Babbar Akali movement

The Babbar Akali movement was a 1921 splinter group of "militant" Sikhs who broke away from the mainstream Akali movement over the latter's insistence on non-violence over the matter of the restoration of Khalsa Raj (Sikh rule) in Punjab as under the prior Sikh Empire as well as gurdwara reforms in restoring pre-colonial gurdwara environments.

The militant unit was established as Chakravarti Shaheedi Dal (Sovereign Martyrdom Brigade) in September 1920, later evolving into the Babbar Akali movement. By 1922, they had organized themselves into a military group and began killing British officers, informers, government officials, and ex-officials. They also published an illegal newspaper describing British exploitation of India. It was declared an unlawful association by the British in April 1923. They used religious imagery and discussed the loss of Sikh sovereignty in the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars, which helped them enjoy popular support. The Babbar Akali movement recruited from World War I veterans dissatisfied with broken land grant promises and former members of the Ghadar Party. Many of its members who were suspected of being involved in the Punjab police bombing conspiracy case were killed in police encounters and 67 were taken alive and "5 were sentenced to death, 11 to transportation for life and 38 to various terms of imprisonment" in only the Punjab conspiracies situation. Babbar Khalsa International was established in an attempt to emulate the Babbar Akalis.