Pardhani, Harpal Singh Cheema, a lawyer and human rights activist, was named working president, with Gajinder Singh and Bhai Daljit Singh as the merged body’s “guiding force”. By 2017 the Tribune called Cheema president, and in April 2026 it still did. Paramjit Singh Mand, its working president, is its main public voice. Kanwarpal Singh is secretary for political affairs. Wikipedia’s infobox and body disagree on who is president; the Tribune and Sikh Siyasat News are the better guide.

Key moments

• 29 September 1981: five men, Gajinder Singh among them, hijacked an Indian Airlines flight to Lahore, demanding Bhindranwale’s release. The Tribune describes the group as a “radical outfit” and Gajinder Singh as a “wanted terrorist”, which is the press’s word. A Lahore court sentenced four of the hijackers to 14 years, and they finished it on 31 October 1994.
• 1982 to 1994: DailyO says the Indian government proscribed the group in this period. It came back overground on 6 August 1998, a revival that DailyO and Kanwarpal Singh himself say he led.
• June each year: Dal Khalsa holds a remembrance march on 5 June and calls an Amritsar bandh on 6 June for the anniversary of Operation Blue Star. For the 42nd anniversary in 2026, Mand said the bandh protests the killing of hundreds of pilgrims and the alleged looting of the Sikh Reference Library.
• 5 June 2012: it published a 422-page directory of the Shaheeds of June 1984, which DailyO says lists 220 names.
• July 2024: Gajinder Singh died in Pakistan, aged 74 according to the Tribune.

Where it stands: Dal Khalsa says it does not contest Indian elections. Its no-election policy document of 30 April 2024, presented by Mand and signed by its fifteen-member executive under Cheema, says that without the right of self-determination elections are meaningless, argues for a UN-supervised plebiscite, and wishes success to those who contest on a Khalistan platform. On 26 January 2026 Dal Khalsa, the Panch Pardhani Jatha, the Bhai Jagtar Singh Hawara Committee and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) marched to the Akal Takht, where Mand read a joint declaration marking forty years since the 1986 Sarbat Khalsa. At a Panthic conclave at Dharamkot, Moga, on 13 April 2026 Cheema spoke on sacrilege and Kanwarpal Singh on regional stability.