<P> In late 1930s and 1940s the Sikh leaders realized that Muslim Pakistan and a Hindu India are imminent . Sikh leaders started mobilizing meta - commentaries and signs to argue that Punjab belonged to Sikhs and Sikhs belong to Punjab . This began the territorialization of the Sikh community . The term Khalistan was coined by the Sikh leader Dr. Vir Singh Bhatti in March 1940 . He made the case for a Sikh country in the pamphlet Khalistan , published as a response to the Muslim League 's Lahore Resolution . The Muslim League demanded a separate country for Muslims via the Lahore Resolution . His idea was based on the presumption that Pakistan , containing Sikh - inhabited territories , would be formed as an Islamic theocratic state one day , and it would be hostile to Sikhism . A section of Sikh leaders grew concerned that their community would be left without any homeland following the partition of India between the Hindus and the Muslims . They put forward the idea of Khalistan , envisaging it as a theocratic state covering a small part of the greater Punjab region . The country which he proposed would include parts of present - day Indian Punjab , Pakistani Punjab ( including Lahore ) , and the Simla Hill States . It was imagined as a theocratic state led by the Maharaja of Patiala with the aid of a cabinet consisting of the representatives of other units . </P>
who coined the word khalistan referring to an independent sikh state in 1947
the Sikh leader Dr. Vir Singh Bhatti in March 1940