1984 Pogroms Remembered - 4.11.2009

Vigil Highlights 25 Years of Impunity for Murderers of Thousands of Sikhs

 P R E S S R E L E A S E

‘We have lost sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, we have seen them burned alive in front of our eyes. Do we not have the right to mourn? Do we not have the right to want justice? ’

Thousands Attend Candle Light Vigil Commemorating Anti-Sikh Pogroms
Highlight 25 Years of Impunity for the Murderers of Thousands of Sikhs
4 November 2009 - Chamberlain Square, Birmingham, UK

On 4 November 2009 over 3000 people from all walks of life gathered in Birmingham to commemorate a quarter century of impunity for the killers of thousands of Sikh citizens of India during the anti-Sikh pogroms of November 1984. The vast majority of the people who attended the vigil were young Sikhs not even born when these immoral acts took place on Indian soil, but who have learned of the betrayal of their people by repeated Indian administrations. Throughout the day hundreds of people from diverse backgrounds to or from work, during work breaks and between meetings, took a few minutes out of their busy lives in this central hub of England’s second city. They took time out to read the visual displays and watch videos capturing the bloody murder of thousands of Sikhs a quarter of century ago. Many were visibly touched by the shocking events of 1984. All were horrified to learn that justice had still not reached the victims of the anti-Sikh pogroms.

The vigil remembered the dead, and the languishing agony of their families, who continue to live in colonies set up for them. The widows and children are still campaigning for justice against the perpetrators of genocide that led to their male folk brutally burned alive with burning tyres, widows and sisters suffered the torment of rape, and still have to endure the torture of living amongst the rapists; property and homes have been lost in the desperation to move away from the memory of the ordeal suffered. Many of those who were then children and lost their fathers and mothers have become destitute and addicts to intoxicants and been caught up in a life of crime, as poverty stripped them of the opportunity to gain education and left them without any meaningful income to support them through their childhood.

Despite 11 public and unofficial inquiries, commissions and reports implicating many senior politicians, ministers and officials, the past 25 years have seen a shameful repression of justice with MP’s and officials implicated in the genocide of thousands of Sikhs continuing to hold public office, including at least two MPs’ who hold Ministerial office in the current Indian Government. The Indian government has absolved itself of all its duties and responsibilities of legal redress, justice, social liberty and welfare of the victims. A handful of low ranking thugs have been convicted for the murder and suffering of tens of thousands, and government agencies have dropped all pending prosecution cases due to ‘lack of evidence’ with widespread evidence of intimidation, non-contact by prosecution agencies with witnesses, non-filing of criminal cases, and substantial evidence of attempts by alleged perpetrators offering bribes and threats to remaining to victims’ families to withdraw statements.

The vigil was told that in October 2009 UK Border Agency granted a visa to Jagdish Tytler as part of the entourage visiting Britain with the Indian delegation to the UK during October 2009. India only withdrew Mr Tytler from the entourage after vigorous lobbying by the UK Sikh community. Jagdish Tytler was the Indian Union Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs, a position he resigned from after an official commission of inquiry noted the 'balance of probability' indicated he was responsible for inciting and leading murderous mobs against the Sikh community in Delhi during the 1984 Anti-Sikh Pograms. One speaker reminded those attending the vigil that there are many more such individuals who continue to hold public office in the Indian administration and they will visit these shores in senior government positions and it was not acceptable that people with blood on their hands are able to influence British foreign or economic policy. One Minister had even threatened to eliminate the leading Human Rights lawyer representing widows and victims of the 1984 genocide.

The Sikh Indian Prime Minister says its time to forget and move on. He did not lose any family to the crimes of India against its minority Sikh community. The Candlelight Vigil in Birmingham of 4 November, and the numerous other events that took place across the UK in the past fortnight, are a reminder that the UK Sikh community continues to stand with the victims of anti-Sikh pogroms and wants to BREAK THE SILENCE and give the victims and the widows a voice.

Please cover this story in your news. Some photos are attached. More photos and quotes can be made available. Background information is attached.
Further information is available from Sarb Singh: 07772 878076


Background : The November 1984 Pogroms of Sikhs in India Twenty Five Years of Impunity: Truth and Justice Denied
On the morning of October 31 1984, the Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her bodyguards. The two bodygards happended to be Sikhs avenging the assault on the Golden Temple complex that had been ordered by the Prime Minister five months earlier in the same year.

What followed begged belief. Gangs of assailants burned Sikhs alive, gang-raped Sikh women, and destroyed their Gurdwaras and properties, among other devastating crimes. The violence, alllegedly motivated out of grief over Mrs. Gandhis’s assassination, continued unabated for at least four days, and intermittently for the rest of the week.

Senior political party officials and police carefully orchestrated the Sikh massacre of November 1984. During the night of October 31, Congress (I) party officials met with their local support networks – people who participated in rallies and election drives – to: identify the residences and properties of Sikhs through government-issued voter or ration lists; distribute weapons, kerosene and incendiary chemicals; exhort non-Sikhs to kill Sikhs and loot and burn their properties; and plan the time of attack. That night, they floated the first rumour that Sikhs had celebrated the assassination of Indira Gandhi, dancing and distributing sweets, conditioning Indians for the violence to follow.

