Rajiv Gandhi did agree to each of these demands, and many more besides, in the Rajiv-Longowal Accord. He implemented none. This miscalculation cost Mrs Gandhi her life, and left the communities of Punjab and of India in general scarred and polarised. This polarisation peaked with the genocidal violence against the Sikh minority in Delhi and many other North Indian Hindu majority towns in November after the assassination of Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh security guards.
Sikh nationalists in Punjab were eventually defeated, at least militarily, by the s, but Hindu nationalism was promoted so powerfully that the Hindu nationalists succeeded within a few decades in capturing the Indian state. Operation Bluestar is gradually finding a place in the Sikh practice of ardaas prayer. This practice is unique in the history of world religions because it gives collective memory a central place. Sikhs have a long memory. The Naxalite Sikhs punished a Sikh landlord Ajaib Singh Kokri, a witness against the revolutionary Bhagat Singh, by assassinating him in , 43 years after Bhagat Singh was hanged in The socialisation from early childhood of anyone growing up in a Sikh household irrespective of the political affiliation of the household involves such a focused exercise in historical remembrance that most adult Sikhs remember the ardaas by heart, whether they are illiterate farmers or university academics.
The ardaas contributes to the making of an active historical being who remembers the past, relates that past to the present and imagines the shaping of the future. Operation Bluestar has come to be remembered as the teeja Ghallughara the third holocaust. Many gurdwaras outside India and perhaps some even in India have incorporated the remembrance of the teeja Ghallughara in the ardaas. In Sikh historical memory, there have been two Ghallugharas before Operation Bluestar — the chhota Ghallughara the small holocaust and the wadda Ghallughara the big holocaust.
The chhota Ghallughara took place in May when, according to estimates made by the celebrated Sikh historian Professor Ganda Singh, about 10, Sikh men and women were killed. The wadda Ghallughara took place in February when about 30, Sikh men, women and children were slaughtered.
According to one as yet unconfirmed estimate, about half of the total Sikh population was liquidated during the wadda Ghallughara. These were the darkest times in the history of the Sikhs. These massacres could have demoralised them to the point of extinction, but, inspired by the memories of their gurus and martyrs, they regrouped and within a few decades of the wadda Ghallughara , emerged literally from the ashes to become the de facto rulers of Punjab in the last quarter of the 18th century.
By , one of them Ranjit Singh formalised that de facto rule to become the Maharaja of Punjab. The force of memory weighed upon him too and he ruled, therefore, in the name of the gurus. An SBS Dateline program on Punjab describes human rights defender Jaswant Singh Khalras discovery of the Punjab polices use of secret cremations to hide evidence of extrajudicial executions. The clip includes an interview with human rights activist Ram Narayan Kumar. This exclusive interview reveals how the Indian Army intentionally killed thousands of civilians and used excessive force during this assault.
On July 23, , Punjab Police officers abducted, tortured, and unlawfully killed year old Sikh community leader Kuljit Singh Dhatt. For 25 years, his family has relentlessly pursued justice, attending over a hundred hearings, petitioning various courts and commissions, and enduring police harassment and intimidation of witnesses.
On May 9, , a judge convicted three police officers of abduction in order to murder Kuljit Singh Dhatt, sentencing them to a mere five years. The legal battle continues, now in the higher courts. In his last speech made to a Canadian audience, Jaswant Singh Khalra discusses his investigations into the thousands of illegal killings and secret cremations by the Punjab police and his readiness to die to expose the truth about these crimes.
Jaswant Singh Khalra begins his speech with a moving fable about the struggle of truth and light against expanding darkness. Through government records obtained from these municipalities, Khalra exposed a detailed history of systematic human rights violations in which security forces abducted, murdered, and secretly cremated an estimated 6, Sikhs in Amritsar district alone—then one of 13 districts in Punjab—from to Paramjit Kaur Khalra on Impunity in Punjab.
In this video, Paramjit Kaur Khalra describes the need for a truth commission to redress the thousands of disappearances and killings in Punjab, India perpetrated during the counterinsurgency of to In September and October , Indian security forces illegally detained, tortured, and killed her husband, human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, for his work uncovering over 2, cases of extrajudicial executions and secret cremations in Amritsar district alone.
Khalra continues to seek justice for the all victims of illegal killings and disappearances. Seeking Ensaaf. On Human Rights Day, we share this documentary to show you how your support helps us document abuses on the ground.
Thank you for joining us on this journey to end impunity and achieve justice for the disappearances and unlawful killings of the Decade of Disappearances in Punjab. Please watch and share this film via Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The Last Killing. Satwant Singh Manak joined the Punjab Police to provide his family with a stable income. But in the late s and early s, in response to an insurgency, Indian security forces committed systematic and widespread torture, disappearances, and unlawful killings in Punjab.
Manak silently witnessed the torture and executions of 15 unarmed individuals at the hands of his fellow police officers. The killing of Kulwant Singh, a teenager who had passed 10th grade, deeply affected Manak. No longer able to suppress his conscience and the horror of what he witnessed, he resigned from his job and filed a case against his fellow police officers.
That case covers ten of the victims. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. Thank you for subscribing to our Daily News Capsule newsletter. Whatsapp Twitter Facebook Linkedin. Sign Up. Edit Profile.
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