- Official version—fact or fiction? These accounts of what happened at the Golden Temple on June 5 are in marked contrast to the White Paper or the Army’s common charge sheet to the 379 alleged ‘terrorists’ captured from Golden Temple now detained under N.S.A. at Jodhpur.
According to the White Paper: “All Commanders were instructed to continuously use the public address systems for a number of hours at every suspected hideout of terrorists to give themselves up in order to prevent bloodshed and damage to holy places before the use of force for their apprehension.” Was this actually done? Our eyewitness accounts prove that it was not. Regarding Golden Temple, the White Paper is also specific, ‘During the afternoon and evening of June 5, 1984 repeated appeals were made to the terrorists over the public address system to lay down their arms and surrender and to others inside the Temple to come out, to prevent avoidable bloodshed and damage to structures in the Temple Complex. In response to these appeal 129 men, women and children came out and they were handed over to the civil authorities.” Is it possible to believe this version? We have seen how the Army started shelling the Golden Temple without any warming or public announcement from the early hours of June 4. They continued this firing throughout June 4 and 5. The militants also fired in reply but they were no match, either in terms of numbers of men or in amounts of arms or ammunition. How could the Army make ‘repeated appeals’ during the afternoon and evening of June 5 when intense fighting was going on and how 129 persons could come out during this ragine battle?
The Army’s version, as revealed by its charge-sheet to the 379 alleged ‘terrorists’ detained at Jodhpur Jail, is even more incredible. On June 5 when they were supposed to have been deputed for duty outside the Golden Temple, the Army had the information that “‘the extremists/terrorists led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had collected men, arms, ammunitions and explosives within the Golden Temple and had also made other preparations to wage war against’ the Government of India with the intention to establish a State independent of the Government of India to be known as Khalistan’, Or in other words, Khalistan was to be established at the Golden Temple and if the A.I.S.S.F. member is to be believed, by about 100 fighters equipped mostly with 303 decrepit guns of the II World War, a few 315 rifles and some stenguns. S. S. Bhagowalia an advocate at Gurdaspur and Vice President of the Association for Democratic Rights (A.F.D.R. Punjab) investigated and found that Bhindranwale’s armed supporters numbered not more than 140-150. It is Strange that the White Paper has nothing to say about the Khalistan flag—a country without a flag! But the White Paper says that Khalistan was to be established at the Golden Temple. According to the Army’s chargesheet and also the White Paper, in response to the Army’s repeated appeals to the Terrorists to lay down their arms and surrender, they opened intensive firing from inside the Complex.
“They were shouting anti-national slogans.” This was a battle not a demonstration. How could the ‘terrorists? engage in shouting antinational slogans at a time when they were allegedly using automatic and semi-automatic weapons, grenades, explosives, etc? Even if they did shout these slogans, how could the slogans be heard over the din and noise of rattling stenguns and automatic rifles?
The White Paper also describes how the library was allegedly gutted on the night between June 5 and 6—“‘Troops were able to enter the area around the Sarovar through the northern deori and the Southern library building. Terrorists were in control of the Library building and fired from there. At this Stage, the library caught fire— the Army fire-brigade was rushed but their attempts were failed by the machin-gun fire from the terrorists.” A perfect brief for the Army!
But according to Duggal who was the Incharge of the Sikh Reference Library and who cared for it, the Library was intact when he last saw it on June 6, evening while leaving the Temple Complex. However, he was in for a terrible shock when he was brought back to the Temple complex by the Army on June 14. Let us listen to Duggal’s tale of sorrow as well as courage: “‘On 14th June 1984 I was arrested by the Army and taken inside the Golden Temple, where I was shocked to see that the Sikh Reference Library had been burnt.
The entire Golden Temple Complex presented a very, very painful look. It bore at least 3 lakhs of bullet marks. The Akal Takht was in shambles. Guru Nanak Nivas, Teja Singh Samundri Hall, Guru Ram Das Serai and the langar buildings had been burnt. When I left the Complex on 6th all those buildings were in good shape in spite of the Anny Attack. Taken to the Library’s ruins, I was asked by the Army Col. to take charge of the Library. I asked him as to where is the Library. He said that I had no option but to sign a typed receipt to the effect that I have taken over the charge of the Library. I refused to oblige him saying that I would not tell such a big lie.”
