Tel: 905-670-1522, Fax: 416-661-7273 Vol.8 , No. 1103 Thursday, November 03, 2011 17 Kattak , Nanaksahi Calendar 543

They took their time to kill between mealsThe horror of those 72 hours, when fren-

zied mobs butchered thousands of Sikhs

in 1984, has not left senior journalists

Rahul Bedi and Joseph Malliakan, who

covered the riots, to this day."To visualise

that time close your eyes and imagine

that there's no state. The police remain

inert while rabid mobs attack you minute

after minute with military precision. The

administrators look the other way with

complete indifference and the situation

seems never to abate," Bedi, who covered

the massacre in Trilokpuri's Block-32,

says.The massacre in the small colony in

east Delhi was planned, he found out.

Nearly 320 Sikhs - men, women and chil-

dren - were killed over two days.On

reaching the spot on November 1

evening, a day after Gandhi's assassina-

tion, Bedi and Malliakan were chased

away by a mob. But the journalists per-

severed and made it to the spot on the fol-

lowing morning, where they saw

"meticulous slaughter of Sikhs while po-

licemen nearby watched, bothering not

even to call for reinforcements". "The

massacre continued for two long days in

houses on either side of a bylane. The

killers were so exact and meticulous that

they did not even

hurry with their

job, just took their

time to rape, mur-

der and torture

them between

meals," Bedi

says.Malliakan,

now editor of

JEM magazine,

says he still cries

on recalling those

four days."I saw a

Sikh along with

his wife dragged

out of his tene-

ment, doused

with kerosene and

set on fire. Those

scenes have not

left me. There is

no closure to it,"

he says.He re-

counts the day

when the police

and the army infiltrated the area and

brought out the victims. That was the

time when reporters first had access to

the area. "I first discovered what a bon-

fire of human flesh is like…," Malliakan

breaks down and takes a long pause, "I

first touched a child who was ashen in

colour and had not eaten anything in 30

hours. When the area's ACP came I was

quivering with anger and told him to

shoot himself if he had any regard for his

uniform," he says.

NDP RECOGNIZES TRAGEDY OF1984 IN HOUSE OF COMMONS

OTTAWA – “It is with great sorrow that I extend my sympa-

thies on the 27th anniversary of the tragic pogroms of 1984

that targeted Sikh men, women and children. said NDP MP

Jasbir Sandhu (Surrey North). “The New Democratic Party of

Canada stands in solidarity with the Sikh community, demands

justice for the survivors and an explanation for why and how

this community was targeted by organized mobs. “The victims

and survivors of 1984 cannot sit idly by, waiting for the Indian

government to recognize their plight and frustration. Rehabil-

itation and support for the broken families, especially the

trauma the widows and children experienced, must be priori-

tized. The negligence of the police must be examined. The truth

and those guilty must be brought to justice.

”These are not demands – these are obligations of a

democratic government to its citizens.

”Remembrance is the tie that binds us to our past as it

guides us for the challenges of the future. ”Lest we forget.”

TORONTO — Mem-

bers of the Ontario leg-

islature will return to

work Nov. 21.

Their first order

of business will be to

pick a new Speaker of

the legislature in a se-

cret ballot.

Four Liberals

are in the running for

the job, including for-

mer cabinet minister

Donna Cansfield, who wants to become the first

woman elected Speaker in Ontario.

It'll be the next day before the three parties

settle down to regular business, starting with a

throne speech from the newly re-elected Liberal

government,

which no

longer holds a

majority of

seats.

The Pro-

gressive Con-

servatives and

New Democ-

rats combined

have one

more seat

than the Lib-

erals, whose numbers will be reduced by one when

a Speaker is named.

Premier Dalton McGuinty says the Liber-

als have what he calls a "major minority," but

promises to work with the opposition parties.

Ontario Legislature set to open on Nov. 21

Senior journalists Rahul Bedi and Joseph Malliakan still haunted by the 1984 Sikh riot.

Courageous Journalism02 November 03, 2011

Sikh Genocide 1984

by Charnjit Singh Bal

This week, light a candle in your window.

And whisper a silent prayer in memory

of more than 4,000 Sikh men, women

and children slaughtered by Congress

hoodlums 20 years ago. In Delhi alone,

2,733 Sikhs were burned alive, butchered

or beaten to death.

Women were raped while their

terrified families pleaded for mercy, little

or none of which was shown by the Con-

gress flag-bearers. In one of the numer-

ous such incidents, a woman was

gang-raped in front of her 17-year-old

son; before leaving, the marauders

torched the boy.

For three days and nights the

killing and pillaging continued without

the police, the civil administration and

the Union government, which was then

in direct charge of Delhi, lifting a finger

in admonishment. The Congress was in

power, and senior Congress leaders, per-

haps for the first time in their political ca-

reers, led from the front while the prime

minister, his home minister, indeed the

entire council of ministers, twiddled

their thumbs.

Even as stray dogs gorged on rot-

ting human entrails, gutters were clogged

with charred corpses and wailing women,

clutching children too frightened to cry,

fled baying mobs armed with iron rods,

staves and gallons of kerosene, All India

Radio and Doordarshan kept on broad-

casting blood-curdling slogans of 'Khoon

ka badla khoon se lenge' (We shall

avenge blood with blood) raised by Con-

gress party workers grieving over their

dear departed leader, India Gandhi.

Rajiv Gandhi, having ensconced

himself as prime minister, later sought to

justify the terror unleashed by his party.

Addressing a rally at Delhi's Boat Club

to celebrate his mother's birth anniver-

sary, he thundered: 'When a big tree falls,

the earth will shake.' And shake it did!

In mid-morning on October 31,

1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by

two Sikh guards posted at her home. The

assassins, Satwant Singh and Beant

Singh, later said they had killed the prime

minister to avenge the Indian Army's as-

sault on the Golden Temple -- Operation

Bluestar -- at her explicit instruction on

June 5 that year. Beant Singh was killed

by the Indo Tibetan Border Police soon

after Indira Gandhi's assassination. Sat-

want Singh and an alleged accomplice,

Kehar Singh, against whom there was

thin evidence, were executed for

the crime.

Indira Gandhi's death was offi-

cially confirmed by All India Radio and

Doordarshan at 6 pm, after due diligence

had been exercised to ensure Rajiv

Gandhi's succession. By then, stray inci-

dents of violence against Sikhs, including

the stoning of President Zail Singh's car,

had started trickling in at various

police stations.

That night, the Congress party

machinery went into a rumour-monger-

ing overdrive: in colony after colony

(Delhi, the seat of India's colonial rulers,

is a sprawling conglomerate of 'colonies,'

some up-market, most little more than

shanty towns), rumours spread like wild-

fire, describing in graphic details how

'Sikhs were distributing sweets to cele-

brate Indira Gandhi's assassination,' how

'gurdwaras had been lit up as if it were

Diwali,' and, how 'Sikh terrorists had in-

filtrated the city.'

By the morning of November 1,

hordes of men, shouting Congress slo-

gans, had

started run-

ning riot in

south, east and

west Delhi.

They were

armed with

iron rods and

carried old

tyres and jerry

cans filled

with kerosene

and petrol.

Owners of gas

stations and kerosene stores, beneficiaries

of Congress largesse, provided petrol and

kerosene free of cost. Some of the men

went around on scooters and motorcy-

cles, marking Sikh houses and business

establishments with chalk for easy iden-

tification. They had been provided with

electoral rolls by their political masters to

make the task easier.

By late afternoon that day, hun-

dreds of taxis, trucks and shops owned by

Sikhs had been set ablaze. By early

evening, the killing, loot and rape began

in right earnest. The worst butchery took

place in Block 32 of Trilokpuri, a reset-

tlement colony in east Delhi. Scores of

families were killed over November 1

and 2: most of them were dispatched by

putting burning tyres around theirs necks.

The pogrom continued with the active

abetment of the police. On November 1,

some residents of Lajpat Nagar took out

a peace march to thwart the violence. The

police stopped the march because the par-

ticipants did not have 'official permis-

sion.' In many places, police asked Sikhs

to hand over their kirpans, took them

away forcibly if the Sikhs refused, before

the marauders descended upon them.

To prevent Sikhs from taking

refuge in gurdwaras, most of Delhi's 450

gurdwaras were sacked in the early hours

of the violence. The expedient means of

setting houses ablaze was used to get at

Sikh families who had taken refuge on

the roofs of their homes. Entire families

were roasted alive.

A sort-of curfew was imposed in

south and central Delhi at 4 pm on No-

vember 1. But no action was taken in east

and west Delhi and the outlying area of

Palam where the massacre of Sikhs was

being carried out with macabre ferocity

and astounding impunity. Curfew was

imposed in east and west Delhi at 6 pm,

ensuring that the killers had an extra

four hours.

P V Narasimha Rao, who was the

home minister and responsible for main-

taining law and order in Delhi during

those dark days, was fully aware of what

was happening. But he chose not to de-

ploy the army in time which could have

prevented the pogrom. In his affidavit

submitted to the G T Nanavati Commis-

sion, inquiring

into the

pogrom, Lieu-

tenant General

Jagjit Singh

Aurora, much

decorated hero

of the 1971

war, has said,

'The home

minister was

grossly negli-

gent in his ap-

proach, which

clearly reflected his connivance with per-

petrators of the heinous crimes being

committed against the Sikhs.'

