wfn.org | WSC-AR Strongly Condemns India's Denial of Justice to Victims

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

WSC-AR Strongly Condemns India's Denial of Justice to Victims of 1984
Pogroms of Sikhs; Calls Upon World Community to Demand Transparency,
Accountability, and Restitution from India

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 8, 2005

Contact: Dr. Tarunjit Singh, Secretary General, World Sikh Council -
America Region, 614-210-0591, contact@worldsikhcouncil.org

The World Sikh Council - America Region (WSC-AR) condemns in the strongest
possible terms the newly released Nanavati Commission report which
investigated the 1984 massacre of thousands of Sikh men, women, and
children across India as well as the subsequent Action Taken Report as a
front for its genocidal attempts against the Sikh people.

The Commission's report has effectively exonerated the vast majority of
Indian political leaders alleged to have organized the pogroms and
identified by survivors, witnesses, and citizen reports. The few political
leaders indicted by the Nanavati Commission have essentially been cleared
of murder charges by the Action Taken Report of the Government of India.

We urge the world community, the United Nations, and international human
rights organizations to demand transparency, accountability, and
restitution from India, which claims to be the world's largest functional
democracy.

"The planned brutal lynching, massacres, and ethnic cleansing of Sikhs more
than twenty years ago, and the inability of ten commissions of inquiry and
various political parties in power at the federal level to fix
responsibility for this pogrom indicates that justice delayed to Sikhs in
India is indeed justice denied," said Mr. Amolak Singh, Chairperson of WSC-AR.

"The Sikh community's repeated appeals for transparency, accountability,
and restitution to the Indian Government have been ignored as not being in
the interest of peace. We honor the victims of state terrorism and pray for
the survivors who are still suffering," said Dr. Anahat Kaur,
Vice-Chairperson of WSC-AR.

"The release of this cover-up report rubs salt into the wounds of a
traumatized Sikh community. However, this moment is also an opportunity for
Indians of conscience to stand up and demand that their nation act to end
impunity against religious minorities and provide justice to those affected
by such pogroms," said Dr. Tarunjit Singh, Secretary General of WSC-AR.

The assassination of the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31,
1984, allegedly by two Sikh members of her security force, triggered a
planned and premeditated orgy of violence and ethnic cleansing against
Sikhs in India's capital city of New Delhi and across the country. Sikh
homes were identified by lynching mobs from government issued voter lists.

Ms. Barbara Crossette, the New York Times Bureau Chief in Delhi from 1988
to 1991, writes in "India's Sikhs: Waiting for Justice" published in the
World Policy Journal, Summer 2004: "Almost as many Sikhs died in a few days
in India in 1984 than all the deaths and disappearances in Chile during the
17-year military rule of Gen. Augusto Pinochet between 1973 and 1990?. Not
only Chile, but also Argentina, Peru, Mexico, South Africa, and Ethiopia,
among other nations, have been addressing atrocities from decades past.
India, in refusing to confront its bloody recent history, stands in glaring
contrast to these nations."

Printed media and citizen commission reports show that following the
assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, thousands of Sikh
men and women were killed and raped across India for a period of at least
two weeks. These reports show that during this pogrom, thousands of Sikh
men were lynched and murdered, some necklaced with tires soaked in kerosene
and set afire by jubilant mobs, and thousands of Sikh women were publicly
raped, many in front of their male relatives.

A published citizen's commission report states one Sikh woman's harrowing
experience: "The women were herded together into one room. Some of them ran
away but were pursued to the nearby nallah (stream) where they were raped.
Their shrieks and cries for help fell on deaf ears. From among the women
held in the room, hoodlums asked each other to select whomsoever they
chose. All the women were stripped and many dishonored. She herself was
raped by ten men. Their lust satisfied, they told the women to get out,
naked as they were. For fear of their lives they did so, hiding their shame
as best as possible. Each begged or borrowed a garment from relenting
neighbours and sought shelter wherever they could." (Delhi: 31 October to 4
November 1984, Report of the Citizen's Commission, January 1985, pp. 18-19.)

The Indian Government estimated the number of persons killed in Delhi alone
during the first three days of November 1984 at nearly 2,700. A list of
3,870 names of Sikhs killed was published by Indian Express, November 1,
1989. The total for the country is estimated to be about 20,000, with
10,000 in Delhi alone. Several citizen commission reports have documented
that the leaders of India's ruling Congress Party and officials of the
Government organized and encouraged these massacres of Sikhs to "teach the
Sikhs a lesson."

