WASHINGTON: Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) has said that it is prepared to commit $1 billion to join President Donald Trump’s proposed Board of Peace and urged him to negotiate with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow a Khalistan referendum in Indian-administered Punjab under an international peace framework.
The announcement was made during a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, where the SFJ representatives said that the proposed funding is intended to support negotiations aimed at preventing a wider conflict in the region.
“The Board of Peace offers a mechanism to prevent a deadly conflict before it explodes. SFJ is ready with one billion dollars to support peace through negotiation.” said Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, general counsel for Sikhs For Justice.
Pannun said the group views Punjab as strategically critical, describing it as “the Greenland of South Asia” because of its geography and regional significance. Stabilizing Punjab through what he called a democratic process would help stabilize South Asia as a whole, he said, while failure to address the issue could increase the risk of a major conflict.
SFJ warned that tensions in Punjab are rapidly escalating. Citing Indian government disclosures, the group claimed more than 8,000 Sikhs have been detained in the past week amid mass arrests, alleged fake encounters and terrorism-related charges linked to support for the Khalistan referendum.
“These are early-warning indicators of a brewing conflict,” Pannun said.
The organization described Sikhs as a nation of more than 30 million people with a distinct identity and political will, arguing that a negotiated referendum is the only viable path to prevent escalation. India has consistently rejected calls for a Khalistan referendum, calling the movement a threat to its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Pannun placed the current tensions in a historical context, pointing to the classification of Sikhs as Hindus under India’s 1950 constitution, the 1984 Indian military operation at the Golden Temple, subsequent security operations in Punjab, and the anti-Sikh violence of November 1984. He said those events led to a decade-long insurgency and counterinsurgency that claimed nearly 100,000 lives.
“What began as genocide and econocide has now escalated toward ethnic cleansing,” Pannun said, echoing language long disputed by the Indian government.
SFJ contrasted India’s regional role with what it described as an alternative vision for Punjab, saying India poses nuclear and regional security risks to neighboring states, while a peaceful and democratic Punjab could emerge as a U.S.-aligned security partner in South Asia.
“The Sikh community is globally known for discipline, service and reliability,” Pannun said. “An independent, democratic Punjab would be a strategic ally that contributes to regional stability rather than conflict.”
SFJ emphasised that its campaign is nonviolent, saying more than two million Sikhs worldwide have already participated in what it calls the Khalistan referendum. Pannun warned, however, that continued repression could fuel instability.
“When ballots are answered with bullets, when political expression is met with assassinations and mass detentions, the risk of violence becomes imminent,” he said.
Sikhs For Justice is an advocacy group campaigning for demanding a separate Sikh homeland.
