As a Tamil revolutionary activist and writer, I've been hearing a lot on the Tamil and Sikh genocides lately and particularly the role of Sikhs in the Tamil genocide. I've studied both in the past and I've compiled some takeaways. Content warning: sexual violence and torture.

Firstly, involvement in these genocides cannot be treated linearly. When the Indian Peacekeeping Force was deployed to Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990 under the auspices of accountability and justice, several thousands of personnel killed, raped and tortured Tamil civilians.

The contingent carried out four operations — Pawan, Viraat, Trishul and Checkmate — which were led fully by Sikh military personnel, with Depinder Singh serving as the contingent's Lieutenant General and Harkirat Singh serving as the General Commanding Officer.

Thousands of other Indian troops who committed heinous war crimes against the Tamil people were Sikhs as well. Countless Tamils can recall traumatic memories of sexual violence and torture perpetuated by Sikh men in the Jaffna peninsula.

This fact does not negate the Sikh genocide, in which in which a series of state-sponsored pogroms throughout the 1980s resulted in the deaths of thousands of Sikhs, but merely serves as a supplemental analysis of the nature of oppression in general.

While Sikhs were heavily oppressed in the Indian state of Punjab and nearby territories like Haryana and Delhi, many perpetuated the aforementioned crimes against Tamils. Oppression and privilege are not binary and converge often in various spaces and circumstances.

For instance, while cisgender Tamil men are oppressed in the sense of heightened anti-Tamil violence perpetuated by Sinhala Buddhists or light-skinned North Indian elites, their roles often change to involve the oppression and policing of Tamil women and other gender minorities.

Likewise, it can't be glossed over that anti-Tamil forces exist in Tamil society just as anti-Sikh forces exist in Sikh society. Many Tamils from Tamil Nadu subscribed to the anti-Eelam ethos of India. Even in Eelam, Tamils will never forget what Karuna Amman did in the 2000s.

Despite the role of the Indian state in perpetuating both the Tamil and Sikh genocides, members from both these communities — in this case, Tamils of Tamil Nadu and Sikhs from Punjab — have pushed nationalistic propaganda too. Not equally, however. There are differences.

Let's talk about military makeup. The pride that groups like Tamils or Nagas had in their sociocultural history was often exploited to increase regional obedience, so to say, to the Indian Army. This is reflected today in Tamil Nadu’s mainstream media and entertainment sectors.

Particularly, in comparing the Sikh and Madras Regiments, two Indian Army regiments with the most numbers of Sikhs and Tamils, respectively, many dichotomies can be observed. The Madras Regiment is one of India's oldest and has 21 line battalions and three infantry battalions.

However, this isn't a single-class regiment; despite its headquarters in Tamil Nadu, many non-Tamils comprise the regiment. The Sikh Regiment, on the other hand, is similar in size but is classified as a single-class regiment, recruiting only Jat, Mazhabi and Ramdasia Sikhs.

Accordingly, the density of Sikhs in the Indian Army is much higher than that of Tamils, a fact visible in India’s countless inhumane insurgency campaigns across the decades, from Kashmir and Ladakh to Nagaland, Assam, Bodoland, Jharkhand and of course, Jaffna.

It is a peculiar fact that this is the case given the deployment of thousands of Sikhs in the Indian Peacekeeping Force to Jaffna to slaughter Tamils in 1987 came just three years after the same Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar, killing thousands.

And it cannot be ignored that a number of hypernationalistic Tamils from Tamil Nadu fought with the Indian military as well, abetting the arrest, torture and murder of Eelam Tamil and Kashmiri civilians, though this contingent is statistically much smaller.

I believe that a combination of jingoistic indoctrination by the Indian state, prestige, sheer ignorance and a potential compulsion to prove one’s allegiance to the Indian nation state following decades of distrust of Sikhs drove the deployment of Sikhs to Jaffna in July of 1987.

Colorism has also been particularly rampant in North India for decades. As a Tamil, I myself have heard countless anti-Tamil jokes told by Punjabis. I've heard so many that I know anti-Tamilness isn't an isolated sentiment in Punjab. Other Tamils have had similar experiences.

In my experience, Punjabi visibility has also been greater than Tamil visibility. Within India, most know of Sikhi but very few know of the Indigenous Tamil faith. Most know of Bhangra but very few know of Sathir. Awareness of Punjabi culture may not be perfect but it exists.

This is why when @OfficialSheerah appeared in @Beyonce's recent music video, Tamils were so happy. After @ramakrishnannn, this is the only time I remember seeing an unapologetic Tamil in the limelight who didn't identify as Indian or Sri Lankan or Desi but as a Tamil.

Tamils are so misunderstood that not even many South Indians know much about the Tamil identity. In fact, it was South Indians who appropriated Tamil musical forms as Carnatic music. And Sikhi has online resources. I couldn't find anything on the Indigenous Tamil faith online.

I bring up these points not to vilify another community but rather to compile historical facts and experiences. In fact, I wrote an in-depth thread on the Sikh genocide and anti-Sikh discrimination in particular in June of 2019. Here it is: https://twitter.com/vsvjt/status/1144647573115953153?s=21

Let's look at what this all means. Tamils and Sikhs both underwent genocides. They grappled with farmers committing suicide, Hindu imperialism, narcotization and the burning of libraries. Both have similar philosophies. Both want autonomy. Both want truth. Both want justice.

But in the fight for justice, we can't obscure the realities of power dynamics. North Indian privilege over Tamils exists. Punjabi visibility over Tamils exists. Trauma stemming from Sikhs raping Tamils exists. Anti-Tamilness and colorism exist. This cannot go unacknowledged.

A corrigendum from something @Taranjit17 pointed out: Sikhi is a beautiful faith and Sikhs are a valiant people. Sikhi's teachings go fully against what IPKF troops did in Jaffna and I want to clarify that my criticism is of those who committed violence in Jaffna, not of Sikhi.