The army was alerted at 2.30 pm

on November 1; when the General Offi-

cer Commanding went to meet the lieu-

tenant governor for orders, he was kept

waiting for an hour. The first deployment

of army jawans took place around 6 pm

on November 1 in south and central

Delhi, which were comparatively unaf-

fected, but in the absence of navigators

which should have been provided by the

police and the civil authorities, the

jawans found themselves lost in unfamil-

iar roads and avenues. The army was de-

ployed in east and west Delhi in the

afternoon of November 2. But, here, too,

jawans were at a loss because there were

no navigators to show them the way

through Byzantine lanes.

In any event, there was little the

army could have done: magistrates were

'not available' to give permission to the

jawans to fire on the mobs. This manda-

tory requirement was kept pending till In-

dira Gandhi's funeral was over. By then,

1,026 Sikhs had been killed in east Delhi,

the majority of the dead were residents of

Block 32 in Trilokpuri.

The slaughter was not limited to

Delhi. Sikhs were killed in Gurgaon,

Kanpur, Bokaro, Indore and many other

towns and cities across India. In a replay

of the blood-letting in Delhi, 26 Sikh

jawans and officers of the Indian Army

were pulled out of trains and killed. There

has been no effort to compute the death

toll in these places, but the most conser-

vative estimates have placed it at 2,000.

After quenching their thirst for blood, the

brave leaders of the Congress and their

foot soldiers retreated to savour their

deeds of revenge. The flames died, the

smoke from smouldering shops and

homes lifted and the winter air blew away

the stench of death. Rajiv Gandhi's gov-

ernment, in a casual aside, issued an of-

ficial statement placing the death toll

at 425.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was

then president of the Bharatiya Janata

Party, had instructed party leaders in

Delhi to organise relief camps and pro-

vide succour to the survivors of the

pogrom. Madan Lal Khurana and Vijay

Kumar Malhotra had braved the maraud-

ers to move from colony to colony, giving

whatever help they could. Vajpayee con-

tested the official death toll and asked his

colleagues to collate figures. Their total

added up to 2,800. 'The BJP is an anti-na-

tional party,' responded the Congress.

There were demands for a judicial

inquiry to fix responsibility and add up

the casualties. Rajiv Gandhi stonewalled

these demands. Human rights organisa-

tions petitioned the courts. Rajiv Gandhi's

government declared that courts were not

empowered to order inquiries.

Meanwhile, Rajiv Gandhi dis-

solved the Lok Sabha and went for an

early general election. The Congress

launched a vitriolic hate campaign

through advertisements and posters ('Can

you trust a Sikh taxi driver?'). In Rajiv

Gandhi's constituency, Congress party

workers raised a rather telling slogan

against his opponent and sister-in-law,

Maneka Gandhi: 'Beti hai Sardar ki,

qaum hai gaddar ki' (She is the daughter

of a Sikh, a community of traitors).

Rajiv Gandhi rode the crest of a

gigantic 'sympathy wave.' The Congress

won 401 seats in the Lok Sabha. The BJP

was reduced to two seats, punished for

sympathising with the Sikhs.

By 1985, Punjab was fast slipping

into a bottomless spiral of secessionist vi-

olence and Rajiv Gandhi was desperate

to show a breakthrough. He mollycod-

dled Akali leader Sant Harchand Singh

Longowal into agreeing to sign a peace

accord with him. Sant Longowal listed a

set of pre-conditions; one of them was the

setting up of a judicial inquiry into the

anti-Sikh pogrom. Political expediency

made Rajiv Gandhi concede this and

other demands (it is another matter that

the accord foundered and Sant Longowal

was assassinated by terrorists).

Thus was born the Ranganath

Mishra Commission that shall remain

known forever for white-washing official

complicity and political patronage with-

out which the slaughter of Sikhs would

(Cont..to page no 6)

Sikh Press Special

November 03, 2011 03 Courageous Journalism

Resounding Voice of Justice“Sikh will not rest till they get Justice” –Gurpatwent Singh PannuThe Political parties had promised us for getting Justice;now we are here to remind them….Speakers.

Special report—Nov. 1, 2011

To wait for Justice and its fading goals is

a sign of slavish mentality. Infact the free

people do not have to tread these precar-

ious paths. Since these 27 years of frus-

tration from the Indian government; the

Sikhs have to raise this issue with the for-

eign Parliaments consistantly.This is how

the Indian Government has weaved the

web of denying justice to the Sikhs. The

system has the miraclous effect of turn-

ing lies into truth. No matter there were

30,000 Sikhs burnt alive or murdered yet

the Indian Government is not willing to

call it a Genocide. They call it just riots.

They can blame and put all the guilt feel-

ing on the Sikhs for mudering Indira

Gandhi, yet they have that charismatic

effect to obliterate the innocent murder

by the Hindus.These are hard facts to

digest that the organised murders com-

mitted by the hired GOONDAS were tar-

geted in an organiesed way. Today on

Nov. 1 the Justice Rally by the Sikh Or-

ganizations and the public was reminder

to the Canadian and the Indian Govern-

ments that justice delayed is Justice de-

nied. The message proclaimed by the

people was voiced to let the system know

to suggest what ways and the methods do

they want Sikh to adopt for justice. If

this is not the

Genocide what

would you

name it after

the killing field

Delhi of 30,000

Sikhs? Under

the banner of

Sikhs for Jus-

tice, the

Ontario Sikh

and Gurudwara

Council,

Ontario Gurd-

waras Com-

mittee, United

Front of Sikhs

and all the Gur-

dawaras took

part in this

rally. The Sikhs

from the Gurd-

waras suround-

ing areas of

Montreal and Ottawa participated in

large way. The note worthy participation

of two presidents, Mamnjit Singh Man-

gat from Sikh Leher Gurudwara and

Daljit Singh Sekhon from Sri Guru Singh

Sabha Malton were amongest 1000+

people at the Parliament Hill.

The legal adviser and Convener

S.Gurpatwant Pannu shared a prolonged

history of the violence and murders com-

mitted against Sikhs by the Indian Gov-

ernment. He laid stress to proclaim that

we have facts to prove how the Sikh

were Singled out to be tortured , burnt

and murdered.

S. Sukhminder Singh Hansra in

his speech in English told that in 2010 we

were hear to tell that we are asking for

the justice for the Sikhs, bur were layed

aside telling that we had no facts to

prove. It was a tactical way of denial as

all the major parties of Canada were

pressurised to snub that move of the

Sikhs through the High Commission of

India.

Today ,we are here with piles of

truthful proofs, let us know what is your

concern now. We do want to see not your

thoughtful gratitude but the effective at-

titude to the genocide of the Sikhs. We

are not begging Justice, but are asking for

rights to be recognized as democratic cit-

izens. It is our right to live in justful

society.

Courageous Journalism04 November 03, 2011

416-661-7272www.Hansra.ca

One Stop for effective and comprehensive Advertising!

Benefits All

Dr. Solomon Naz ( 416-661-7272+3)

Sikh Genocide!The World is Breaking Silence

It is a well known fact that India has committed Genocides on it`s minorities. Sikhs,

Muslims and Christians are not safe in the hands of the Indian Government. These

minorities have suffered deaths, beating and their women being raped.

Approximately one thousand Canadian Sikhs stood strong together outside

the Parliament of Canada to remember the victims of November 1984 and were

greeted warmly by Canadian politicians, who acknowledged the need to pursue jus-

tice by bringing the perpetrators of such violence to trial.

Prominent politicians like Sheila Copps, who is currently running to become

the President of the Liberal Party of Canada spoke to the gathering to lend her sup-

port. Jim Karygiannis mp from Scarborough-Agincourt met with the crowd to voice

the need to remember the victims and to pursue those responsible. While addressing

the justice rally, both politicians emphasized the need for accountability, the denial

of justice and just how horrific the events of 1984 were. The strong show of support

energized the crowd, who raised their voices even louder in demanding justice

through chanting and singing.

Inside the house, Parm Gill, mp from Brampton Springdale read the follow-

ing statement “Mr. Speaker 27 years ago today following the assassination of Indira

Gandhi thousands of innocent Sikh men, women and children were mercilessly

killed in the streets of Delhi and other parts of India. During this violence at great

risk to themselves, Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others sheltered and rescued

their Sikh neighbors from the mobs.

“The recognition that justice has been denied is a huge step forward. For too

long, it has been easy for the people behind these crimes to hide behind the political

machine in India to skirt justice. Today, Canadian politicians are being vocal, makes

lot easier to raise awareness.

Justice must be a part of the healing process

Making a strong comment on the November 1984 Sikh Genocide for the

first time, on the 27th anniversary, the chairman of Hurriyat Conference (G), Syed

Ali Shah Geelani has called the 1984 massacre of Sikhs as a “blot on the face of so-

called secular face of India." Geelani has said that the "minorities need to build a

close rapport with one another to ensure their protection and start serious delibera-

tions to consolidate their mutual relations." Hurriyat leader said “The killing of

Sikhs was not a spontaneous reaction but a pogrom led by senior Congress leaders

of that time. Sikhs were killed in an organized manner and even children and women

were not spared, "those responsible for the killings were roaming free."

The Sikhs knocked at the doors of our Canadian politicians to seek justice. It was

noted that the Indian high commissioner pressured the heads of the political parties

to disband the genocide petition in 2010.

