Sikhs protest in Geneva over 1984 genocide
GENEVA (Switzerland) – More than 10 000 Sikhs from many parts of Europe gathered here to protest in front of UN Office in Geneva to protest over the 1984’s Genocide of the Sikhs by the Indian government.. The protestors from Europe, Canada and United States came to Switzerland to mark the 29th year of 1984 attacks on Sikhs in India. The gathering before UN highlighted the denial of justice to the victims of November 1984 and exposed the impunity to those who perpetrated violence against Sikhs.
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Sikh NGOs have been seeking UN intervention to help victims of 1984 violence because leaders of Congress (I) the ruling political party of India, Federal Minister Kamal Nath, former MPs Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and others who lead death squads to kill Sikhs during November 1984 are given clean chits by the successive Governments of India.
The Indian Government has acknowledged the killing of more than 3000 Sikhs during November 1984. The Government claims that November 1984 violence against Sikhs was “anti Sikh riots” that erupted as a result of PM Gandhi’s assassination.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its 2009 report “India: Prosecute Those Responsible for 1984 Massacre of Sikhs”, noted that:
“An estimated 3,000 Sikhs were killed in 1984, in mob attacks with the complicity of senior members of Gandhi’s then-ruling Congress party. Although there is evidence that at least some of the attacks were orchestrated by senior political figures, none have yet been convicted for the 1984 killings”.
Amnesty International in its April 2009 report “Sikh massacre victims await justice in India, 25 years on” stated that:
“The fact that almost 3,000 people can be murdered without anyone being brought to justice is offensive to any notion of justice and should be an embarrassment to the Indian government,”
International Human Rights Groups including NGO “Sikhs For Justice” (SFJ) who has discovered new evidence in 2011 about mass murder of Sikhs in the sates of Haryana, Uttar Pardesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Gujarat and West Bengal claim that November 1984 violence against Sikhs were not “riots” but were planned genocidal attacks on the Sikh community.
Sikh NGOs, “Sikhs For Justice” (SFJ), Movement Against Atrocities and Repression (MARS) and All India Sikhs Students Federation (AISSF) have filed a “1503 Petition” with the UN Human Rights Council, Geneva. The Petition with million signatures urges UN to investigate November 1984 systematic killing of Sikhs and to recognize the same as “Genocide” of Sikhs as per UN Genocide Convention.
Talking to The Daily Mail,a U S based human rights lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said that the Government of India had refused to prosecute the leaders of Congress party despite ample evidence of their direct involvement in the killing of Sikhs during November 1984. We are aiming to have a hearing before UN subcommittee on Human Rights to present evidence and witnesses about the extensive use of government machinery in the violence against Sikhs during November 1984, stated attorney Pannun.
As per Master Karan Singh, Coordinator MAR, the European Sikh organizations and Gurudwara Management Committees have joined hands with those from Canada and United States to organize November 01 massive protest before United Nations office in Geneva.