The White Paper i is very emphatic that “Troops were particularly instructed not to wear any leather items in holy places and to treat all apprehended persons with dignity and consideration.”’ What was the reality? The reality was this:-—
June 6, 1984: “At 2 a.m. on June 6, says Prithipal Singh, Sevadar, at the Akal Rest House, “the Army people came to the Rest House. They tore off all my clothes, stripped me naked, my kirpan was snatched my head gear (patta) was untied to tie up my hands behind my back. They caught me by my hair and took me along with five others—who were all pilgrims—to the ruins of the water tank: there we were made to stand in a line all naked for an hour or so; we were told, “doesn’t move or you’ll be shot.” They kept hitting us with the rifle butts. Then a Major came and ordered a soldier, shoots them, then shouted at us, ‘“You must be Bhindranwale’s Chelas? You want Khalistan? I said “I am here to do my duty. I have nothing to do with all this.”’ “Six of us were in a line facing the Major, when a Pahari soldier started shooting from one end killing four of us (with 3 bullets each). As my turn was coming, suddenly a Sikh Officer turned up and ordered, “Stop shooting’’. Thus I was saved. The Sikh Officer was told, “These people have ammunitions’. At that he ordered them to lock us in a room. Two of us were locked up in a room in Guru Ram Das Serai, but we did not talk nor did I ask the other man’s name. On 7th June the door was opened at about 8 or9 in the morning. We had gone without water. The floor was covered in blood. I was allowed to leave.”’ This was then the ‘dignity and consideration’ which the White Paper had claimed was shown to those apprehended by the Army.
Bhan Singh picks up the thread of the story at about 4 a.m. on June 6. “I was arrested alongwith Sant Longowal and Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra early morning on the 6th. We were encircled by the Army people, throughout the day from 4 am. till 5 p.m. when Sant Longowal and Jathedar Tohra were taken to the Army Camp, but I along with many others was kept inside the compound of Guru Ram Das Serai. We were taken away to the Army Camp at about 9.30 p.m.” Even on this point of arrest of Longowal and Tohra, the White Paper has a totally different version—‘“‘At 1.00 a.m. on June 6, Sant Harchand Singh Longowal and Shri G. S. Tohra surrendered near Guru Nanak Niwas with about 350 people. The terrorists opened fire at them and also lobbed hand grenades to prevent surrender. As a result, 70 people were killed including 30 women and children.” Even Longowal is on record that he and Tohra were arrested at 5 a.m. from Guru Nanak Niwas (where the S. G. P. C. Office is now located) and kept there in Army custody the whole day. Neither he nor Bhan Singh talk about surrendering to the Army nor do they refer to the killing of 70 people including 30 women and children, by terrorists at the time of their surrender. Should we believe Bhan Singh (and Longowal) or should we blindly accept the White Paper’s version?
On the morning of June 6, as the girl student opened the door of their small room and ‘‘came out to fetch water, what did I see but piles of dead bodies, all stacked one over the other. At first I instinctively felt that I wouldn’t manage to go out. All I could see was a ceaseless mount of dead bodies. It seemed that all the persons who were staying in the Parikrama, not one of them had survived… The Army said later that they did not go inside the Golden Temple wearing boots. But I have seen some of the dead bodies of the Army men in uniform—they were wearing boots and belts.”’ The White Paper is contradicted once more.
The girl student’s narration continues. It is an amazing and astonishing account of how she accidentally met Bhai Amrik Singh, President of the A.I.S.S.F. and Bhindranwale’s close associate. She had not met him before but once he told her his name, she recognized him at once because his pictures had come out in the papers. How Amrik Singh gave her some water in a bucket which she gave to her relatives and acquaintances, but she could not bring herself to drinking it because it was red, mixed with blood. How Bhai Amrit Singh sent her a message urging her to leave the Temple Complex at once with her group in order to escape being dishonored or being shot dead as ‘terrorists’ by the Army personnel, and also to survive to tell the true story of what happened inside Golden Temple to the world outside. She recounts in breathtaking detail how she picked up the courage to first come out of the Complex and then bring out her relatives and acquaintances.