Human rights andthe Commonwealth

The fracas at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth over a

proposal to appoint a human rights monitor has reopened an old debate that pits na-

tional sovereignty against an international human rights regime. India and Sri Lanka

were among the countries that opposed the idea of a Human Rights Commissioner

for the Commonwealth nations. The proposal has been given up, at least for now.

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is possibly the finest document

of the world's aspiration to treat all human beings equally and with dignity. Even

though the UDHR was assailed from the beginning by some as a western construct

that ignored cul-

tural and religious

differences, most

countries, includ-

ing India, are sig-

natories to it and

its various

covenants. What

really undermines

the international

rights framework

is the perception

that the interna-

tional human

rights mechanisms

are a weapon in

the hands of powerful countries to lord it over less powerful states, through eco-

nomic sanctions or other means. The perception is strengthened by the flagrant dou-

ble standards in the way rights issues are raised.

For instance, Australia and the United Kingdom, in the forefront of the Com-

monwealth human rights campaign, are quite content to ignore alleged violations

in China or India, where their own interests — principally economic ones — are

involved. Canada is outraged by rights violations during Sri Lanka's military victory

over the LTTE, but is quiet about the appalling toll of civilian deaths in U.S. drone

attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Another eye-opener has been in the western

handling of the Arab Spring in Libya on the one hand, and in Bahrain on the other.

It is for this reason that India — which has resisted cultural and religious

exceptionalism to human rights at the United Nations — was correct in opposing

the Commonwealth's efforts to impose another layer of international scrutiny into

the conduct of member-states.

This is not to give a clean bill of health to the Indian record: in some places,

such as Jammu & Kashmir, in the North-East, and in areas hit by the Maoist insur-

gency, the shocking and repeated instances of rights violations by the security forces

are a blot on the country's democratic credentials. But outside intervention cannot

be the answer.

Aside from enabling external actors with unclean hands to assume control

of governance, it often ends up discrediting local efforts to improve the situation. It

is understandable that the Commonwealth, a grouping of former British colonies,

is striving to remain relevant in the present day. Meddling in the affairs of member-

states, whether it is Pakistan, or Sri Lanka, or India or Zimbabwe, is not the way to

go about it. (Special thanks ‘The Hindu’

This is not to give a clean bill of health to the Indian record:

in some places, such as Jammu & Kashmir, in the North-

East, and in areas hit by the Maoist insurgency, the shocking

and repeated instances of rights violations by the security

forces are a blot on the country's democratic credentials.

05 November 03, 2011 Courageous Journalism

by Dr. Amarjeet Singh

There is a mountain of evidence to prove

that politicians belonging to the ruling

Congress Party incited and directed the

country-wide November 1984 (31 Octo-

ber 1984 to 3 November, 1984) anti-Sikh

pogrom in collusion with the police and

local Hindu thugs in India. The anti Sikh

violence peaked in Delhi on November

2, 1984. Hindu mobs carrying iron rods,

knives, pistols, kerosene and voting lists

went on a rampage, killing anybody who

looked like a Sikh, looting and setting

alight their homes, business establish-

ments and 450 Gurdwaras (Sikh places

of worship) just in Delhi. Sikh cab driv-

ers were lynched or burned alive in their

cabs. Sikhs fleeing Delhi were dragged

out of trains buses and cars and slaugh-

tered. Even as mobs, led by Congress

party men and policemen, burned, looted,

raped and murdered innocent Sikh men,

women and children, all over India (ex-

cept in peaceful Punjab, the Sikh home-

land) the Central government, specially

the Home (police) minister - later Indian

Prime minister - P. V. Narisima Rao and

most state governments, did nothing for

four days to quell the nation-wide vio-

lence, even in the well protected (by Po-

lice/Army) capital city of New Delhi

built by the British Colonials on stolen

Sikh Gurdwara lands.

On 31 October, 1984, as soon as

PM Mrs. Indira Gandhi, who had been

shot, died in the hospital, State-owned

All India Radio and Doordarshan started

broadcasting blood-curdling slogans of

“Khoon ka badla khoon se len‘gay” (we

shall avenge blood with blood) raised by

Congress party workers seeking revenge

from innocent Sikhs over the killing of

Prime Minister India Gandhi by two of

her bodyguards who happened to be

Sikhs. The killings continued with the ac-

tive abetment and open encouragement

of the police and civil administrators. In

many places, police asked Sikhs on No-

vember 1, 1984 to hand over their kir-

pans, (a sword carried by Sikhs as a

religious symbol) took them away

forcibly if the Sikhs refused, before

armed Hindu mobs descended upon

them. Lest people forget the state-spon-

sored ‘hell’ India’s Sikh minority went

through, all over India, during the four

‘dark’ days of November 1984, very

moving and spine-chilling eye witness

audio account of that November 1984

state-supervised pogrom, covering the

bloody happenings in India’s capital city

Delhi, is readily available, narrated by a

Punjabi writer and novelist, one Ms.

Ajeet Kaur.

Her spine-chilling evidence nar-

rated in chaste Punjabi, (and recorded

under the auspices of the South Asia Lit-

erature program of the U.S. Library of

Congress, headlined ‘November 1984’,)

can be heard by clicking at the following

link:(> http:// lc web2.loc. gov/mbrs/

master/ salrp /07202.mp3 <) Sikh young-

sters, who were born after November

1984, ought to make it a point to educate

themselves by listening to Ms. Ajeet

Kaur’s impressive audio report men-

tioned above.

Coming back to the November

1984 scenario in Delhi; By the morning

of 1 November 1984, organized Hindu

mobs, shouting Congress party slogans,

had started running amok in South, East

and West Delhi. They were armed with

shot guns, iron rods and carried old tires

and jerry cans filled with kerosene and

petrol. Hindu owners of gas stations and

kerosene stores, beneficiaries of Con-

gress largesse, had provided petrol and

kerosene free of cost to the rampaging

Congress party thugs. Some of these

thugs went around on scooters and mo-

torcycles, marking Sikh houses and busi-

ness establishments with chalk for easy

identification. They had been provided

with electoral rolls by the ruling Con-

gress party to make the task easier. By

late afternoon that day, hundreds of taxis,

trucks, shops and homes, owned by

Sikhs, had been looted and set ablaze. By

early evening, the killing, loot and rape

began in right earnest. The worst butch-

ery took place in Block 32 of Trilokpuri,

a resettlement colony in East Delhi.

Scores of Sikh families were killed over

November 1 and 2: most of them were

dispatched by putting burning tires

around theirs necks. Even as stray dogs

gorged on rotting entrails of murdered

Sikhs, gutters were clogged with charred

corpses and wailing women, clutching

children too frightened to cry, fled baying

Hindu mobs armed with shot guns,

knives, iron rods, staves and gallons of

kerosene. To prevent the beleaguered

Sikhs from taking refuge in their gurd-

waras, in Delhi alone over 450 gurdwaras

were sacked in the early hours of the vi-

olence. The expedient means of setting

houses ablaze was used to get at Sikh

families who had taken refuge on the

roofs of their homes. Entire Sikh families

were thus roasted alive. For four days and

nights (31 October to 3 November 1984)

the killing, pillaging and arson against

the innocent Sikh minority continued in

Delhi (and other towns in India) without

the police, the civil administration, the

Army and the Union & State govern-

ments lifting a finger in admonishment.

Innocent Sikh women were gang-raped

while their terrified families pleaded for

mercy, little or none of which was shown

by the rampaging Congress partyled

armed Hindu mobs. In one of the numer-

ous such incidents, a woman was gang-

raped in front of her 17- year-old son;

before leaving, the Hindu marauders

torched the boy. The Congress party, was

in power in Delhi at that point in time.

Its’ senior leaders (like Sajjan Kumar,

Jagdish Tytler and H. K. L. Bhagat et al.,)

led the Hindu mobs, mustered by the co-

operative Police, while the prime minis-

ter, his home (police) minister P. V.

Naraisimha Rao, indeed the entire coun-

cil of ministers, twiddled their thumbs in

British-built palaces in New Delhi doing

nothing. Obviously, these minions

wanted to please the newly appointed

Prime Minister, the revengeful

Rajiv Gandhi.

While the arrogant Indian media,

as is its wont, has been ignoring the an-

niversary of the 1984 anti Sikh pogroms

every year, Pakistan’s leading English

language Lahore-based nationalist daily

(Cont.. to page no 8)

A crime against humanityIndia’s 27 years old November 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom,‘a crime against humanity’, for which collective ‘sin’of theCongress party rulers & Hindu mobs,no one has been found guilty so far. This column is a tutorial and reminis-cence for the post Nov. 1984 younger Sikh generation to educate it about the 27 years old state-sponsored anti

Sikh pogrom, in which evil act of state terror over10, 000 innocent Sikhs were murdered in INDIA, on the orders ofthe then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the late husband of India’s current ‘king-maker’ Mrs. Sonia Gandhi

conti from Pg2

not have been possible. Submissions and

affidavits were surreptitiously passed on

to those accused of leading the mobs to fa-

cilitate their defense. Some of these doc-

uments were later recovered from the

house of Sajjan Kumar, one of the Con-

gress leaders who had been accused by

victims in their signed affidavits. Gag or-

ders were issued, preventing the press

from reporting in-camera proceedings of

the Commission.