The massacre and faked encounter killings of Sikhs has continued since 1984
in India. In the last 20 years, more than a quarter million Sikhs are
reported to have been killed.

"On the strength of?constitutional features, India claims to be the largest
functional democracy in the world where wide-spread human rights abuses,
systematic persecution of estranged communities and suppression of
political dissent cannot occur. However, the experiences of the Sikhs in
Punjab show that as a demonised community targeted for abuse by the
authorities, they had no protection from the leaders of the supposedly
independent institutions, including the judiciary, either in shielding
their fundamental rights against imminent violations or in obtaining
acknowledgement and legal restitution of wrongs. Freedom of discourse
remained an empty promise which even the higher judiciary joined the chorus
to turn the page and obliterate the victims' memory on the grounds that a
public discussion and scrutiny focusing on past abuses and the role of
institutions would undermine the interests of peace and social order,"
writes Mr. Ram Narayan Kumar, et. al. in a May 2003 report titled Reduced
to Ashes (Volume One) published by the Asia Forum for Human Rights.
(www.punjabjustice.org/report/report.htm)

Dr. Anahat Kaur, Vice-Chairperson of WSC-AR further added, "The Sikh
experience in India demonstrates a relentless pattern of religious
persecution under the guise of democracy while flouting the ideals of
peace, justice, and human rights." She added, "These actions hardly seem
worthy of a democratic nation."

WSC-AR is a representative and elected body of Sikh Gurdwaras and
institutions in the United States. Its members include 31 Gurdwaras (Sikh
places of worship) and 6 other Sikh institutions across the nation.

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Member Gurdwaras of WSC-AR:
1. Gurdwara Sahib Fremont, Fremont, CA
2. Guru Nanak Sikh Mission, Livingston, CA
3. Sikh Gurdwara of LA, North Hollywood, CA
4. Sikh Gurdwara Riverside, Riverside, CA
5. Colorado Singh Sabha, Denver, CO
6. Guru Singh Sabha of Augusta, Augusta, GA
7. Sikh Study Circle of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
8. Sikh Religious Society of Chicago, Palatine, IL
9. Sikh Society of South, New Orleans, LA
10. Sikh Gurdwara of Michigan, Rochester Hills, MI
11. Sikh Society of Michigan, Madison Heights, MI
12. Guru Nanak Foundation of Jackson, MS
13. Sikh Gurdwara of North Carolina, Durham, NC
14. Garden State Sikh Association, Bridgewater, NJ
15. Guru Nanak Sikh Society of Delaware Valley, Sewell, NJ
16. Siri Guru Singh Sabha, Glenrock, NJ
17. Sikh Sabha of New Jersey, Lawrenceville, NJ
18. Sikh Cultural Society Inc., Richmond Hills, NY
19. Sikh Cultural & Edu. Society of Western NY, Buffalo, NY
20. Sikh Religious Society of Dayton, Dayton, OH
21. Guru Nanak Found. of Greater Cleveland, Richfield, OH
22. Guru Gobind Singh Sikh Society, Bedford, OH
23. Guru Nanak Religious Soc. of Central Ohio, Columbus, OH
24. Tristate Sikh Cultural Society, Monroeville, PA
25. Mid South Sikh Sabha, Memphis, TN
26. Sikh Center of Gulf Coast, Houston, TX
27. Siri Guru Singh Sabha, Richardson, TX
28. Sikh Gurdwara of North Texas, Garland, TX
29. Singh Sabha Gurdwara, Fairfax, VA
30. Sikh Association of Central Virginia, VA
31. Sikh Religious Society of Wisconsin, Brookfield, WI

Other Sikh Institution Members of WSC-AR:
1. Siri Guru Granth Sahib Found., Anaheim, CA
2. Sikhs Serving America, Topeka, KS
3. Sikh Youth Federation of North America, White Plains, NY
4. Sikh Educational & Religious Foundation, Dublin, OH
5. Sikh Youth Federation of USA, Toledo, OH
6. Academy of Guru Granth Studies, Arlington, TX

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World Sikh Council - America Region (WSC-AR)
P.O. Box 3635, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA
Phone: 614-210-0591, Fax: 419-535-6794
E-mail: contact@worldsikhcouncil.org
Website: www.worldsikhcouncil.org

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