‘To quote her own words—*‘So I decided to try to find the way out. There was a man lying dead. J had to place my foot on him. My foot touched sometimes somebody’s hand, sometimes somebody’s body. I had to move in this fashion. There is a staircase next to the Nishan Saheb (outside the Akal Takht) and next to it there was an iron gate, which had got twisted because of the shelling. I pulled the gate and came out, there was nobody. The place was deserted. The doors of the houses were shut and locked from outside. I was in a haze. For I saw the locks and yet I kept shouting for shelter. Then I came to my senses, realizing that the inhabitants had locked their houses and gone away. Then I broke the mud patch in the wall of a house and entered it. One of the doors of this house opened out into the Golden Temple. I went back to the temple through this door. I found a wounded man who relayed my message to my grandmother through other wounded persons that I had managed to come outside, she should also come out. By then the room in the Akal Takht building, where I had taken shelter with my grandmother, was already in flames. The 20-25 people in that room came out with much difficulty and reached the place where I was. The house had been sprayed with shells and bullets and there were gaping holes in the walls. We found a water tank in that house which had escaped destruction, unlike the water tank in the Golden Temple complex. First we all drank water from that tank. We met an injured man who had also taken shelter in that house. He asked us to go with him to his house. We accompanied him. He made us change all our blood-soaked clothes: some we washed clean.”’
The narrations of Bhan Singh, Harcharan Singh Ragi, Giani Puran Singh and the girl student tear apart the White Paper that the Army had been instructed ‘to treat all apprehended persons with dignity and consideration’, and also that ‘no women and children were killed in the action by the troops.’
Bhan Singh remembers—“‘On the 6th morning when hundreds of people were killed or wounded, everywhere there were cries of those people who were wounded and injured but there was no provisions for their dressings and there were no Red Cross people within the complex… Many young people aged between 18 and 22 years were killed and so were some ladies. A lady carrying a child of only a few months saw her husband lying before her. The child was also killed on account of the firing. It was a very touching scene when she placed the dead body of the child alongside her husband’s body. Many people were crying for drinking water, but they were not provided any. Some had to take water out of the drains where dead bodies were lying and the water was red with blood. The way the injured were quenching their thirst was an awful sight which could not be tolerated. The Army people were there, moving about mercilessly without showing any sign of sympathy with those injured or wounded. Those who were under arrest were not provided any facility of water or food or any other thing of that sort. The clothes of those who were arrested were removed and they were only left with shorts—their turbans, shirts, etc. were all removed and heaped together. Such a brute treatment was given to them, as if they were aliens and not the citizens of the country to which the forces belonged.”’
Harcharan Singh Ragi similarly recounts—“My quarters are on the first floor above the information office and it was unsafe, with the firing going on endlessly, to stay there. Four members of the family of Narinder Pal Singh, the Information Officer who also lived on the same floor as us and we five took shelter in the basement of the Information office building. On the 6th of June, between 12 noon and 5 p.m., the Army announced that people should come out. This was the first announcement given since the Army operations began. All of us in the basement volunteered arrest and the Information Officer and I showed our identity cards as employees of the S.G.P.C. As we were coming out, we saw that hundreds of people were being shot down as they came out. We saw many women being shot dead by the Commanders. I also would have been, but for my little girl, Jaswinder Pal Kaur (Anju), rushing to the Army Commander and begging to save her father’s life.’’
And now let us listen to the girl student once more—“On June 6 at o’clock in the evening, they announced a relaxation in the curfew for one hour. Meanwhile, we went through some devious lanes and managed to take shelter in a house which was some distance from the Golden Temple. The Army people announced that everyone should come out. So we came out.
“There were about 27-28 persons with us, 5 of them ladies, some elderly men, the rest young boys. The Army made all of us stands in queue. There were 13 boys out of which three I claimed to be my brothers. I did not know them from before. I merely wanted to save them. I don’t know why, perhaps because they thought the 3 boys were part of our family but the Army released these three boys. They went away. Out of the remaining male youths, they picked out four and took off their turbans with which they tied their hands behind their backs. Then the Army men beat these 4 Sikh boys with the butts of their rifles till they fell on the ground and started bleeding. They kept telling the boys all along, “you are terrorists. You were coming from inside. You were taking part in the action. You will be shot.”’ These boys were shot dead right in front of me. They looked completely innocent. Neither they seemed to know how to use a rifle, nor did they seem to know the meaning of ‘terrorism’. They were shot before my eyes. Their age was between 18 and 20 years. I did not know who they were—circumstances had brought us together by chance. Whenever I recollect that scene, I seem to lose my bearings.