For full six months, Rajiv Gandhi

refused to make public the Ranganath

Mishra Commission's report. When it was

tabled in Parliament, the report was found

to be an amazing travesty of the truth, an

exercise that was dedicated to drawing a

bizarre distinction between Congress

party workers and the Congress party --

the former were guilty, but not the latter;

no responsibility was fixed nor were the

guilty named.

Subsequently, three other commit-

tees were set up: the Jain-Banerji Com-

mittee to find out why cases were not

registered by the police and, if registered,

why was it not done properly; the Kapoor-

Mittal Committee to look into the role of

the police; and, the Ahuja Committee to

compute the number of deaths. The find-

ings of the first two committees are gath-

ering dust in some corner of South Block.

The key finding of the Ahuja Committee

is of relevance -- a total of 2,733 Sikhs

were killed in Delhi. There is no record of

an apology being offered by either Rajiv

Gandhi or his government for placing the

death toll at 425, leave alone for their de-

scription of the BJP as 'anti-national' be-

cause it had placed the figure at 2,800.

In these 20 years, nine commis-

sions and committees have been set up to

look into different aspects of the anti-Sikh

pogrom. Much bluster has been heard

about bringing the guilty to book. What

we have seen is inertia, political interven-

tion and tardy prosecution. Overwhelming

evidence against Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish

Tytler and H K L Bhagat has been set

aside by skulduggery and gerrymander-

ing. Two thousand seven hundred and

thirty-three men, women and children

killed in Delhi, another 2,000 killed in

other towns and cities, scores of women

raped, property worth crores of rupees

looted or sacked. Families devastated for-

ever, survivors scarred for the rest of their

lives. After 27 years, all that we have to

show as justice being done is the convic-

tion of six men, who did not have the req-

uisite financial or political clout to

manipulate their way to freedom and are

serving sentence for 'murder.'

Sajjan Kumar is back in business

as a Congress member of the Lok Sabha;

Jagdish Tytler is minister for NRI affairs

in the UPA government. Sheela Barske

Fifteen years old. Round chubby face.

Aching black eyes. She stumbled out of

the first rescue bus. Torment she had en-

dured for 36 hours surged out when she

saw us. ''Meri izzat loot li (they raped

me),'' she cried out. She pulled away the

loose, crumpled kurta from her shoulders

to reveal a gash from her left collar bone

to right breast, covered with dried blood,

''Dekho, dekho, unhone kya kiya mere

saath (see, see what they did to me)."

In barrack rooms, a team of in-

terns arranged first-aid medicines, gauzes,

on the dirty floor. It was noon. November

2, 1984. Two days after Indira Gandhi's

assassination.

Thirty-six hours after more than

300 Sikhs in that basti had been lynched,

burnt and flung down from upper floors

in the presence of their families, pushing

back the women and children who rushed

to embrace the targeted men, Delhi police

had found one bus to bring out the terror-

ized survivors from their looted homes

with just their clothes on, to the police

grounds. A 12-year-old boy sat alone apart

from his kin, on a large stone, brooding,

head held firm on a straight spine. The

knot of his kesh had been lopped off but

the remaining hair, glued spiny stiff and

erect in a bunch, proclaimed his continu-

ing identity. ''He has not spoken a word

since he saw his father and uncle being

burnt to death and flung down from first

floor,'' a relative informs.

A desultory conversation begins.

A middle-aged sardarni, still dreaming of

the gory killing of her husband, softly

asks, ''Is it possible to rescue my brother-

in-law? He is all burnt but there is still

some breath in him. He

is sitting in a chair for

the last 40 hours.'' The

woman withdraws into

herself. I ask for a

guide to locate the

house. A polio-affected

youth moves closer. ''I

will. The police left be-

hind my wife. Her

thigh and shoulder

were scorched as she

threw herself on my

eldest brother when

they set him on fire

live. She is mute and young, childlike re-

ally...'' An athletic sardar, kesh cut, clean-

shaven, accompanies me. Few hours ago,

like many Sikhs in that colony, he had

paid several hundred rupees to a barber to

raze an integral part of his being. Since

October 31, 'kesh' marked not a glorious

inheritance but a victim to be

torched alive.

With the doctor's team and first-

aid, we enter the colony and pause by a

wounded elderly man lying on a cot. He

would need an ambulance. We do not

have one. ''Now you come,'' screams a

woman. ''After bodies have been thrown

in the nullahs.'' A Sikh grabs my arm,

''Curfew laga dijiye." Our guide sprints

into a lane. Mounds of junk placed across

the road every few yards, the lynchers'

barricades to prevent victims escaping in

their taxis. The young doctors trail. The

guide breaks into a run and leaps over

front steps of a house. ''Anyone there?'' I

call out a few times, then step in.

The house had been looted clean,

no furniture, no utensils, no clothes.

''There is no one inside, I checked thor-

oughly,'' he says. Depressed, we stand still

in the stark living room. A mob of 200

men and women has arched around the

house while we are inside. They watch us

silently. ''What have you done with him?''

I yell. ''Didn't burning him satisfy you?

His bhabhi told me that Dilbara Singh is

sitting in a chair. Where have you

hidden him?''

''Oh Dilbara Singh!'' a man steps

up saucily. ''Come here. This pile of ashes,

that's him. His wife broke up the chair and

gave him a live funeral, with flowers and

everything.'' he grins wickedly.

The chowk is now blocked by a

mob of 150. The news of a rescue team

has traveled. I notice brass knuckles on a

fist and cycle chain in a hand and discover

that our guide is missing. ''Where is the

man who came with us?,'' I yell.''He was

with us 2 minutes ago. What have you

done with him?''

An armed sub-inspector comes

running. ''He is safe. He was recognised.

He ran for his life. He asked me to inform

you.'' The officer was the sole policeman

on duty for 48 hours.

The sun begins to set. Someone

hails us. An elderly thick-set sardar in a

wheelchair pushed by two youngsters.

''Take me out please,'' the sardar pleads.

We walk away but a few steps later, I

abruptly halt. The disabled Sikh is not

safe, he's in danger. We turn and stride to

the disabled man. ''Come,'' we say. But the

three young men have their hands firm on

his wheelchair. ''We'll take him. We are

with Nandita Haksar.'' I believe them only

after sighting Nandita 300 meters away.

That evening I hitch a ride in a

press car. ''Fifty-nine Hindus killed, some

pulled in gurdwaras.'' they tell me. ''But

we are not printing that.''

Police Commissioner Tandon re-

fuses to see the press. PRO Panwar snig-

gers, ''Hundreds killed in one basti? How

is it possible to burn people alive? We

(Cont..to page no 7)

06 November 03, 2011 Courageous Journalism

Sikh Genocide 1984

Courageous Journalism November 03, 2011 07

Sikh Genocide 1984Conti nue from Pg6

have not received any complaints.''Reporters decide to gatecrash Tan-

don's office. ''Please order shoot at sight."He steps back into the unlit shield of hischamber. His subordinates and guardsblock the door.

Next day, I visit the morgue. Acorpse wrapped in a bloodstained brilliantwhite sheet is laid outside the walled com-pound, in front of the gate. Not a soularound. I ask a policeman if I can pay fora few decent funerals.

In the compound, to my left, is anopen shed with hundreds of bloatedcorpses stacked 6-7 deep like logs. Infront of me, scores of rotting bodiesheaped in a truck. Nearby a dump ofswollen, decaying remains of men. Dis-connected tufts of hair strewn around. Thepoliceman returns, asks me to come over.I take a few steps over the bunches of keshlittering the compound and blown aroundmy feet.

Outside, I stand for a while withan anonymous, unaccompanied body.

But the scars run deep and sharpin the minds of Sikhs like Avtar SinghBedi who had lived there in 1984 and stillremember the brutalities.

Recalling Oct 31, 1984, Bedi, 45,who has shifted to Tilak Vihar, said: "Thenews of Indira Gandhi's assassinationshocked me. Equally shocking was theway people looked at me and my brotherwhen we were returning to our homes."

Suddenly, out of the blue, a terri-ble fury broke out all over Delhi - for thefirst time after the 1947 partition of thesub-continent. And Trilokpuri bore thebrunt of it.

After his house and his shop deal-ing in electrical appliances were lootedand set afire, Bedi and his family fled to asmaller dwelling in west Delhi. Tensionflickered across Bedi's wrinkled face as herecalled images of unruly mobs pouncingon him and his teenaged brother, who was

a mechanic at a roadside scooter garage."I escaped but the mob killed my brotherand ransacked all the houses at Block 30in Trilokpuri," Bedi said.

Trilokpuri turned into a killingfield. The police refused to intervene.

Bedi ran with his elderly and ail-ing mother. "A cousin who was visiting usalso ran with us," Bedi said.

The anti-Sikh violence erupted onthe evening of Oct 31 in south Delhi, closeto the hospital whereIndira Gandhi wasdeclared dead, andquickly spread to al-most every part ofDelhi.

“ G u r d i pKaur, a 45 year oldwoman from Block32, Trilokpuri, told atypical story. Herhusband and threesons were brutallymurdered in front ofher. Her husbandused to run a small shop in the locality.Her eldest son, Bhajan Singh, worked atthe railway station; the second, in a radiorepair shop; and the third as a scooterdriver.

