Dal Khalsa Will Not Let Sikhs Forget Events Of 1984

[SaRpAnCh]

Dal Khalsa will not let Sikhs forget events of 1984”

Special Correspondent

CHANDIGARH: Advice from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the Sikhs should forget the “painful events of 1984”, notwithstanding, radical political outfit, the Dal Khalsa has decided to mobilise its activists for the “Genocide Remembrance March” along the lanes and streets of the “holy city’ of Amritsar, on June 3 this year to observe the 25th anniversary of the launching of the army action “Operation Bluestar” at the Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple complex).

This was announced by the Dal’s president’s Harsharanjit Singh Dhami while talking to reporters on Sunday, after he chaired the meeting of the organisation’s working committee.

He said that the march would start from Dal Khalsa office and conclude at the Akal Takht where prayers service would be performed in the memory of those who “embraced martyrdom” during the attack.

After paying homage to Sikh martyrs at Akal Takht, the delegation of the Panthic bodies would meet the SGPC officials to remind them of the resolution adopted by executive committee of the institution in 2003 pledging to build a memorial in memory of the 1984 martyrs within the Harmandar Sahib complex.

“Wounds not healed”

Ridiculing those Sikhs who in “connivance” with the Indian Union were attempting to erase this period from the public memory, Mr Dhami said, “much water has flown down the rivers of Punjab since 1984. There was a change in political leadership with some Sikhs at the helm of affairs both at Centre and the State. This however has not healed our wounds of June 84. These wounds are simmering, even after 25 years.”

Critical of Dr Singh for advocating the Sikhs to forget the 1984 events, Mr. Dhami said “Sikhs will neither forget the brutality of the State nor the supreme sacrifices made by around 300 fearless Sikhs who fought till their last breath to defend the sanctity of their holiest shrine”.

Flanked by party General Secretary Manjinder Singh and secretary for political affairs Kanwar Pal Singh, Mr Dhami said the sacrifice of the June 1984 martyrs would never be allowed to go in vain.

Responding to queries the Dal Khalsa leaders said by concentrating all energies on the seat in Bathinda to ensure the victory of the new entrant of Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the Akali Dal Badal has lost its hold on the state and its bastions to the Congress.

“In his zeal and pursuit to win the seat for his wife, the Deputy Chief Minister has lost most of the seats of his party”, they observed.

The Dal Khalsa expressed its opinion that it was a time for all Panthic individuals and parties to self introspect and strategise about the shortcomings, which had betrayed the community.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/25/stories/2009052555070700.htm

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Sikh radicals reject PM’s plea to forget 1984

Amritsar, May 24 (IANS) Rejecting the advice from the country’s first Sikh prime minister, Manmohan Singh, to forget the events of 1984, radical Sikh leaders Sunday gave a call for a “genocide remembrance march” next month.

The radical Sikh organisation Dal Khalsa Sunday announced that its activists would undertake a “genocide remembrance march” through Amritsar June 3 - the day that the Indian Army started its “Operation Bluestar” against heavily armed Sikh separatists from the Golden Temple.

“Much water has flown down the rivers of Punjab since 1984. There was a change in political leadership with some Sikhs at the helm of affairs both at centre and the state. This has not healed our wounds of June 1984,” Dal Khalsa president Harcharanjit Singh Dhami told mediapersons here.

Manmohan Singh, during an election trip to Sikh-dominated Punjab earlier May, stated in Ludhiana that Sikhs could not keep the 1984 anti-Sikh riots issue alive for ever.

The prime minister charged that some people want to keep the issue alive “apne dukaan chamkane ke liye (for their selfish interests)”. He held that this was of “no profit to either the country or the Sikh community”.

The march, starting from the Dal Khalsa office here, would culminate at Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikh religion.

Dhami said prayers would be held in memory of those who “sacrificed their lives for the Sikh cause”.

Criticising the prime minister’s statement, he said: “Wounds are still simmering, even after 25 years. Especially the wounds, which have been left to neglect. Sikhs will never forget the brutality of the state nor the supreme sacrifices made by around 300 fearless Sikhs who fought till their last breath to defend the sanctity of the holiest shrine.”

He ridiculed those Sikh leaders were attempting to erase this period from the public memory.

Dal Khalsa leader Kanwarpal Singh said “the sacrifice of the June 1984 martyrs” would never be allowed to go in vain. He asked the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) to implement its promise of building a memorial for those who were killed inside the Golden Temple complex in June 1984.