The next morning, on November 1 between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., assailants simultaneously attacked Sikhs throughout the country, shouting slogans of extermination. The gangs often first attacked the Sikh Gurdwara in the particular neighbourhood. After desecrating the Sikh scripture, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, by urinating on or burning them, burning down the Gurdwara, and attacking symbols of the Sikh faith, the mob attacked the properties of Sikhs and the Sikhs themselves. Organized transportation, sometimes provided using state-owned buses and railways, brought assailants to where Sikhs lived. The behavior of policemen surpassed inaction, and often, amounted to participation and instigation. If the Sikhs gathered and defended themselves, the police disarmed the Sikhs and sent them to their individual houses, making them easier targets for death squads. Congress (I) party leaders led, directed and encouraged gangs of assailants, and participated in the massacres themselves.

As the violence continued methodically and systematically over the next days, Congress (I) politicians and policemen spread two more false rumors: the Sikhs had posioned the water supply and Sikhs in Punjab were killing Hindus on Delhi-bound trains. Government officials continued to deny the extent of violence against Sikhs, while police officers and political leaders simultaneousley directed the organised slaughtering of the Sikhs. The army, called into Delhi 48 hours after volence had begun, could not begin to effectively counter the violence until November 3 because of the Delhi administration’s refusal to cooperate. By then thousands of Sikhs were massacred in the most barbaric method of burning. The Delhi pogrom has been documented by several organizations and media.

Twenty-five years on, the Indian Government has failed to set the record straight and account for the carnage of November 1984. Instead, it has suppressed and destroyed evidence. The governments’s main commission of inquiry – the Misra Commission, established in 1985 to examine this massacre – white-washed the massacre, concealing its papers and proceedings from the public. The government also attacked those reporting on the 1984 carnage, using the rhetoric of national security to criticize parts of the foreign media for ‘deliberately presenting totally distorted versions of the Punjab situation, which have the effect of encouraging and sustaining separatist activities.’2

The Congress (I) administration elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2009 has continued to sustain anti-Sikh feeling by awarding those responsible for crimes against Sikhs. In the recent elections two of the most senior Congress(I) officials implicated the November 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms were given tickets for safe seats by the Congress party. Jagdish Tytler, MP also in 1984, was appointed Minister in the 2004 Government, and (now late) HKL Bhagat became MP. Sajjan Kumar, MP in 1984, remains a senior official in the party. Bhagat was a minister in 1984.


Background Jagdish Tytler: Some background information is given below:
Jagdish Tytler was the Indian Union Minister of State for Overseas Indian Affairs, a position he resigned from after an official commission of inquiry noted the 'balance of probability' indicated he was responsible for inciting and leading murderous mobs against the Sikh community in Delhi during the 1984 Anti-Sikh Pograms.

The official report of the Nanavati Commission of the Government of India found 'credible evidence' against Tytler, saying he 'very probably' had a hand in organising the attacks. The Indian government, however, decided not to prosecute Jagdish Tytler due to lack of concrete evidence.

The Nanavati Commission report was 185 pages long. The commission submitted its final report in February 2004 detailing accusations and evidence against senior members of the Delhi wing of the then ruling Congress Party, including Jagdish Tytler, later a Cabinet Minister, MP Sajjan Kumar and late minister H.K.L. Bhagat. They were accused of instigating mobs to avenge the assassination of Indira Gandhi by killing Sikhs in their constituencies. On August 10, 2005, Jagdish Tytler was forced to resign from the Union Council of Ministers.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) closed all cases against Jagdish Tytler in November 2007 for his alleged criminal conspiracy to engineer attacks against Sikhs in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination on October 31, 1984. CBI submitted a report to the Delhi court which stated that no evidence or witness was found to corroborate the allegations against Tytler of leading murderous mobs during 1984.

It was also alleged in the court that then member of the Indian Parliament Jagdish Tytler was complaining to his supporters about relatively "small" number of sikhs killed in his parliamentary constituency Delhi Sadar, which in his opinion had undermined his position in the ruling Indian National Congress party of India.

However in December 2007, a witness Jasbir Singh, who lives in California, appeared on several private television news channels in India, and stated that he was never contacted by Central Bureau of Investigation. India's main opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded an explanation from the minister in charge of CBI in Indian Parliament. However, Minister of State for Personnel Suresh Pachouri, who is in charge of department of CBI, and was present in the parliament session refused to make a statement.

On December 18 2007, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Delhi court Mr. Sanjeev Jain, who had earlier dismissed the case after CBI submitted a misleading report in his court; ordered India's Central Bureau of Investigation to reopen cases against Jagdish Tytler. In December 2008, a two member CBI team was sent to New York to record the statements of two eyewitnesses, Jasbir Singh and Surinder Singh. The two witnesses have stated that they saw Jagdish Tytler lead a mob, but did not want to come to India as they feared for their security.