She says, ‘On the morning of 1November, when Indira Mata’s body wasbrought to Teen Murti, everyone waswatching television. Since 8.00 am, theywere showing homage being paid to herdead body.At about noon, my childrensaid, “Mother, please make some food.Weare hungry.” I had not cooked that day,and I said, “Son, everyone is mourning.She was our mother too. She helped us tosettle here. So I don’t feel like lighting thefire today.”

‘Soon after this, the attack started.Three of the men ran out, and were set onfire. My youngest son stayed in the housewith me. He shaved off his beard and cuthis hair. But they came into the house.Those young boys, 14 and 16 years old,

began to drag my son out even though hewas hiding behind me.

‘They tore my clothes andstripped me naked in front of my son. Myson cried, “Elder brothers, don’t do this.She is your mother just as she is mymother.” But they raped me right there, infront of my son, in my own house. Theywere young boys, maybe eight of them.When one of them raped me, I said, “Mychild, never mind. Do what you like. But

remember, I have given birth to children.This child came into the world by thissame path.”

‘After they had taken my honour,they left. I took my son out with me, andmade him sit among the women, but theycame and dragged him away. They tookhim to the street corner, hit him withlathis, sprinkled kerosene over him, andburnt him alive.

‘I tried to save him but they struckme with knives and broke my arm. At thattime, I was completely naked. If I hadeven one piece of clothing on my body, Iwould have gone and thrown myself overmy son and tried to save him. I wouldhave done anything to save at least oneyoung man of my family. Not one of thefour is left.”

With the authorities looking theother way, mobs took charge of the streets,burning and looking Sikh shops andhomes and mercilessly killing men,

women and even children. Many womenwere raped.

Memories of the murderousfrenzy are still fresh in the minds of Sikhs- as well as others who saw the violencefrom close quarters. Many non-Sikhscame to the rescue of the besieged com-munity. Even 20 years later, hundreds ofdisplaced families are fighting legal bat-tles and running from pillar to post toavail themselves of rehabilitation facilities

promised by successive governments.Another riot victim Balvinder

Singh, who too lived in Trilokpuri, said:"I lost my father and mother in the vio-lence. It is painful that the perpetratorsof the violence are still roaming free."

Some of those - mainly Congresspoliticians - who perpetrated the atroci-ties remain entrenched in the party. Afew went into oblivion. Sikh militantskilled a handful of others.

For the victims, the riots have lefta scar that has not healed. But mostSikhs say they harbour no grudgesagainst any community. G.S. Arora, a

former professor with the Pusa Institute ofTechnology, said: "I have no ill-willagainst anyone. Some of the people whomasterminded the violence were part ofthe government."But they must certainly be booked underthe law. Unfortunately this has not happened."

Over the years, Sikhs who losttheir near and dear ones have learnt to livewith the trauma - but with a feeling ofbeing betrayed by the judicial system.Commissions set up by the government toprobe the violence have not been of muchhelp. Summarizing what the communitythought of 1984, Sikh preacher RanbirSingh Lubhwana, now in his late 40s,noted that the rioters had razed his gurd-wara in Trilokpuri.

"But we have rebuilt it. Things arenormal and there is no malice for anyoneamong the Sikhs. Even Hindus come andpray here."

Cracking Down on Political Contributions

(Ottawa) - The Hon. Tim Uppal,

Minister of State (Democratic

Reform), along with Jacques

Gourde, Member of Parliament

for Lotbinière–Chutes-de-la-

Chaudière, today reaffirmed the

Harper Government’s long-

standing commitment to

strengthening Canada’s demo-

cratic institutions by re-introduc-

ing the Political Loans

Accountability Act. “The cur-

rent rules on political loans do

not meet the high standards of

accountability, integrity, and

transparency that Canadians ex-

pect in their political process,” said Minister of State Uppal.

“The Political Loans Accountability Act builds on our flagship

Federal Accountability Act by closing a loophole allowing corporations

and unions to make political loans.”

The proposed changes to the loans regime are fourfold: The bill

would establish a uniform and transparent reporting regime for all loans

to political parties, associations, candidates and contestants, including

mandatory disclosure of terms such as interest rates and the identity of

all lenders and loan guarantors.

Unions and corporations would now be banned from making

loans to political parties, associations, candidates and contestants, con-

sistent with their inability to make contributions as set out in the Federal

Accountability Act. Total loans, loan guarantees, and contributions by

individuals could not exceed the annual contribution limit for individuals

established in the Federal Accountability Act ($1,100 in 2011).

Only financial institutions (at market rates of interest) and po-

litical entities could make loans beyond that amount. Rules for the treat-

ment of unpaid loans would be tightened to ensure candidates cannot

walk away from unpaid loans: riding associations or parties will be held

responsible for unpaid loans taken out by their candidates.

Moreover, the Political Loans Accountability Act would alter the

contribution limits for leadership contestants from a per-event basis to a

per-calendar year basis. The bill is consistent with a recommendation

from the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. It reflects a legal approach

to political loans already in place in several provinces such as Ontario,

Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador.

“We are bringing greater integrity, accountability, transparency

to the political process with the Political Loans Accountability Act,” said

MP Gourde. “Everyday Canadians are expected to pay back loans under

strict rules, and the same should apply to politicians.”

08 November 03, 2011 Courageous Journalism

newspaper, THE NATION, to its eternal

credit, has carried in its October 31, 2011,

edition, an excellent MUST READ (‘birds

eye view’) article by well-informed

Brigadier (retired) Momin Iftikhar, head-

lined, “Shadow of Indira Gandhi’s assas-

sination,” in which the old Pakistani

soldier says that, “The year 1984 remains

the ultimate annus horribilis for India’s

Sikh minority littered with monumental

events that left deep scars on India’s sup-

posedly secular ethos. It was during this

fateful year that the Indian forces

launched ‘Operation Blue Star’ to evict

Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale from the

holiest of the Sikh shrines in Amritsar and

ignited a chain of events that were to

transform the Hindu-Sikh equation for

times to come…….. The genocide of

Sikhs during the 1980s and 1990s consti-

tute a bleeding wound that has trauma-

tized the Sikh community ever since. This

particular aspect has been suitably re-

searched and summarized in an exhaus-

tive report, ‘Reduced to Ashes: The

Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab’,

published by the South Asia Forum for

Human Rights in Katmandu. October 31

this year, marked the 27th anniversary of

those hate filled days, yet the Sikh wounds

have not healed. After many inconclusive

commissions of inquiry and findings of

various human rights groups, no Congress

politician accused of leading the murder-

ous mobs, following Indira Gandhi’s

death has been taken to task. No police of-

ficer has been charged with killing of

thousands of Sikhs in fake encounters.

The legacy of hatred left by the assault on

the Golden Temple, and cemented by In-

dira Gandhi’s assassination, still lingers

and the embers continue to assert their

presence in the Hindu-Sikh communal

equation. India’s refusal to acknowledge

the excesses committed against the Sikh

nation has blocked the initiation of any

process of reconciliation between the Hin-

dus and the Sikhs; the latter nursing a

deep sense of injustice, aggravated by the

realization that the murderers of innocent

Sikhs roam freely under successive Con-

gress governments’ patronage”. Readers

are urged to read the above mentioned

thoughtful and well researched article by

(Pakistani) Brigadier. (Retired) Momin

Iftikhar in full by clicking at the following

link:- (> http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-

n e w s - n e w s p a p e r - d a i l y - e n g l i s h -

online/Opinions/Columns/31-Oct-2011/

Shadow-of-Indira-Gandhis-assassination

<) This Khalistan Calling column is a tu-

torial and reminiscence for the benefit of

the post November 1984 younger Sikh

generation so that they always remember

and NEVER forget what happened in the

Indian demoNcracy twenty seven years

ago. It is hoped the Sikh youngsters edu-

cate themselves about the 1984 happen-

ings, nay anti Sikh pogroms, and also why

an independent, egalitarian, democratic

Sikh buffer state of Khalistan is a MUST

for the survival and prosperity of the

world’s 28 million Sikhs – 3 million free

in the world-wide Sikh diaspora and 25

million captive in the Indian ‘map’ since

August 1947 - and is the raison d`etre for

the universal Sikh daily prayer of ‘Raj

Karayga Khalsa’. This column (Khalistan

Calling) is also about remembering the 27

years old state sponsored anti Sikh

pogrom (for which crime against human-

ity no one has been found guilty) in which

evil act of state terrorism over 10, 000 in-

nocent Sikh men, women and children

were murdered in INDIA, just because

they were Sikhs, on the orders of the then

Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was the late

husband of ‘India’s current Italy-born

kingmaker’ the uneducated Mrs. Sonia

Mainu Gandhi. The late Prime Minister

Rajiv Gandhi is also the father of Rahul

Gandhi, the dim-witted under-matriculant,

school dropout, who has become a ‘pre-

tender’ to the Indian Prime Minister’s

‘throne’. Rahul thinks the ‘Delhi throne’

is his for the asking in the corrupt dynastic

Indian dystopia – the world’s largest de-

moNcracy - in which over seven hundred

million ‘unwashed’ Indians live in

squalor, hunger and misery on less than

one U.S. dollar a day without clean drink-

ing water or latrines or schools or medical

clinics etc., etc. The November 1984 and

June 1984 holocausts have NOT been for-

gotten by the Sikhs. They will NEVER be

forgotten! Sikhs have always remembered

their martyrs and their holocausts, their

‘ghallugharas’. The older Sikh genera-

tions MUST make sure that the younger

Sikhs, born in the 1980’s and later, are ed-

ucated about the bloody Sikh experience

of June and November 1984 and the part

played by the evil mother and son, Indira

Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, whose hands

are covered with innocent Sikh blood.

