<P> The newly formed governments were completely unequipped to deal with migrations of such staggering magnitude, and massive violence and slaughter occurred on both sides of the border . Estimates of the number of deaths vary, with low estimates at 200,000 and high estimates at 1,000,000 . </P> <P> The emergency meeting of the joint defense council on 16 August agreed to strengthen the Punjab boundary force as quickly as possible . Nehru and liquat visited Lahore, Ambala, Jilandur and Amritsar together to see for themselves what was going on and to appeal for peace . They tried to remind everyone that both India and Pakistan had pledged to protect the minorities after the partition and that there was no need for anyone to move home but they were shouting against the hurricane . Each new outrage, each new massacre brought the thirst for revenge and desperate need to flee from the terror as the scale of disaster mounted, Tara Singh and other Sikh leaders toured the province in military vehicles, appealing to stop the violence, but their followers had tasted blood, and it was too late for Tara Singh to stop what he had begun . </P> <P> Sikhs faced initial opposition from the Government in forming a linguistic state that other states in India were afforded . The Akali Dal started a non-violence movement for Sikh and Punjabi rights . Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale emerged as a leader of the Damdami Taksal in 1977 and promoted a more militant solution to the problem . In June 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian army to launch Operation Blue Star to remove Bhindranwale and his followers from the Darbar Sahib . Bhindranwale and his accompanying followers, as well as many innocent Sikhs visiting the temple, were killed during the army's operations . In October, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards . The assassination was followed by the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. and Hindu - Sikh conflicts in Punjab, as a reaction to Operation Blue Star and the assassination . </P> <P> The development of Sikhism was influenced by the Bhakti movement, however, Sikhism was not simply an extension of the Bhakti movement . Sikhism developed while the region was being ruled by the Mughal Empire . Two of the Sikh gurus--Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur, after they refused to convert to Islam, were tortured and executed by the Mughal rulers . The Islamic era persecution of Sikhs triggered the founding of the Khalsa, as an order for freedom of conscience and religion . A Sikh is expected to embody the qualities of a "Sant - Sipāhī"--a saint - soldier . </P>

A distinctive feature of sikhism in north america today is