Google was caught in another faux pass after it showed ‘Lahore’ as the capital of Khalistan. An Indian Twitter user attached the snapshot of the Google search declaring Lahore as the capital of Khalistan state with a blue-saffron flag and a ‘Khanda’ insignia of Sikhism on it.
Lahore is a provincial capital of Punjab, Pakistan and ‘Khalistan’ is a freedom movement fought by Indian Sikh seeking an independent state-Khalistan from India.
#SFJ was seeking a democratic peaceful resolution of re-establishing Punjab as an independent country through its #Referendum2020 – said @SFJ_Pannun https://t.co/7izq6qKffU
— The Sikh Daily (@Editor69175414) November 28, 2019
A user asserted that ‘Lahore’ appeared when she searched for the ‘capital of Khalistan’ on the search engine Google.
Indian media went into haywire following the circulation of the images- screaming that Google search has substantiated its accusations on Pakistan for fanning and supporting the separatist movement- ‘Khalistan’ to weaken India.
Read more: Hard Kaur bashes Indian govt in new rap song ‘Kashmir to Khalistan’
The Google search read that ‘The new state created would be called Khalistan in the modern territories of Eastern Pakistan and Western India. Its stated capital would be Lahore, a city where the Sikh empire was commenced by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and ruled for centuries by his descendants.’
https://twitter.com/Abhikarikati/status/1199600081600565249
Social Media Fury
The Indian trolls asserted that Pakistan is shocked by the Google results since it has been vehemently denying supporting the secessionist Khalistan movement. The Google search has backfired on Pakistan’s security agencies who are allegedly supporting the movement behind the curtain. Indian social media users implied that instead of showing some other city as the capital of Khalistan, the search showed Lahore will be seized by Sikh separatists for Khalistan state, which is a blow to Pakistani authorities who are seeking to weaken India by supporting Khalistan movement.
However, disgruntled Indian Twitter users slammed Pakistan for supporting the Khalistan movement to harm India. Another campaign of calling Delhi the capital of Khalistan ensued on Twitter to counter the social media movement defaming Pakistan.
https://twitter.com/Aleezaythefreak/status/1200096867129995265
Sikh Leaders’ Reactions
Several Sikh leaders have expressed surprise on the Google result adding that they would like to see and examine the campaign that wants Lahore as the capital of Khalistan. Another leader added that they are fine with it if Pakistan allows the creation of Khalistan with Lahore the capital, at least, Khalistan state would not be in India.
On the other hand, Google searches are the results of certain keywords which implies that a large number of people will be talking about the making ‘Lahore the capital of Khalistan’.