This younger Sikh generation needs to be

educated about this evil and phony Nehru

dynasty, which masquerades as a

‘Gandhi’ dynasty. The Sikh youngsters

must be reminded about what happened in

India, in June and November 1984, and

who the guilty parties were, who ordered

the two mass murders of thousands of

their older Sikh compatriots?

This education – this tutorial -

would give meaning to the Sikh prayer

“Raj Karayga Khalsa”, which prayer

every Sikh repeats in every Gurdwara

every where, every day. The “Raj Karayga

Khalsa”, prayer calls for an independent,

egalitarian, democratic, water-and-food-

rich buffer state of Khalistan whose strate-

gic location (East of the Pakistan border

and West of the Jumna river) would en-

able the 28 million strong Sikh nation to

prosper and act as a bridge of peace and

commerce between South and Central

Asia – importing Oil, Natural Gas, fruits

and precious stones from the Stans of

Central Asia and exporting food, textiles,

hosiery and light engineering goods etc.,

from South Asia to Central Asia.

Washington, October 29, 2011: President

Barack Obama officially welcomed the

Shromani Gurdwra Parbandhak Commit-

tee (SGPC) representative from Darbar

Sahib, the Golden temple,

at the White House during

an official celebration of

Diwali. Bijay Singh, As-

sistant Secretary of the in-

fluential Dharam Parchar

Committee of the SGPC

was visiting Washington

and his attendance at the

White House ceremony

was arranged by Dr. Ra-

jwant Singh, the Chair-

man of the Sikh Council

on Religion and Education, who works

closely with the White House on Sikh is-

sues and has arranged the White House

celebration of Guru Nanak’s Birthday in

the last two years.President Obama before

the lighting of the White House Diya, wel-

comed over 200 Indian Americans and

prominent individuals from Obama Ad-

ministration gathered from all over the

country. He acknowledged the presence of

Indian Ambassador Nirupama Roy,

Deputy Chief of Mission, Arun K. Singh

of the Indian Embassy in Washington,

Kiran Ahuja ,Executive Director of the

White House Initiative on Asian Ameri-

cans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs), Rajiv

Shah, head of the US AID, Pratima

Dharm, the first Hindu Chaplain for US

Armed Forces. Obama also mentioned

Bijay Singh’s presence and asked him to

recognized. Each dignitary and special in-

vitee stood to be welcomed by the Presi-

dent at the celebrations. This is the first

time that a representative from the Golden

Temple has been welcomed and recog-

nized by the American President at the

White House.

Bijay Singh thanked President

Obama and said, ” It is a kind gesture for

President Obama to acknowledge my

presence and it reflected that he has deep

respect for Sikhs and all minorities. His

welcoming me as a representative from

the Golden Temple, Amritsar, at the offi-

cial center of American Government will

be seen extremely positively by Sikhs all

across the globe. We pray for Guru Ram

Dass ji’s (Creator of holy city of Amritsar)

blessings upon the American President.

“Before President entered the celebra-

tions, number of official and political ap-

pointees from Asian and Indian American

communities, spoke and listed various ini-

tiatives launched by the Obama Adminis-

tration for the benefit of minorities.

Following the President, others who

spoke were Joshua DuBois, head of the

White House office of Faith Based Initia-

tive and Paul Monteiro from the White

House Office of Public Engagement.Pres-

ident Obama in his message to the Indian

Americans on Diwali, said, “Today, here

in America and around the world, Hindus,

Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists will cel-

ebrate the holiday of Diwali – the festival

of lights. Many who observe this holiday

do so by lighting the Diya, or lamp, which

symbolizes the victory of light over dark-

ness and knowledge over ignorance.

I was proud to be the first Presi-

dent to mark Diwali and light the Diya at

the White House, and last year Michelle

and I were honored to join in Diwali cel-

ebrations during our visit to India. Diwali

is a time for gathering with family and

friends and—as we experienced in

India—celebrating with good food

and dancing.

It is also a time for contemplation

and prayer that serves as a reminder of our

obligations to our fellow human beings,

especially the less fortunate.

To all who are observing this sa-

cred holiday here and around the world,

Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak.”Dr. Ra-

jwant Singh said, “Throughout his Presi-

dency, President Obama has gone out of

his way to make all communities and

Sikhs as being part of the American fabric.

This has made the country stronger and

we feel proud of being led by such a vi-

sionary leader.”

A crime against humanity

Sikh Representative from The Golden Temple Recognized by President Obama

November 03, 2011 10 Courageous Journalism

Black day’s for SikhsIt's hard to write an article that appears

on October 31 without remembering that

it was on this day, twenty years ago, that

Indira Gandhi was shot dead in her gar-

den by two Sikh policemen. With the re-

turn of the Gandhis to the political

limelight there will be many this year

who will remember Mrs Gandhi, many

who will pay fulsome tributes, many who

will glorify her reign. How many will re-

member the pogroms that followed? Al-

most nobody is my guess even if we now

have a Sikh Prime Minister and an un-

compromisingly secular government.

Not even the Communists with their

daily petulance over perceived commu-

nalism will dare remind the government

they control that justice still has not been

done. It's the one event that even the most

ardent secularists choose to forget which

is for me a constant puzzle.

In the many years I have spent re-

porting wars, riots, caste killings and

other violent events on our sub-continent,

I can remember nothing that matches the

horror of those first three days after Mrs

Gandhi was killed. For those of you who

were not there or may have forgotten, let

me help you remember. Within minutes

of Mrs Gandhi being shot, my news edi-

tor rang me and asked me to rush to the

hospital where she had been taken. By

the time I got there they had already

closed the gates of the All India Institute

of Medical Sciences and although there

was no official announcement of her

death till late that afternoon we found out

within the first hour. Despite All India

Radio pretending all day that she was still

alive news of her death spread through

the city quickly but on the first day there

were no killings. There was tension, an

ominous, heavy tension but nobody, and

especially not ordinary Sikhs, had any

idea of what was going to happen. The

most that was expected were a few stray

incidents of violence.

I worked at the time for a British

newspaper and they wanted me to go to

Amritsar the next day to gauge the mood

there. By the time I returned on the after-

noon of November 1, I could see the fires

from the airport.

There was chaos at the airport be-

cause there were no taxis since most

Delhi taxi-drivers were Sikhs and the

mobs had started burning them alive.

When I finally managed to get a ride with

a Tamil gentleman, our taxi was sur-

rounded on the way to the city by a mob

with petrol soaked rags in their hands.

''Any Sikhs in the car,'' they grinned as

the Tamil gentleman looked nervously at

me. By that night armies of killers

roamed the streets of Delhi looking for

Sikhs to kill and Sikh properties to burn.

For the next two days, the mobs were al-

lowed to murder, loot and burn while the

government sat back and watched. By the

time the Army was ordered out, the

streets of Delhi were littered with bodies

and the burned out remains of trucks and

taxis with the charred, corpses of their

drivers at the wheel. Nobody bothered to

pick up the dead because there was no

room left in the morgues and one of the

images that continues to haunt me is of a

dog eating a human arm in a Delhi street.

More than 3000 Sikhs were killed in two

days in the city and then in a couple of

hours it was brought to a sudden halt. All

it took to stop the carnage and the sav-

agery were a handful of soldiers in the

streets with orders to shoot at sight. The

mobs melted away as they would have

done on day one if the government had

wanted them to.

Anybody who believes that what

happened in

Narendra Modi's

Gujarat was the

worst communal

violence since

Partition does not

remember what

happened in Delhi

in the first week

of November

1984. It was our

first State-sponsored pogrom and if we

do not acknowledge this then we must

recognize that attempts to bring justice to

the victims of Gujarat is mere tokenism.

It is wonderful that the wheels of justice,

that Modi and his murderous thugs tried

to stall, are moving again. May every

murderer, rapist and thug be brought to

justice so that we never have another Gu-

jarat. But when will those responsible for

what happened to the Sikhs in 1984 be

punished for what they did? I ask the

question rhetorically because I know the

answer is never, but justice of some kind

must be done if we are serious about en-

suring that no government in future ever

gets away with pogroms against its

own citizens.

Of course swift and severe justice

is the best way to ensure this but swift

justice is not possible from a justice sys-

tem that will take 350 years to clear its

backlog of cases. Besides, Prime Minis-

ters and Chief Ministers are unlikely to

be tried like ordinary criminals so the

way forward, in my view, is for our

shiny, new, ''secular'' government to set

up something similar to South Africa's

Truth Commission. Let men like P V

Narasimha Rao (Home Minister in 1984)

and Narendra Modi and all the officials

and policemen who failed to do their du-

ties come before the Commission and an-

swer for their failures. Let those who saw

their husbands, brothers and sons burned

alive come forward and publicly identify

those who led the mobs.

Let the new ''secular'' government

put its secularism where its mouth is and

convert the toothless Minorities Com-

mission into a powerful Truth Commis-

sion. It is the least we can do for the

thousands of innocents who died because

two Sikh policemen assassinated

Mrs. Gandhi.

