Martyrs of June 1984 Indian Army attack on Akal Takht Sahib remembered all over the Sikh diaspora world and India with Shaheedi Diwans, seminars, protests & candle-light vigils

Badal-run SGPC has exhibited cowardly conduct by postponing every year, since 2005, the  foundation stone laying ceremony of 'Yadgar-e-Shaheedan' in Darbar Sahib complex which monument was sanctioned to remember the thousands who were murdered in the June 84 Indian Army attack

Before the 25th anniversary of Indian army attack, in 2009, Diaspora Sikhs might build a monument in honor of the Shaheeds near the UN building in New York



Washington, D.C., Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - During the past week the three million strong FREE and prosperous Sikh diaspora, domiciled all over the world, remembered the 24th Anniversary of the June 1984 cowardly Indian Army attack, on the holy Darbar Sahib complex in Amritsar and 37 other Gurdwaras, with Shaheedi Diwans, seminars, protests and candle light vigils synchronized with memorial functions held in Indian Occupied Punjab and Indian Occupied Kashmir.

The diaspora Sikhs respectfully, and tearfully, remembered the thousands of innocent Sikh men, women and children – most of them pilgrims - murdered/executed, in June 1984, by the mercenary Indian Army, inside the holy Darbar Sahib complex, on the orders of that evil incarnate, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Indian Prime minister who had inherited the ‘Prime m,inisters throne’ from her father Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru. Protestors representing the twenty five East Coast Gurdawars (most of them located in New York and New Jersey) held a quiet protest, on June 5, in a limited space, allowed to them by the authorities, right outside the United Nations building in New York. For press coverage of that event in Indian  media (NDTV)  please click at >  http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080052177  <

Other Sikh diaspora protests were held in San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver BC, London, Frankfurt, Rome, Bangkok, Auckland, Sydney and other cities. On the night of Friday June 6 candle-light vigils were held outside hundreds of Gurdwaras the world over followed by Shaheedi Diwans  inside the Gurdwaras, to remember the thousands of innocent Sikhs put to death by the Indian government which practices state terrorism, as a matter of national policy, with a view to silencing and intimidating India’s minorities like the Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Nagas, Tribals and ‘Untouchables’ et al.

In the year 2005 the SGPC sanctioned a 'Yadgar-e-Shaheedan' monument to be built in the Darbar Sahib complex to remember the thousands of Sikhs who were murdered in the June 84 Indian Army attack on the Darbar Sahib. Since then the SGPC has been postponing the foundation (> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1133968.cms <) stone-laying ceremony with one lame excuse or other. In view of the cowardly, disrespectful and shameful conduct of the Badal-run SGPC, of postponing the foundation stone-laying  ceremony repeatedly, the Diaspora Sikhs are thinking of building a monument/museum/library in New York, near the UN building, to give maximum international exposure to the June 1984 act of State terrorism by the Indian government, which masquerades as a democracy around the world.  

In the city of Amritsar (Khalistan)  a peaceful  ‘Ghallughara Divas’ was held, on June 6,  at Akal Takht Sahib, inside the Darbar Sahib complex, where slogans of “Khalistan and Bhindranwale zindabad’ were raised by Sirdar Simranjit Singh Mann, President Sharomani Akal Dal (Amritsar) and thousands of Sikhs to mark the 24th anniversary of the Indian Army attack. After the ardas (prayer) at the Takht, Sirdar Simranjit Singh Mann criticized the ruling Akali Dal (Badal) for continuing its’ alliance with the BJP despite the fact that L.K. Advani, former Deputy Prime Minister, had confessed in his autobiography that the BJP had provoked the Central government into ordering the June 1984 Indian Army attack, code-named, ‘Operation Bluestar’ by the army. Mann also said that Advani had also used derogatory remarks against Sant Bhindranwale in the book.

Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, Jathedar Akal Takht Sahib, in his message delivered, from the Akal Takht Sahib, during the above mentioned function, urged the Sikhs ‘to beware of those forces who planned to challenge the age-old Sikh institutions for ulterior motives.’ To see video of Jathedar Vedanti’s comments, on June 6, please click at the following link and scroll down to the bottom of the Punjab page to Video headlined, ‘Sikhs commemorate 24th anniversary of Operation Blue Star’:>  http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080607/punjab.htm   < Jathedar Vedanti also honored the kin of many slain Sikh leaders, including Sant Bhindranwale, Major-Gen Shabeg Singh and Bhai Amrik Singh at the Akal Takht during the above mentioned function. Meanwhile, Dal Khalsa activists assembled outside the main entrance of Darbar Sahib  pledged to carry on with the struggle for “Khalsa Raj” (read Khalistan) in a democratic manner. A Khalsa march was organized by the All-India Sikh Students federation, Damdami Taksal, Sikhs for Justice and Riots Victims Society from Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh. The Akal Purkh Ki Fauj, headed by SGPC member Jaswinder Singh Advocate, organized a blood camp outside the Golden Temple complex to pay tributes to those Sikhs who were killed in the army operation.

The Ghallughara Divas was preceded by an interfaith minority conclave, organized by the Dal Khalsa, in Amritsar, in which representatives of Sikh, Muslim, and Christian faiths took part on June 4. The conclave went beyond commemorating the memory of the martyrs of the brutal Indian army attack on Darbar Sahib, in June 1984, and demanded the right to sanctuary for political and social activists and the right to sanctity of religious places. The participants (political activists, academicians and social activists from all communities) deliberated, during the conclave, on the subject of, ‘Sacrilege of religious places of minorities in India.’ According to a Press Statement of the Dal Khalsa, (headlined, ‘Right to Sanctuary and Sanctity Demanded by Minority Conclave.’) the status paper read at the conclave said that “The position of minorities in India is peculiar and precarious. With persecution as state condoned practice for minorities, they are forced to invent newer strategies to protect their existence and identity.  The Indian state (as well as some fascist organizations like the BJP & RSS) has attacked religious shrines at the slightest pretext and under a well-thought out plan. It is time to join the New Sanctuary movement worldwide and work towards building opinion for the Right to Sanctuary for political & social activists.”

The above Khalsa Dal conclave also condemned the house arrest of Kashmiri leader Syed Ali Shah Gilani, which was meant to prevent him from attending the June 4 Dal Khalsa inter-faith conclave in Amritsar. In an ‘in-your-face’ defiant reaction Mr. Geelani managed to address the Dal Khalsa conclave in Amritsar by telephone from his Hyderpora residence where he was detained by the Kashmir government. The following attended the successful June 4 Dal Khalsa conference in Amritsar:- Prof. SAR Geelani, of Delhi University (who has been acquitted in the Parliament attack case) Secretary, Legal Defense Cell of Hurriyat Conference, Altaf Ahmad, Rev. Dr Babu Joseph, spokesperson Catholic Bishop Conference of India. The following Sikh leaders also attended the conclave:-  Manjit Singh Calcutta (Former Minister) Mohkam Singh of Damdami Taksal,  Former Jathedar Bhai Jasbir Singh Rode, Bhai Kulbir Singh Bara Pind of SAD (Panch Pardani) and SGPC executive member Karnail Singh Panjoli.

According to a report in Rising Kashmir Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa became one of the first Sikh leader to commemorate the 24th anniversary of 'Operation Blue Star' in a Gurdwara in Indian Occupied Kashmir. The 24th anniversary function was organized by the Kashmiri Sikh Students Federation (KSSF Mehta faction) at Gurdwara Shaheed Bunga, Barzulla, where Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa openly supported the Kashmiri struggle for self determination. He declared that the "Kashmiri struggle is genuine" and appealed to the minority communities of the Valley to join hands with theMuslims to fight "Indian oppression until Kashmir issue is resolved." Baba Harnam Singh Khalsa was joined by senior Hurriyat Conference (M) leaders including Shabir Ahmed Shah, Sheikh Aziz and Zafar Akbar Bhat in  Gurdwara Shaheed Bunga. Shabir Ahmed Shah declared that, "Sikhs are part and parcel of our community. Some elements tried their best to create a wedge between Muslims and Sikhs but did not succeed."

The prosperous and FREE Sikh Diaspora in general, and the North American Sikhs in particular, ought to start organizing right away to make sure that a monument is ready in New York before the 25th Anniversary (June 6, 2009) of the brutal Indian Army attack on the Darbar Sahib.