The Indian army’s attack on June 6, 1984 on Harmandir Sahib and other Sikh Gurdwaras was a cataclysmic event in Sikh history,
We all felt the hobbed nailed boots of the invading army had walked on our souls. Yet only a few in the west know about this modern tragedy. It is a pity, and what is worse is that out of those few, most are ill informed about the events that took place on that fateful day.
It was a preplanned attack on the Sikh religious ethos; executed in a carefully orchestrated manner and the day was carefully chosen. It was the martyrdom day of the fifth Guru Arjun Dev Ji when thousands came to the Harmandir Sahib. Thousands of innocent men, women and children died.
Yet, India succeeded at that time in making the world believe through a disinformation campaign that Sikhs were “terrorists.” All news from Punjab was banned. Only recently have Congressmen like Norman Shumway and Wally Herger exposed the true nature of the state terrorism against the Sikhs in India, and Amnesty International has exposed the violation of the human rights of the Sikhs in Punjab.
Indira Gandhi justified the brutal attack by equating Hinduism with being Indian, and the Sikhs as outsiders, separatists, and sought to consolidate her hold in the Hindus by this barbaric act.
Not only this, the Sikh reference library, which had hundreds of irreplaceable manuscripts, was destroyed a day after the attack, as was the Sikh Museum, since the invading army sought to obliterate Sikh history and heritage.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 1, 1990