A day after former Indian prime

minister Indira Gandhi was killed by her

Sikh security guards 20 years ago,

crowds of mobs barged into Sikh

women’s homes, dragged their husbands,

sons by their hair, set fire to them and

then bludgeoned them to death.

"My husband, my son was

snatched from my lap and was killed. I

had six brothers, they were all killed their

sons-in-law were killed. My sons-in-law

were killed too. At least 18-19 people of

my family were killed. My entire family

was killed. I single handedly brought up

these small kids," screamed Jassi Bai, a

grey-haired woman on crutches who lost

her entire family in the riots.

As India

marks the 20th

anniversary of

Gandhi's death on

Sunday, about

800 Sikh women

widowed in an

orgy of anti-Sikh

violence after the

assassination, are

still seething in

anger. Living in tenements in a corner of

Delhi often called "Widows' Colony", all

the women tell horrific stories of blood-

thirsty mobs "necklacing" their family

with burning tyres, setting their turbans

on fire or beating them with iron rods.

"It's understandable and all right

if you punish the guilty, irrespective of

whether he is a Sikh, Hindu, or Muslim.

If he has committed the crime, then by all

means punish him, kill him. But what did

all the Sikhs do? My only plea is give us

justice, we want justice," said Ravel

Kaur, as she sobbed, sitting next to a pho-

tograph of her slain husband in her ram-

shackle glass shop in New Delhi.

With their beards and distinctive

turbans -- their religion prohibits men

from cutting their hair -- Sikh men are

easy to spot in India and all over the

world. The government says about 2,733

people died in the wave of killings aimed

at the Sikh community after Gandhi was

shot dead by two Sikh bodyguards seek-

ing revenge for her decision to send the

army to flush out Sikh separatists from

the Golden temple, Sikhism's holiest

shrine. But activists say about 4,000 peo-

ple were killed in the riots, said to be the

worst religious violence since the bloody

partition of the subcontinent into India

and Pakistan in 1947.

Two decades and many investiga-

tions and commissions later, T.K.S. Tulsi,

a lawyer fighting for the riot victims,

says only 10 people have been convicted

for murder while 500 people have been

acquitted and half the cases have been

closed by police.

"As it is, under our system, to be

able to nail a person who is wealthy or

influential is almost impossible. But

when both combine, when they are

wealthy as well as influential, it is virtu-

ally a breakdown of the system. So there-

fore, we have had virtually no

convictions, there have only been a few

convictions and victims have got tired.

But it is not as if they have got defeated,

the victims are still angry and this anger

will persist and this will perhaps persist

for many generations," Tulsi said.

Living virtually as refugees in

their own country, the Sikh widows --

part of a community of about 19 million

people -- say all they have received in all

these years is a 300,000 rupees compen-

sation and dank quarters in the "Widows'

Colony". Although two decades have

passed, their wounds are still festering

because of a host of social problems:

their children have grown up with a burn-

ing sense of revenge which has driven

many into a life of crime and drugs.

Most of the women said they had

lost all hopes of ever getting justice after

the return to power of the Congress party,

who the Sikhs say sparked the brutal riots

of 1984. Congress denied the accusation.

Jagdish Tytler, one of the Congress lead-

ers, who has been given a clean chit by

the Delhi High court in the riots case,

said the anger against him was misdi-

rected. "Nothing, its all nonsense. I am

one person who is not ever involved, di-

rectly or indirectly and the High Court

has given this notice. And the High Court

has given its findings, the CBI (Central

Bureau of Investigation, - federal inves-

tigating agency) has given its finding. I

am the only person with no FIR (First In-

formation Report), with not even a com-

plaint against him. It is all a

political stunt."

Few are hopeful even though the

country has its first Sikh prime minister,

Manmohan Singh. (ANI)

India refuses to learn lessons

from its history of communal riots. The

sins of 1984 revisited Gujarat in 2002

and are likely to surface again, says Josy

Joseph. THE police looked the other way

as politicians led marauding mobs into

the city. You could be talking of Delhi of

1984, or Ahmedabad of 2002.

For its very long history, India

has an extremely short memory. Uncom-

fortable events from the past are tucked

away into obscure corners. Especially

those that involve violent-bursts of pas-

sions stoked by religion, caste, politics or

plain hatred.

May be it is the greed to move

forward to the future that prevents back-

ward looks. But the forward march is

more often than not interrupted by an-

other round of bloody sacrifice of inno-

cence. And yet again the nation fails to

offer succor to its victims, deliver justice

punish the guilty.

Assurance of immunity to the

criminal is almost ingrained in the soci-

ety. Witnesses to bloody pogroms in

India grow up without any guilt. Each

mob violence is forgotten in the next one.

In just three days, over 4,000 Sikhs were

killed in the wake of the assassination of

Indira Gandhi, India's most controversial,

powerful and longest-serving prime min-

ister. (Cont.. to next issue)

The decade of violent political opposition in Pun-jab -- which lasted from the mid-1980s to themid-1990s -- started when a movement within theSikh community in Punjab turned to violence toachieve an independent state for the Sikhs in theearly 1980s. To deal with the violence in the state,Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, au-thorized an army assault on the Golden Temple,the centre of the Sikh religion, in June 1984. Jar-nail Singh Bhindranwale, the leader of AkaliDal, the largest Sikh political party demandingofficial recognition of the Sikh faith and greaterpolitical autonomy, together with many of hissupporters, were killed in an assault on theGolden Temple, known as Operation Blue Star.

10 November 03, 2011 Courageous Journalism

Auto Section

The Evoque is a

completely new di-

rection for Range

Rover. It’s a new

car in a new class

for a new kind of

customer – it’s far

removed from the

traditional upright-

ness of a Range

Rover. We drove

the Evoque SD4 as

it’s the one that will

be the popular

choice when it is

launched in India

by end-2011.

The five-door

Evoque is a com-

pact SUV. Stand

next to it, and

you’ll see it’s about

the size of an Audi

Q3 — it is shorter

and squatter than

the baby Audi, and

about a million

times better-look-

ing as well. Under

the skin, the

Evoque is sus-

pended at the front

by MacPherson

struts and a multi-

link rear. It is upto

100kg lighter than

the Freelander,

though partly be-

cause it is much

shorter and partly

due to more exten-

sive use of alu-

minium, both in its

body panels and

suspension, and

plastics in the body.

Step inside and

you’ll notice one

intrinsic Range

Rover characteris-

tic that’s missing

— the commanding

view out. You sit a

lot lower and as a

result it feels a lot

sportier and very

un-Rangie. This

apart, you’ll love

the interiors, espe-

cially the soft-touch

surfaces on the

dashboard, and the

way everything

feels properly ex-

pensive. Automatic

Evoques get

Jaguar’s rotary gear

lever that rises from

the centre console

and, further down,

switches for Land

Rover’s Terrain Re-

sponse off-road

system that recon-

figures the car’s

software and hard-

ware depending on

the surface you’re

driving on.

The cabin is a

comfy place to be

because the seats

are widely ad-

justable, as is the

steering and there’s

more headroom

than the roof-line

would suggest.

However, the huge

wing mirrors ob-

struct forward

view. And, if you

can discount the

short squab of the

rear seats, it’s a lot

more accommodat-

ing than you would

think. There’s loads

of legroom, good

headroom and it’s

nowhere near as

claustrophobic as

the tapering win-

dow-line would

suggest. Indian cars

will get the massive

panoramic sunroof

as standard. How-

ever, Range Rover

has omitted a spare

wheel which, in an

SUV, is quite unac-

ceptable.

Push the engine

start button and

you’ll be surprised

by the lack of clat-

ter from the 2.2-

litre four-cylinder

diesel. The engine

remains impres-

sively refined even

near its red-line.

The 2179cc engine

makes 187bhp and

42.8kgm of torque

and the motor de-

livers this power in

a nice, linear man-

ner. However, it

doesn’t feel very

quick when you put

your foot down.

The six-speed auto

isn’t the best

around either,

sometimes refusing

to upshift or down-

shift despite repeat-

edly pulling the

steering-mounted

paddles.

Still, the Evoque

shows remarkable

composure and

tight body control.

There’s not a

squeal from the 18-

inch tyres on the

car and it even

changes direction

eagerly. It’s just

that the electric

steering is too light

and a bit inconsis-

tent off-centre. The

Evoque feels best

when you’re not

pushing on and

with Dynamic

mode switched off.

It’s here that you’ll

discover a ride that

deals with most

surfaces authorita-

tively with only the

sharper bumps

kicking through.

This SUV is far

more adept off-

road. In rainy con-

ditions we selected

‘mud and ruts’ on

the Terrain Re-

sponse system and

we could feel the

dulled throttle re-

sponse, essential for

driving on slippery

surfaces. You can

even feel its traction

control system

monitor wheelspin

as the Evoque claws

its way up the slope.

The thing is, the

Evoque feels so ca-

pable over these

non-existent sec-

tions of road that all

it demands of you is

to select the right

off-road setting,

steer and feed in

throttle. It doesn’t

have a low-range

transfer case

though.

Indian Evoques will

be slightly different

from the European

ones. The biggest

change is with the

air-intake for the

engine, which will

be placed higher.

