Pakistan’s Quiet Confinement Of Sikh Leaders Mirrors China’s Uyghur Playbook: Sources

Last Updated:December 23, 2025, 13:22 IST

At the centre of these claims is Gopal Singh Chawla, a Sikh leader in Pakistan’s Punjab province, who has allegedly been under de facto house arrest for nearly three years.

Sikh leader Gopal Chawla’s past associations complicate the picture. He had earlier worked closely with Jamaat-ud-Dawa founder and terrorist Hafiz Saeed.

Pakistan’s treatment of prominent Sikh leaders is increasingly resembling China’s handling of Uyghurs, relying not on mass arrests but on prolonged confinement, surveillance and economic strangulation, according to top intelligence sources. Sources suggest Islamabad is pursuing a policy of “managing minorities as threats, not citizens," with Sikh activists subjected to isolation without due process.

At the centre of these claims is Gopal Singh Chawla, a well-known Sikh figure in Pakistan’s Punjab province, who has allegedly been under de facto house arrest for nearly three years. Chawla, formerly the chairman of the Punjabi Sikh Sangat (PSS), has not been formally charged, nor has his confinement undergone any judicial scrutiny, intelligence sources say. The PSS itself has been shut down.

Pakistan authorities have reportedly justified Chawla’s confinement by claiming he faces death threats from India. However, intelligence sources argue this rationale is a cover, noting that any overt arrest of a Sikh leader would risk domestic and international backlash. Instead, they say, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has opted for an extra-legal approach — restricting movement, cutting livelihoods and severing family contact — while avoiding paperwork.

Sources close to Chawla allege he has been denied regular access to his family during this period and subjected to continuous monitoring. His car sale and purchase showroom has been shut, and he has been forced to discontinue his homeopathy medical practice. Where he once earned an estimated Rs 4–5 lakh a month, his family is now reportedly surviving on a stipend of around 55,000 Pakistani rupees, intelligence sources claim.

Chawla’s past associations complicate the picture. He had earlier worked closely with Jamaat-ud-Dawa founder and terrorist Hafiz Saeed, and photographs of the two circulated publicly. He was also known to be close to former Prime Minister Imran Khan, particularly during the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor alongside then Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Intelligence sources say Chawla’s troubles intensified after Imran Khan’s arrest, suggesting a shift in political protection.

According to top intelligence sources, the ISI is now distancing itself from Khalistani groups operating in Pakistan, especially after the killing of Khalistani figure Harmeet Singh alias Happy Passia Punjwar in Lahore by gangsters. “Those considered useful earlier are now liabilities," sources said, adding that Pakistan is retaining leaders it deems expendable and “finishing them one by one" through attrition rather than open action.

The strategy, sources argue, echoes China’s Uyghur policy: no sweeping arrests, but sustained psychological pressure through isolation, economic control and family separation. This, they say, sends a chilling message to Pakistan’s Sikh community that dissent — or even visibility — will be quietly neutralised, beyond courts and public scrutiny.

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