Harjinder Singh, 28, entered the United States from the southern border claiming that he faced persecution in India because he was a follower of the movement for an independent Khalistan. A few weeks ago, he was driving a large truck, what the Americans call a ‘Big Rig’, and took an illegal U-turn. A vehicle that was following, ironically with three Haitian immigrants in it, crashed into the truck, killing all three individuals.

Since the accident, Harjinder seems to have garnered a huge deal of support including from Gurpatwant Pannun, who visited him in jail and offered $100,000 to the victims as ‘blood money’, and even Akali Dal MP, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who urged the Ministry of External Affairs for a less strict punishment.

Many supporters of Harjinder have also pleaded for no strict implementation of language norms for commercial drivers in the United States. However, at his arraignment it was clear that Harjinder did not speak or understand English. Ergo, it is bizarre that he should have held a job down in a country where all road signs are in English.

Support for Harjinder mounted: some complained of racism, others said he should get a fair trial. He faces a potential 45 years in prison and the argument used is the same as in India, that he made a ‘small mistake’ but should not suffer for it. But the backlash from the nativist ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) nationalists has taken the supporters aback. Their simple argument is that actions have consequences, and it is almost certain that Harjinder will face a long prison term in the United States, followed by deportation.

But what this case has also revealed is that the long-haul trucking industry as well as other commercial driving jobs in North America have been taken over by immigrants from Punjab and Haryana, many of whom have gone to Canada and the United States illegally. There are tens of thousands of asylum applications in both countries by young men and women claiming persecution for supporting the Khalistani movement in India.

This has puzzled many in India since that movement, a creation of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), largely died out years ago although some small embers might remain. News stories have emerged in recent weeks that after failing in their initial applications for asylum, some have claimed that because they voted on a referendum for Khalistan in Canada they could be potentially persecuted in India and have attached ‘voter cards’ as proof.

While there is no doubt that there are some extremists, it is painfully clear that the ‘movement’ is nothing but a giant human trafficking scam. Harjinder is just one of thousands of young men pushed into long-haul trucking, being paid below minimum wage. Other young men have been moved into organised crime, transporting drugs for cartels led by second and third generation immigrants, and others into extortion, the attack outside comedian Kapil Sharma’s restaurant being a case in point. The stories of young women from North India who moved to Canada and have been pushed into prostitution are all over the local media. These young men and women pay lakhs of rupees to agents who organise the ‘Dunki’ route through Latin America or admission in hole-in-the-wall ‘colleges’. And the great life that they are promised never materialises as, with poor language and work skills, they can only take low-end jobs, usually for those running the entire Khalistani racket.

For those running the racket, the pretence of an active movement is vital to ensure a steady stream of low cost labour and young women coming into their grip. This is why occasional well-funded protests in India, coupled with support from global media organisations always keen to show India in a poor light, take place. This allows for thousands more to claim ‘persecution’, as many did after the farmers’ protests. Capturing some levers of the Canadian state, allegedly including the Prime Minister, only greased the wheels of the racket.

Which is why there is such fear of the Harjinder case  —  a case that could potentially blow the wheels off the racket, particularly after Kash Patel, the Director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has been acting against some elements. The Khalistani movement is nothing but cover for organised crime both in North America and in India, because the immigration agents taking lakhs of rupees are a tentacle of the crime web.

However, it must be pointed out that successive Governments in Punjab have failed spectacularly in raising the economic prospects of the youth in the state. A broken education system, the lack of a services industry or revival of manufacturing means that jobs are hard to find. Rampant drug abuse and joblessness in what was once North India’s industrial heartland has driven thousands to resort to desperate measures. The flooding in the past month of thousands of hectares of farmland will likely make the situation worse, forcing thousands more to put their lives on the line and move to North America, even though the reality of life there is worse than in India.

While Harjinder Singh must bear the brunt of his actions and be punished according to the law in the United States, our Governments, both in New Delhi and in Chandigarh, must not sit idle. A revival of Punjab’s economy, growing it beyond remittances, and educating the youth about the exploitation and money-grubbing nature of organised crime is a must.

The writer is a senior journalist