Warrants issued against Sikh militant

Arrest warrants have been issued for a Sikh militant leader who led a separatist campaign in India from his London home.

The chief magistrate of Patiala in Punjab state has told police to bring 71-year-old Jagjit Singh Chauhan to court on August 22.

Chauhan returned to India on June 27 for the first time in two decades.

The arrest warrants were issued after lawyer Jagmohan Singh Saini told a court that Chauhan had sought his advice and help for the creation of a separate nation for the Sikhs, to be called Khalistan, or Land of Pure.

Mr Saini told the court that Chauhan's call for a separate nation could lead to a breach of peace.

Chauhan, a former regional finance minister in Punjab, spearheaded an often-violent campaign for an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan in the 1980s.

The movement died in the 1990s.

On his arrival in India, he said he would keep the Khalistan movement alive "democratically".

In recent interviews, Chauhan has said that, although he supported the demand for Khalistan for Sikhs living in India's Punjab state, he never advocated violence.

At the peak of the separatist campaign in India's Punjab state in the 1980s, he announced the formation of Khalistan, opened embassies in some countries and issued passports and a separate currency.