Candle Vigil In Birmingham City Centre

[singh_comradz]

With Vaheguroo's mahaan kirpa.

[singh_comradz]

PRESS RELEASE

We have lost sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, we have seen them burned alive in front of our eyes. Do we not have the right to mourn? Do we not have the right to want justice?1

Candle Light Remembrance Vigil

4pm to 7 pm - Wed 7 November 2007 - Chamberlain Square , Birmingham , UK

The Sikh community is commemorating the sacrifices of Sikh soldiers who fell in the first and second World Wars and the twenty third anniversary of the holocaust that was unleashed upon the Sikhs of Northern India during November 1984.

The sacrifice of thousands of Sikh libertarians goes unmentioned year on year. This year the Sikh community is remembering the courage of Sikh soldiers from the fields of Punjab, the jungles of Burma , the plains of Africa to the poppy fields of Europe . Wherever they served humanity, they fought tyranny, oppression and injustice.

The commemoration this year is marking twenty three years of impunity since Operation Bluestar and pogroms of Sikhs in India during November 1984. In disgust that their counterparts in Northern India had overseen the genocide of Sikhs, Sikh soldiers deserted barracks across India . Thousands of these Sikh soldiers were killed, hundreds have languished in prisons since.

The vigil is a remembrance for the thousands of Sikhs killed across India in 1984 following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister. Whilst this was a tragedy, what followed were days of barbaric murder, rape and looting across India which left thousands dead and over 50,000 homeless. The victims of these anti-Sikh pogroms still await justice.

We hope you will join us to remember the thousands of innocent victims of the ant-Sikh riots of November 1984. Last year hundreds of people including local MP’s and Councillors joined us in this remembrance. Prayers will be said 6.30 – 7 pm.

The vigil will officially launch a campaign to raise funds for the prosecution case that is being prepared by victims of the 1984 genocide against re-elected Indian MPs and Congress (I) party officials serving on the current Indian administration.

Come and give your support for the campaign for justice in India and commemorate the sacrifice of Sikh soldiers.

Background: The November 1984 Pogroms of Sikhs in India

Twenty Three Years of Impunity: Truth and Justice Denied

On the morning of October 31 1984, the Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her bodyguards. The two bodyguards happened to be Sikhs avenging the assault on the Golden Temple complex that had been ordered by the Prime Minister five months earlier in the same year.

What followed begged belief. Gangs of assailants burned Sikhs alive, gang-raped Sikh women, and destroyed their Gurdwaras and properties, among other devastating crimes. The violence, allegedly motivated to of grief over Mrs. Gandhis’s assassination, continued unabated for at least four days, and intermittently for the rest of the week.

Senior political party officials and police carefully orchestrated the Sikh massacre of November 1984. During the night of October 31, Congress (I) party officials met with their local support networks – people who participated in rallies and election drives – to: identify the residences and properties of Sikhs through government-issued voter or ration lists; distribute weapons, kerosene and incendiary chemicals; exhort non-Sikhs to kill Sikhs and loot and burn their properties; and plan the time of attack. That night, they floated the first rumour that Sikhs had celebrated the assassination of Indira Gandhi, dancing and distributing sweets, conditioning Indians for the violence to follow.

The next morning, on November 1 between 8 and 10 a.m., assailants simultaneously attacked Sikhs throughout the country, shouting slogans of extermination. The gangs often first attacked the Sikh Gurdwara in the particular neighborhood. After desecrating the Sikh scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, by urinating on or burning them, burning down the Gurdwara, and attacking symbols of the Sikh faith, the mob attacked the properties of Sikhs and the Sikhs themselves. Organized transportation, sometimes provided using state-owned buses and railways, brought assailants to where Sikhs lived. The behavior of policemen surpassed inaction, and often, amounted to participation and instigation. If the Sikhs gathered and defended themselves, the police disarmed the Sikhs and sent them to their individual houses, making them easier targets for death squads. Congress (I) party leaders led, directed and encouraged gangs of assailants, and participated in the massacres themselves.

As the violence continued methodically and systematically over the next days, Congress (I) politicians and policemen spread two more false rumors: the Sikhs had poisoned the water supply and Sikhs in Punjab were killing Hindus on Delhi-bound trains. Government officials continued to deny the extent of violence against Sikhs, while police officers and political leaders simultaneously directed the organised slaughtering of the Sikhs. The army, called into Delhi 48 hours after violence had begun, could not begin to effectively counter the violence until November 3 because of the Delhi administration’s refusal to cooperate.

Thousands of Sikhs were massacred in the most barbaric method of burning. The Delhi pogrom has been documented by several organisations.

Twenty three years on, the Indian Government has failed to set the record straight and account for the carnage of November 1984. Instead, it has suppressed and destroyed evidence. The government’s main commission of inquiry – the Misra Commission, established in 1985 to examine this massacre – white-washed the massacre, concealing its papers and proceedings from the public. The government also attacked those reporting on the 1984 carnage, using the rhetoric of national security to criticize parts of the foreign media for ‘deliberately presenting totally distorted versions of the Punjab situation, which have the effect of encouraging and sustaining separatist activities.’2

The newly elected Congress (I) administration in 2004 has continued to sustain anti-Sikh feeling by awarding those responsible for crimes against Sikhs. In the recent elections two of the most senior Congress(I) officials implicated the November 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms were given tickets for safe seats by the Congress party. Jagdish Tytler, MP also in 1984, was appointed Minister in the 2004 Government, and HKL Bhagat became MP. Sajjan Kumar, MP in 1984, remains a senior official in the party. Bhagat was a minister in 1984.

Most recently India ’s Criminal Bureau of Investigation has once again failed to file charges against the accused, even with countless eye witnesses’ testimonies against the accused.

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1 Gurdeep Kaur, Block 32, Trilokpuri, Delhi, quoted in Tavleen Singh, Shame, Indian Express (October 27 1989)

2 Jaskaran Kaur, Twenty Years of Impunity, A Report by ENSAAF, 2004

[singh_comradz]

sticky plz admin

[۹βkaur۹β]

[singh_comradz]

bump

[SIKHSOC]

Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa

Vaheguru ji ki Fatheh

The vigil is a remembrance for the thousands of Sikhs killed across India in

1984, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister.

Whilst this was a tragedy, what followed were days of barbaric murder, rape

and looting across India, which left thousands dead and over 50,000 homeless.

The victims of these anti-Sikh pogroms still await justice.

We hope you will join us to remember the thousands of innocent victims of the

anti-Sikh pogroms of November 1984

A humble Benti to everyone is to come down and show your support to remember all those brave Sikh Souls who laid down there lives in both World Wars and all those who were killed during 1984.

For more info

www.boss-uk.org

Email:sikhsocs@boss-uk.org

[singh_comradz]

never forget

[GurpreetKaur]

I cant wait tillthe 7th . i missd it last year so i reli wantd to come.

fathe ji

[sikhlionz]

W a h e g u r u

[SIKHSOC]

Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa

Vaheguru ji ki Fatheh

Link to a video showing 1984 ANTI SIKH RIOTS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqji-wCQSVQ