Sikh Victims Of The 1984 November Pogrom Protest March In Delhi Seeking Justice
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, November 04, 1998 - Fourteen years after the November 1984 anti Sikh pogrom, (in which over ten thousand innocent Sikh men and women and children were butchered - and burnt alive - by Hindu mobs in New Delhi, Calcutta, Agartala, Kanpur, Jubhelpur, Jammu, Patna, Lucknow, Madras and various Railway stations in Haryana and UP) the issue of punishing the guilty was given a few lines of ink in some Indian newspapers as a result of a protest march in Delhi on Sunday November 1, 1998 by the Sikh victims of the massacres demanding justice who have been waiting for fourteen long years.The victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom, in a memorandum to Indian Prime Minster Pundit Atal Bihari Vajpyaee, pointed out that the Bharatiya Janta Party had promised that the guilty would be punished if it came to power. But it seems , the memorandum said, that the "government has turned a deaf ear to it." The Indian media did not mention anything about the old Brahmin's (Vajpayee) reaction or action!
However any Sikh, anywhere, can narrate the harrowing experience of the Sikh minority in India (captive in the world's largest fascist Castocracy since 1947) during the days of mayhem - October 31 to November 4, 1984 the five days after the "purification" of Mrs. Indira Gandhi - when Hindu mobs encouraged by the Police and Congress leaders "painted" the new Indian prime minister's (Rajiv Gandhi) suggestion (that the Sikh bastards should be taught a lesson) with the blood of over ten thousand Sikh innocents in every region of India. There was no provincialism during the 5 days murder spree! Hindus in every nook and corner of India were out hunting Sikhs. The New York Times of Thursday November 1, 1984, headlined its report from New Delhi; "SIKHS ATTACKED BY HINDUS IN AT LEAST 8 INDIAN CITIES". The new newspaper said that; "In New Delhi, reporters saw gangs of young men dragging Sikhs off buses and beating them up." A four column photograph showed a Sikh victim being stabbed by four Hindus.
The Washington Post of November 2, 1984, headlined its dispatch from its New Delhi correspondent, William Claiborne; "ANGRY INDIAN MOBS HUNT DOWN SIKHS- HINDUS disregard appeals for calm". The Washington Post report revealed that" ; "Although paramilitary security forces and Army troops were deployed throughout the city, they did little to intervene in the worst of the rampages as Sikhs sought sanctuary in temples or went into hiding." The report claimed that; "Authorities had issued shoot -on- sight orders here against persons involved in arson and looting." But the same report went on to state that; "Gangs of Hindus roamed through New Delhi, attacking Sikh temples, looting and burning Sikh homes and businesses, and pulling terrified Sikhs from cars and buses and beating them before setting fire to vehicles."
The Washington Post of Saturday November 3, 1984, in a ghastly dispatch from New Delhi from another one of its correspondents, Lena Sun, headlined the gruesome report of the Delhi pogrom thus: - "CORPSES STACKED UP - Delhi mortuary inundated with bodies". Its spine - chilling introductory paragraph read as follows:- "Outside the Subzi Mandi Mortuary today, the blackened stiff, corpse lay against the walls, some with their arms outstretched and their eyes open. Inside, where the stench of urine today and decay filled the air, one room was piled nearly thee feet high with the burned and twisted remains of persons (read Sikhs) all recovered from the same riot scene, morgue officials said. Nearly 200 bodies, many of them charred beyond recognition, have filled the city morgue in the past two days, the victims of the worst violence in the he city since the rioting that followed the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947." The report quoted Dr. L.T. Ramani, the incharge of the morgue, who when asked about the official death toll of 148 for the entire country as saying that; "There is no point of hiding bodies! Maybe the are not aware of the details."
The Washington Post November 6, 1984, in a yet another gruesome dispatch from New Delhi from its correspondent, William Claiborne headline the report; - COMMUNAL VIOLENCE COME ATO BLOCK 32 - New Delhi slum devastated by carnage". Said the report; "Amid the charred hulks of bicycle rickshaws and burnt out shanties of Block 32 of the dismal Trilokpuri resettlement colony a pariah dog gnawed hungrily at the gnawed flesh remaining on a human leg. But when the historians scrutinize the inhumanity that swept through India for four long days, following the assassination of Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, it may become a little benchmark". Some benchmark! Such pogroms against the minorities in fascist India , ruled by criminals since 1947, is routine otherwise victims would not have had to wait fourteen years for justice and punishment of the guilty Hindu goons/politicians who in broad daylight roamed the streets of India's capital city, New Delhi and other major urban areas, murdering innocent Sikhs.
Can one hope to shame the shameless? Can the quisling Chief Minister of Indian occupied Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, move his bosom pals and allies, the BJP central government of 70 years old Brahmin, Pundit Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to take action against the Congress party goondas/politicians who arranged the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom ?