By Our Correspondent
Washington, DC: Sikhs gathered at the Lafferts Park in front of the White House on November 5 to mark the anniversary of the 1984 genocide of their brethren and to protest the lack of action in bringing the murders to justice.
Over a hundred Sikhs from the Washington Metropolitan area, from the Sikh Gurdwara of North Carolina, Durham and the Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Glen Rock, and the Garden State Sikh Association, Bridge Water, NJ had joined together to get the message across the nation’s capital that Sikhs have not and cannot forget the 1984 genocide.
Amongst the local bodies, the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation and the Council of Khalistan were active in organizing the protest.
The protesters who included Dr. Gurmeet Singh Aulakh of the COK, Rajwant Singh of the GGSF, Harcharan Singh and Manjit Singh Jawa of North Carolina and Kammikar Singh Grewal, Pritpal Singh and Sukhbir Singh of the Singh Sabha GlenRock, marched from Lafferts Park to the Indian Embassy on Massa chusetts Ave, where they rallied and shouted slogans like, “We want freedom, We want Justice, We want Human Rights and We want Khailstan.”
A joint resolution was moved by Rajwant Singh and seconded by Hari Singh Aulakh to ask the people in Punjab to boycott the elections since participating in them would undermine the present struggle in Punjab and undermine the Sikh cause. It was unanimously passed.
Young Sikhs dream of revenge
The Sikhs of Delhi, five years after the massacre of their men and the rape of their women, are a tragic, angry people, shunned and isolated unable to return to their homes and denied justice in the courts.
At least 9,000 young Sikh men died in the three nights of arson and murder committed by ram paging Hindus after Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister, was killed in 1984 five years ago . Countless women were raped, some in the homes where their fathers and husbands lay dead.
Passions are running high between two communities that were friends for five centuries but have now be torn apart.
To many Hindus, the turban has become a symbol of suspicion. The Sikhs are openly bitter, not just because of the terrible carnage they endured but because their search for justice has been thwarted by a wall of bureaucracy, an uncaring police force, political inertia and a ponderously slow judiciary. Not one person has been convicted of a crime. Older Sikhs say it is increasingly difficult to restrain a new generation of teenage boys who demand revenge. Many of those boys saw their fathers killed and watched their sisters or their mothers dragged off to be raped.
For five years they have been growing up in an atmosphere of unremitting despair and tragedy in wretched Sikh communities in Delhi know as “widows” colonies”. Even the youngest say they dream of taking revenge when they are older. Their lives are dominated by memories and stories of the massacre. A mother said that her young son tried to smash a television screen when he saw the smiling image of a member of Parliament known to have been involved in the riots. It is common knowledge that police stood by and watched the carnage; indeed, many participated.
It is also generally accepted that two men who hold senior positions in the Government of Rajiv Gandhi were actively involved in inciting the riots.
Many of the Sikh survivors live in modest housing provided by the Government. Their former homes were burnt down or taken over by Hindus. In just one of those shabby, fly infested communities in west Delhi, called Tilak Vihar, there are 500 widows and 2,000 children.
It is obvious that the governing Congress (1) party, many of whose officials and supporters were actively involved in inflaming the riots, is reluctant to see the guilty punished.
The Misra Commission appointed in July, 1985, reported 2 % years later that many participants included “people from the lower ranks of the Congress (1) and sympathizers”. The Jain Banerjee Commission was then set up to identify the guilty. The Delhi High Court, however, struck down the commission, saying its mode of operation was ultra vires. The issue has gone to the Supreme Court, and nobody knows how long it might take to give a ruling.
There is, meanwhile, no word faction on 425 affidavits submit ted for the authorities by Sikh leaders, naming alleged killers in specific cases.
An estimated 10,000 Sikhs fled from Delhi to Punjab after the massacres. Many cut their hair and beards an often traumatic act that caused severe psychological problems so that they could blend in.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 10, 1989
