84 Pogrom Victims In Fast Unto Death

[Khalistan-Zindabad]

http://www.panthic.org/news/125/ARTICLE/2394/2006-04-16.html

Victims of November ’84 Anti-Sikh Pogroms Pledge fast-unto-death

Sunday 16th of April 2006

Panthic Weekly News Bureau

Ludhiana, Punjab (KP) - Victims of the November 1984 Anti-Sikh pogroms pledged to fast-unto-death in light of the continued administrative and judicial impunity granted to the perpetrators of the genocide which claimed the lives of over 20,000 Sikhs throughout India nearly twenty two years ago. This past Wednesday, the district administration in Ludhiana refused to accept their pleas for compensation, claiming that there wasn't any proof indicating that they were victims of the genocide.

Four of the victims, Gurjeet Kaur, Harbans Kaur, Sukhbir Singh and Harbans Singh, sat outside the Deputy Commissioner's office to protest the injustices committed by the state. They said they would fast-unto-death if their demands were not met. For over twenty years they have sought justice for the crimes committed against their families and the continued denial of justice by the state has added more to their anguish and suffering. Despite their ability to provide valid evidence that they were indeed victims of the pogrom, the government continues to deny their cases.

Mr. Surjit Singh, president of the Danga Peerat Welfare Society, which is backing these victims, said they would not withdraw their protest until their grievances were redressed. He added that they would sit on an indefinite fast unto death outside the residence of Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, if the cases of theses victims were not accepted within two days.

Gurjeet Kaur, who was widowed during the pogroms, said her case was also rejected. "We have lost everything... We suffered so much that we are not scared of putting up a fight now. We will fight this battle also. " she said. She added that her husband was killed mercilessly during the massacre and everybody knows about it. But the government officials alleged that they had no proof to say that she was a pogrom victim, despite eye witness testimonies.

Mata Harbans Kaur, an 82-year-old-victim, the oldest among them, had also lost her husband, son and son-in-law in Delhi during the November 1984 pogroms of Sikhs. "I was forced to leave my house. Today, I am not being considered a victim. I think I will have to keep fighting throughout my life, " she said while crying. But she was also not accepted as a victim. ''What shall I do to prove myself ? We lost everything and now we are being called liars. This is disgusting,'' she said.

Harbans Singh, another victim of the genocide said he was waiting for some sort of justice from the Indian Judiciary in response to the atrocities committed against the Sikh community. "But it seems that we will not get our due during this lifetime. What can we do? We have no option but to sit on hunger strike. The more disgusting is the fact that the Deputy Commissioner has not even bothered to listen to our grievances. Our relatives died. We will also die. But nobody will bother about our sacrifice." he said.

India’s kangaroo judiciary system has in fact killed all hopes of justice for the victims of the genocide. Eye witnesses to the pogroms have named high level officials in the Congress Party government, MPs Sajjan Kumar, HKL Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler for organizing and instigating mobs to kill Sikhs. Despite numerous eye witness testimonies identifying their participation in the killings, all were exonerated by the Indian Judiciary and in fact were rewarded with high positions in the Congress Party government.

The Indian government has failed to set the record straight and account for the carnage of November 1984. Through a series of inquires starting from the Misra Commission to the more recent Nanavati Commission the government has whitewashed the massacre, destroying crucial evidence, concealed proceedings from the public, and further denying a thorough investigation into the genocide.

Over 5,000 Sikhs were killed in Delhi alone in a systematic and widespread orchestration by the ruling Congress Party government and other Hindu extremist groups. Murderous gangs of 200 or 300 people led by prominent Congress party leaders massacred Sikhs, and used a variety of methods in the killings, raping Sikh women and setting Sikh men aflame. Millions of dollars worth of Sikh property was also destroyed while thousands were left homeless. The police watched on as these atrocities occurred and in some cases offered active support to the mobs.

To date, no senior politician or police officer has faced conviction or official government condemnation for their role in the massacres. Since the victims have not been able to get justice through the Indian judiciary they have been forced to use other avenues of activism to highlight their demands for justice. Recently a group of widows from the massacre threatened to self immolate themselves to have action taken against the Congress leaders who participated in the killings. Despite their pleas for justice, the perpetrators and organizers of the anti-Sikh pogroms have been granted impunity by the Indian government.

Editors can be reached at: editors@panthic.org

[ParnaamShaheedaNu]

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[Degha Singh]

"But it seems that we will not get our due during this lifetime. What can we do? We have no option but to sit on hunger strike. The more disgusting is the fact that the Deputy Commissioner has not even bothered to listen to our grievances. Our relatives died. We will also die. But nobody will bother about our sacrifice." he said.

The Indian government has failed to set the record straight and account for the carnage of November 1984. Through a series of inquires starting from the Misra Commission to the more recent Nanavati Commission the government has whitewashed the massacre, destroying crucial evidence, concealed proceedings from the public, and further denying a thorough investigation into the genocide.

To date, no senior politician or police officer has faced conviction or official government condemnation for their role in the massacres. Since the victims have not been able to get justice through the Indian judiciary they have been forced to use other avenues of activism to highlight their demands for justice. Recently a group of widows from the massacre threatened to self immolate themselves to have action taken against the Congress leaders who participated in the killings. Despite their pleas for justice, the perpetrators and organizers of the anti-Sikh pogroms have been granted impunity by the Indian government.

Waheguru.......thousands upon thousands of our fellow Sikhs have lost everything.......and now still they are being denied justice with the kangaroo court system in india.........these commissions let all the people who led the killings off the hook..........and now to try to get justice our mothers sisters fathers and brothers have to use such forms of activism.......justice denied is killing them twice.