Washington DC: November 03, 2004: On the 20th anniversary of the November 1984 India-wide mass killings of the monotheistic Sikh minority, (ordered by the then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi) both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, (the two major international human rights organizations operating worldwide) have separately called on the Sonia alias Manmohan Singh government to, "launch fresh investigations into and make a public commitment to prosecute the planners and implementers of the (1984 anti/Sikh) violence."

A November 01, 2004, memento mori, headlined, 'Light candle for 4, 733 Sikhs slaughtered by Congress hoods', available on India's Rediff.com wensite (> http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/nov/01kanch.htm <) urges the reader to whisper a silent prayer in memory of more than 4,000 Sikh men, women and children burned alive, butchered or beaten to death by Congress hoodlums 20 years ago. "Women were raped while their terrified families pleaded for mercy, little or none of which was shown by the Congress flag-bearers. In one of the numerous 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. 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. The slaughter was not limited to Delhi. Sikhs were killed in Gurgaon, Kanpur, Bokaro, Indore and many other towns and cities across India."

The Rediff.com essay, a reminder of the 1984 massacres, goes on to say that, "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 anniversary, he thundered: 'When a big tree falls, the earth will shake.' And shake it did! In these 20 years, nine commissions and committees have been set up to look into different aspects of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom. Much bluster has been heard about bringing the guilty to book. What we have seen is inertia, political intervention and tardy prosecution. Overwhelming evidence against Sajjan Kumar, now a member of parliament, Jagdish Tytler currently minister for NRI affairs, and H K L Bhagat has been set aside by skulduggery and gerrymandering."

Human Rights Watch (HRW) started in 1978 as Helsinki Watch. In the 1980's, Americas Watch was set up. The organization grew to cover other regions of the world, until all the "Watch" committees were united in 1988 to form Human Rights Watch. It is the largest human rights organization based in the United States and is based in New York, with offices in Brussels, London, Moscow, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington. Human Rights Watch often sets up temporary offices in regions where it is conducting intensive investigations. It is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly. Human Rights watch is dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world. It investigates and exposes human rights violations and hold abusers accountable and stands with victims and activists to prevent discrimination, to uphold political freedom and bring offenders to justice. It challenges governments and those who hold power to end abusive practices and respect international human rights law. Human Rights Watch researchers conduct fact-finding investigations into human rights abuses in all regions of the world. It then publishes those findings in dozens of books and reports every year, generating extensive coverage in local and international media. This publicity helps to embarrass abusive governments in the eyes of their citizens and the world. Human Rights Watch then meets with government officials to urge changes in policy and practice -- at the United Nations, the European Union, in Washington and in capitals around the world. In extreme circumstances, Human Rights Watch presses for the withdrawal of military and economic support from governments that egregiously violate the rights of their people.

> http://www.amnesty.org/ <

Amnesty International, founded in London in 1961, is a Nobel Prize-winning grassroots activist organization independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion. It is concerned solely with the impartial protection of human rights. Amnesty International undertakes research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and _expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights. AI has a varied network of members and supporters around the world. At the latest count, there were more than 1.5 million members, supporters and subscribers in over 150 countries and territories in every region of the world. AI's national sections and local volunteer groups are primarily responsible for funding the movement. Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the U.S. Section of Amnesty International.

Amnesty International in a public statement, dated October 29, 2004, headlined, 'Punjab - Twenty years on impunity continues' calls, "on the Indian authorities to end impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations carried out in Punjab state between the mid 1980's and 1990's, including the 1984 riots in Delhi. During this period, a range of human rights violations were perpetrated but few people have been brought to justice." (> http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=80256DD400782B8480256F3C005F7B0C <)

The Human Rights Watch in a Presss Release dated 30 October 2004 (> http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/30/india9580_txt.htm <) headlined, ' India: Prosecute Killers of Sikhs -- End Two Decades of Impunity,' said that, "On the twentieth anniversary of the mass killings of Sikhs, the new Congress-led government should launch fresh investigations into and make a public commitment to prosecute the planners and implementers of the violence."

Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, is quoted in the Press Release as saying that, "Seven government-appointed commissions have investigated these attacks but, the commissions were all either whitewashes or they were met with official stonewalling and obstruction. The report of the latest commission, the Nanavati Commission, was due November 1, but has been delayed for another two months. The time for commissions that do not lead to prosecutions is over. After two decades, the prosecutors and police should act. There is more than enough evidence to do so now. For two decades high-ranking members of the Congress party have enjoyed political impunity for this violence."

Human Rights Watch in its Press Release also commended ENSAAF (http://www.ensaaf.org ), an excellent website of an organization of integrity. The site is dedicated to fighting impunity in India. Its 150-page report, 'Twenty Years of Impunity', analyzing the patterns of the pogroms and the attitudes and practices of impunity revealed by previously unpublished government documents and other materials is superbly researched. The HRW Press Release concludes by quoting Brad Adams, HRW Asia Director, as saying that if India, "continues to ignore this dark chapter of its modern history at its own risk. Only a conscious exercise of political will on the part of the new government of Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh can bring about justice for the Sikhs. "

According to media reports, the surviving victims of the Delhi November 1984 Sikh massacres, whose lives have been destroyed for no fault of theirs, kept vigil, and staged demonstrations, in different parts of the country (Amritsar, Chandigrah, Mohalli, Moga et al.,) including Delhi, on the 20th anniversay of the mass killings to draw attention to their plight and seek justice and help. According to a New Delhi datelined report in the November 01 Tribune, headlined, 'Demonstration by riot victims' (> http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20041101/main2.htm <) victims of November 1984 demonstrated near Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi, demanding punishment for the guilty. The president of All-India Sikh Conference Gurcharan Singh Babbar, in a memorandum to the Prime Minister, sought compensation for those killed in the riots and job opportunities to the children of those who lost their lives in November 1984. A monthly pension of Rs 5000 for the aged was also sought. None of the Tribune reports on Sikh protests revealed the reaction or any promise by Prime minister Manmohan Singh or his office.

However it is obvious from the HINDU newspaper of November 01, 2004, that Prime minister Manmohan Singh had no time for the Sikh victims or their demands or their tragic memories or their pain as he was busy singing praises of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the evil incarnate. Dr. Manmohan Singh attended a number of functions in Delhi on the 20th anniversary of Indira Gandhi's dispatch to kingdom come by two Sikh Shaheeds who had sworn to punish her for ordering the June 1984 descecration of Sikhism's holiest shrine, Akal Takht Sahib, located in the Durbar Sahib complex in Amritsar, in the Sikh Homeland of Punjab. The day - October 31, 2004 - started with the main Delhi function, held at Indira' Gandhi's samadhi at Shakti Sthal, where Delhi's Who's Who had converged. This function where every sycophant and boot-licker living in Delhi spoke, to impress India's current king maker, Mrs. Sonia nee Maino 'Gandhi?' (and her bachelor son Rahul 'Gandhi?', the Young Pretender to the Indian Prime minister's 'throne') was compered by Dr. Manmohan Singh himself on behalf of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi the widow of the 'mass murderer' Rajiv Gandhi. (> http://www.thehindu.com/2004/11/01/stories/2004110104581100.htm <)