Engineers are also

working on tuning

the suspension to

work with smaller

wheels and higher

profile tyres. What

this will do to the

styling that de-

mands big wheels is

yet to be seen. And

lastly, all Indian

Evoques will get an

industrial grade

horn.

When launched,

prices will start

from an estimated

Rs 49 lakh, and this

is probably where

the Evoque might

get stuck. It is ex-

pensive, whichever

way you look at it,

and considerably

more so than a Q3

or an X1. What you

will get for the extra

money though is a

truly high-quality,

stunning-looking

and entirely desir-

able small SUV.

2012 Ninja 650R heading to India

Evoque review and test drive

Kawasaki and Bajaj are in the process of

bringing to India their significantly revised

2012 model Ninja 650R. The inbound

650R gets revised styling; all its body pan-

els have been redesigned

with styling cues

from the larger

Ninja while using

sharper angles for a

meaner, more aggres-

sive demeanour and

wider panel gaps for

better engine heat dissi-

pation. There’s a three step adjustable visor

now that requires tools to shift between a

60mm range and suit every individual

rider’s height or riding style. The instru-

ments offer LED-powered white backlight-

ing, an analogue tachometer, plus

indications for fuel consumption, average

fuel consumption, remaining range left to

ride as well as the

addition of an econ-

omy riding mode

indicator. The

650R’s ignition

key slots in

over its fuel

tank, al-

lowing a

clearer view

of the instru-

ment cluster. Sleek LED powered tail

lamps are standard..Expect to shell out a

premium over what Kawasaki and Bajaj

today ask for their outgoing Ninja 650R,

but receive a whole lot more value to make

up for this in return.

New Honda CR-V revealed

Hese are the first official im-

ages of Honda’s all-new CR-

V. Honda had released the

first official picture of the

CR-V concept last summer,

and was due to unveil the

production car at next

month's Los Angeles motor

show. However, the latest im-

ages appeared without expla-

nation on the Honda’s

Japanese website at the

weekend.

The CR-V is based on an all-

new platform. The most

prominent changes are at the

front, where the CR-V fea-

tures a wraparound lower

front bumper that is better in-

tegrated into the rest of the

front fascia than on the cur-

rent car.

The three-bar horizontal front

grille is also much more

dominant than the current

CR-V’s, with slimmed-down

headlights flanking it on ei-

ther side. Honda claims the

front-end styling changes re-

sult in much improved aero-

dynamics over the current

car. Sculpted bodywork fea-

tures on the sides, which also

get more pronounced side

sills. The large alloy wheels

featured on the concept have

been exchanged for more

practical-looking variants.

At the rear, the CR-V will re-

tain the vertical light design

of the current car. Honda is

also claiming an all-new,

more spacious interior with a

lower floor for improved

load-carrying ability. Engine

details are still scarce, al-

though improved efficiency

and fuel economy are prom-

ised.

The current CR-V is avail-

able with a 2.0 or a 2.4-litre

petrol engine with either two

or all-wheel-drive options.

Expect the new CR-V to hit

our shores during second half

of 2012.

November 03, 2011 11Courageous Journalism

'My films

Actor Shah Rukh Khan is a re-

lieved man these days. With his

superhero film released and de-

bated around, he now looks

ahead, to another film, another

dream on his birthday. After

promoting his recent release for

a whole year, he admits that he

cannot afford a huge break as

filmmaker-actor Farhan

Akhtar's Don 2 is set to release

on Christmas.

"My films are like my babies.

They are the most beautiful

things on earth. They are mine

and I am extremely possessive

about them. It doesn't matter if

they are successful or not,

they're my babies at the end of

the day. I will always stand by

them. So if you ask me if I was

bothered about them faring well

at the box office, then I will tell

you 'No.' Do you worry if your

son or daughter cannot make it

big at the end of their career?

Yes, you are, but at the same

time, you know that it doesn't

matter. You are there for them,

no matter what. The (Ra.One)

film was exactly that for me,"

says the actor-film producer, re-

futing rumours that he was

bothered about the film's fate.

Shah Rukh admits that over the

past six months he had been like

a salesman, peddling his film to

his audience. "I had made a very

expensive film. It is the most

expensive film in the country

and I spent my heart, soul and

hard-earned money on it. So, I

have to sell it and I better be

very good at it. I don't want to

be just good at it, but I want to

be the best. I don't understand

marketing tactics, so I went out

everywhere, grabbing every lit-

tle opportunity to tell the people

about my film. I couldn't plan,

so I didn't plan. It was like, 'take

it all and don't differentiate'.

Everybody knew that my film

was releasing and yes, now it

seems that everybody has come

and seen it too," he adds.

Shah Rukh says that the film

has left him exhausted, but he

doesn't have too much time to

sit back and enjoy his spoils. "I

want to chill out with my

friends for a while (not more

than a week). I am not planning

any birthday party. That is

something I would like to leave

to my friends and my wife.

They are more happy that my

film has scored. And me? I am

happy for them," says superstar

Khan.

Sonam goes

GaGa!When it comes to music and

books, actor Sonam Kapoor has a

varied taste. The actor who is a

self confessed book worm reads

anything from fiction to literature

and drama. Similar are her tastes

in music as well. Sonam's

favourite English music band is

undoubtedly Coldplay, but once in

a while she does not mind listen-

ing to other artists as well. Re-

cently she made an exception for

pop star Lady GaGa when she

learnt that she was coming to

India to perform at the inaugural

F1 Indian GrandPrix. Sonam who

is known to be quite a fashionista

is mighty impressed by Lady

GaGa who is also famous for her

queer dressing sense.

The party where GaGa was per-

forming was hosted by actor Arjun

Rampal and his restaurateur part-

ner, A D Singh in the capital.

The actor who was also on Arjun's

special guest list made sure she

had made all the arrangements so

that there was no hiccups last

minute at the club in Delhi. A

source close to the actor says,

"Sonam was super-excited about

attending the gig as she is a huge

fan of Lady GaGa's music. The

day she received the invitation,

she started planning as to what she

would wear to who she would take

along with her. But naturally her

first choice was her sister and best

friend Rhea Kapoor. Both of them

are fans of her music and decided

to pre-book a table in advance for

the day of the gig. Sonam also

worked out her dates and booked

her flight accordingly for the race,

as well as the gig."

While she attended the gig and

managed to meet the pop star, she

also got the opportunity to witness

the race from the pit. She tweeted,

"so was at the f1 with all my delhi

buddies and saw the race from the

pit! It's amazing! Also went to see

@ladygaga. Had the bestes time

with my best friends." After F1

and her tryst with Gaga, Sonam is

now also looking forward to the

release of her next film, Players.

Actor Sonam Kapoor who was recently in Delhi for the inaugural F1

Indian Grand Prix, can hardly stop talking about pop-star Lady Gaga

are my babies'Birthday boy Shah Rukh Khan is in the mood to celebrate

his film's success today, unhampered by criticism

Pushing the envelopeActor Shahana Goswami's

last release has worked

wonders at the box-office

and that obviously has the

actor smiling. Shahana

played Jenny Nair, actor

Shah Rukh Khan's collegue

who is also a gaming tech-

nician. While she has got

great reviews for her role,

she was also extremely ex-

cited about the international

premieres the film had in

London, Dubai and

Toronto. Super happy with

the success of the film, she

gives a huge chunk of

credit to Shah Rukh for

supporting her throughout

the film's shoot. "One of the

main reasons for taking up

the film was obviously get-

ting to work with Shah

Rukh. You can learn so

much by just watching him.

He is brilliant and he has

this energy that just lights

up everything. Working

with him has truly been a

wonderful experience for

me, something that I will

cherish forever."

Looking forward to her

other films, next up is

Deepa Mehta's adaptation

of Salman Rushie's Mid-

night Children. Shahana

plays an important role

which is crucial to the plot.

Talking about her meeting

with author, Salman

Rushdie she says, "Salman

has very much been a part

of the entire process. The

principal shooting of the

film wrapped up early this

year. Currently the post

production of the film is on

and very soon we will start

doing the rounds of film

festivals. I met him

(Salman) while the casting

was being finalised and

meeting him was sheer de-

light. We have spoken over

the phone a couple of times

after that. It has been a

pleasure knowing him."

The film sees her play the

role of a woman from the

age of 19 to 45.

Besides her film, Shahana

who has learnt Odissi for

10 years is now trying her

hand at Bharatnatyam.

Though it is quite a chal-

lenge, she has decided to

learn the dance form, albeit

for a film. "I have done

Odissi for 10 years and

now I am very used to that

dance form. Bharatnaytam

is very different, you have

to be stiff and the moves

are much more geometri-

cal. It is tough and gru-

elling because I have been

practicing hard but I have

taken up the challenge to

master the dance form and

I will do it."

Actor Shahana

Goswami, visibly

excited about her

recent release,

talks about

working with

Deepa Mehta and

learning

Bharatnatyama

Affair rumours leaves Longoria fumingActress Eva Longoria is furious over reports that suggest she is

dating basketball player Matt Barnes.

The 36-year-old, who divorced sportsman Tony Parker last year,

has been linked to Bernes despite being romantically involved

with Eduardo Cruz.

Longoria has now dismissed the rumours, pointing out they only

know each other through their charity work, "Matt Barnes and I

are not dating! We are doing a charity event together for Padres

and Athletes vs Cancer."

12 November 03, 2011 Courageous Journalism