Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) is an organization of Sikh separatists associated with a wave of assassinations and terrorist attacks in the 1980s. The group's primary goal is the establishment of an independent Sikh country of unspecified size in northwestern India. Group statements and media sources usually refer to this proposed state as "Khalistan." <P><br /><br />BKI formed in the late 1970s and developed branches in North America and Europe, as well as the Sikh homeland of northern India. BKI militancy coincided with a major groundswell of Sikh nationalism in the early 1980s. Rising militancy and separatism climaxed in 1984, when Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, triggering major anti-Sikh riots which resulted in nearly 3000 deaths. The Gandhi assassination was retribution for the government's assault on militants and civilians holed up in a Sikh shrine in Amritsar several months before. More than a thousand Sikhs were killed by Indian troops during the incident. BKI's most deadly attack occurred on June 23rd, 1985, when it exploded an Air India flight off the coast of Ireland. More than three hundred people were killed. A second bomb killed two Japanese baggage handlers. By 1993, the Babbar Khalsa faction had been essentially defeated by police in Punjab province and elsewhere.    <P><br /><br />Indian security services, police, and journalists have taken note of an attempted revival of Babbar Khalsa in 2005. A number of militants have been arrested and weapons and explosives seized this year. Roughly seventy members have been incarcerated. One major attack has occurred: on May 22nd, four group members detonated two bombs in Delhi movie theaters, killing one and injuring more than fifty. Eight alleged members, including chief of India operations Jagtar Singh Harawa, were arrested several days later. This revival of BKI is sometimes attributed to Sikh anger over the results of the Nanavati Commission, created to investigate government complicity in the 1984 riots.  <P><br /><br />Babbar Khalsa is now headed by Wadhawa Singh, who is reportedly hiding in Pakistan with his chief deputy, Mehal Singh. India has requested the extradition of both men. Many Indian officials and commentators accuse Pakistan, particularly its intelligence service (ISI), of encouraging and facilitating BKI terrorist activities.   <P><br />