California's Khalistan

Sikhs living here face Hindutva violence (maybe).

Sikhs have been coming here to Stockton for over a century, escaping discrimination from Hindus on one side, and Muslims on the other. Khalistan refers to a Sikh nationalist effort that seeks to carve out a homeland in Punjab and the surrounding provinces. I’ve encountered Sikh convenience store employees and owners from the East Bay clear out to Sacramento. The men may still wear their peaked turbans, but the youth have begun to discard that practice.

I previously wrote about the assassination attempt on Satinder Pal last August, and now there’s a curious situation in Stockton. The profile of the murdered owner of this house just screams DRUG TRAFFICKER, but some Indian publications are attributing this to a “Punjabi gang”. This happened almost immediately after the murder, and there are only a couple explanations that make sense.

• Indian news outlet has a source and this WAS a Punjabi gang.

• Indian news outlet is of low quality, like the New York Post.

• Indian news outlet is a vehicle for intentional influence ops.

Given that the police are saying nothing, it seems like a BIIIGGGGGG stretch to immediately attribute this to Punjabi organized crime. I’ve seen things like this before with Indian outlets covering geopolitical events, times where they present conspiracy theories as certainties.

Given that incoming Trump administration figures have been talking about deporting naturalized and birthright citizens, it’s not really clear what, if anything, this violence (and the likely spin of it) truly means. A blatantly illegal move like that would destabilize the U.S. and the country of origin …