‘Then they (the Army people) surrounded me and started questioning me. I told my grandmother not to speak a word to them as they were speaking only with bullets. I asked them whether they had come to protect us or to finish us. I said my grandfather was a colonel in the Army… The Army man… Incharge then asked his colleagues to leave me and my family members. He told me to go away quickly. And so we were saved.”’
Giani Puran Singh narrates — “At 4.30 a.m. on June 6, Guru Granth Sahib was brought down, PRAKASH done and the Kukumnama taken, the kirtan of Asa-di-vaar started. This kirtan was not done by the appointed Ragi Jatha (Hymn singers) but by members of Bhai Randhir Singh Jatha, one member of which Avtar Singh of Parowal was later martyred inside the Darbar Sahib. The official Jatha of Bhai Amrik Singh had been martyred at the Darshani Deori the previous day. Bhai Avtar Singh was hit by a bullet which tore through the southern door, one of which is still embedded in the Guru Granth Sahib which is there since Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s time. Time passed and at 4.00 p.m. on June 6, some poisonous gas was spread and the Akal Takht captured, if not for this gas the forces could not have been able to gain the Akal Takht. At 4.30 the commandant, Brar spoke from a speaker on the Southern Deori that all living people should surrender. All those who had come face to face with the forces had been eliminated. We (I and Gyani Mohan Singh) asked all the 22 within the Darbar Sahib to surrender and told the commanding officer that two priests had stayed behind and if need be, he could send his men forthem. He did not agree with them and called aloud on the speaker that we should come out with raised hands. We decided against this because if we were shot on the way it would merely be a waste. We were in the Darbar Sahib till 7.30 when two soldiers and a sewadar were sent to fetch us. While on our way out I stopped to pour a handful of water in the month of the wounded member of the Jatha, who asked us to send for help. I promised to do so provided I remained alive. Gen. Brar, meanwhile announced over the loudspeaker that nobody should fire upon us. The moment I stepped out of the Darshani Deori, I saw the Akal Takht ruined and the rubble was spread all around. Hundreds of corpses were lying scattered. We were wished by Gen. Brar who told that he too was a Sikh. He then enquired as to what we proposed to do. We told him that we wanted to go to the urinal and then be allowed to go to our residences. He allowed us to go to the urinal and then we were questioned of the whereabouts of Santji and were told that he would not be harmed. We told them that they knew better as they were in command. We were questioned; whether any machine gunnists were operating from Darbar Sahib to which we said that they were welcome to inspect the premises themselves. Five persons accompanied us to the Hari Mandir, one Sikh officer and 3-4 others. When we started the Sikh officer insisted that we lead because if firing started from within, we would face them, moreover we would be shot if someone shot from within. When we reached the Harimandir, a search was carried out by them, picking and searching below very carpet but no sign of firing was traced. Meanwhile the wounded member left behind had passed away. His body was placed in a white sheet, brought out and placed along with various others lying outside”
According to the A.I.S.S.F. member, “On 6th June at 5.30 p.m. we surrendered before the Army. 199 surrendered before us. We were made to lie down on the hot road, interrogated, made to move on our knees, hit with rifle butts and kicked with boots on private parts and head. Our hands were tied behind our backs and no water was given to us. We were asked, ‘how many people were inside? And ‘where are the arms and ammunition?’ At about 7 p.m., we were made to sit in the parikrama—near the Army tanks. There was firing from the side of the Akal Takht and many were injured.’’ This is yet another convincing evidence of the dignity and consideration shown by the Indian Army to those captured, after the action was over.
June 7, 1984: Giani Puran Singh’s account throws light on how and when Bhindranwale was killed: ‘‘Time passed away and at 7.30 a.m. on 7th we were taken out of the complex and informed that the bodies of Santji, Gen. Subeg Singh, Bhai Amrik Singh, had all been found. When asked as to where were the bodies found, the reply was that Santji’s body was recovered from between the 2 Nishan Sahibs while Amrik Singh and Shubeg Singh’s bodies had been found behind the Nishan Sahibs. The news carried by the media said that Santji’s body had been recovered from the basement in Akal Takht. We were not shown these bodies but were led to our residences by the military. The head priests who also came there were informed that the bodies of Santji and others had been found. In fact, if the bodies had been found, we would have been called for identification but instead we were threatened to be shot lest we tried to go near the rooms where they had been kept. Moreover, if found, the body would have been embalmed taken to Delhi and kept for some time before finally dispersing it. The White Paper’s version of these events is distorted and not convincing. For example: “By the morning of June 6, the troops had effectively engaged all gun positions at the Akal Takht and were able to enter the Akal Takht. Room-to-room engagement commenced till it was cleared by 12.30 p.m on the afternoon of June 6, except for resistance continuing from the ground floor and basements… On the afternoon of June 6, 200 terrorists surrendered including 22 from Harmandir Sahib.” Giani Puran Singh who was one of the 22 has clearly said that the 22 persons who had surrendered from inside Harmandir Sahib were ‘some devotees and others the employees of the Gurdwara’. Thus there were no armed terrorists inside the Harmandir Sahib, a fact corroborated by the girl student. There is only an apparent discrepancy in the number of people inside the Harmandir Sahib—50 to 60 persons—cited by the girl student and the same figures—of 22 persons— given by all other eye-witnesses and also the White Paper. The fact that the girl student accompanied by 27-28 persons left the Harmandir Sahib on the afternoon of June 4 amidst the firing and took shelter in the Akal Takht explains the discrepancy in figures.
The White Paper also claims that “On 8th June 1984, the terrorists hacked to death an unarmed army doctor who had entered a basement of the Akal Takht to treat some casualties.” Giani Puran Singh’s account gives an accurate description of this incident: “There were 4 Singh’s in the basement of the BUNGA JASSA SINGH RAMGARHIA who were giving a tough fight to the forces. They had also pulled down 3 personnel of the army who had ventured close—one of them was a so called doctor. They were swiftly put to death. The authorities wanted these people to surrender but they wanted some mutually responsible person to mediate. I was then asked to mediate but first of all I asked the army officers of a guarantee that none would be shot only arrested and later law would take its own course. They were not ready for this and wished me to talk to their Brigadier who too was noncommittal. They then asked me to inquire if the three army personnel were alive. The reply received was that no live personnel was there in the base— At this the Brigadier asked me to leave and that they would themselves deal with them. These men in the basement fought the whole day, that night and also the next day when Giani Zail Singh came to visit the ruins of Akal Takht. Some thought that they had also aimed for Giani but it was not so. These people did not know that Giani was coming. If they knew before hand, they would definitely put a bullet through the ‘tyrant’ but they were totally cut out from the outside world. A colonel of the commandos attempted to flush out these men in the basement with a gun and light arrangement but as soon as he entered the basement, a burst of LMG wounded him and it was later learnt that he had succumbed to the injuries in the hospital. 2 cannons were employed to fire at the Bunga, gaping holes were formed on the Parikrama end but the men within were safe. I saw from the roof of Harmandir Sahib that two grenadiers, had been put on the grenade shooter and a continuous barrage of grenades was being poured but they still survived. Burnt red chilly bags, chili powder and smoke grenades were thrown in; one of them came out to be greeted with a hail of bullets while the others finally were silenced on the 10th.”’
Similarly the White Paper’s account of the amount of arms recovered seems to be patently exaggerated. We may not accept the A.I.S.S.F. members’ version that there were less than 100 arms, mostly obsolete. 303 guns from the IT World War and some stenguns, on the ground that it may be a partisan account. At the same time it is not possible to believe the White Paper’s version—‘“‘A large quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives was recovered, including automatic and anti-tank weapons. A small factory for the manufacture of hand grenades and sten-guns was also found within the precincts of the Golden Temple.” If this modern arms factory had been discovered inside the Golden Temple before the Army Operations began, there would have been no room for doubt or controversy. But making such a claim after the Army operation was over. Only there was the Amy to testify. In contrast, our eye-witnesses have repeatedly pointed out that the terrorists had a small number of men and limited arms which had to be used sparingly. Would the resistance have collapsed so abruptly, if there were hundreds of terrorists manning a modern arms factory, as claimed by the White Paper.
