1984 ATTACKS ON HARMANDER SAHIB

 

 

Martyrs of Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan Movement

The Indian Government has killed 300,000 Sikhs in last 17 years, since 1984. Below are pictures of some of the Martyrs. 

Over 52,000 Sikhs are still being held unlawfully in Indian jails to this day.

 

Sukhjinder Singh Sukha who assassinated General Vadiya

 

 

Harjinder Singh Jinda who assassinated General Vadiya

 

 

Saheed Gurbachan Singh Manochal

Served as the leader of the Sikh Freedom Fighting Organization : Bhindranwala Tigers Force.

 

 

Saheed Navneet Singh

 

 

General Labh Singh Saheed

 

 

Saheed Bhai Gurjant Singh Budh Singh Wala

Served as the second Jathedar of the the Sikh Freedom Fighting Organisation : Khalistan Liberation Force.

 

 

Saheed Bhai Avtar Singh Brahma Ji

Served as the first Jathedar of the the Sikh Freedom Fighting Organisation : Khalistan Liberation Force.

 

 

Bhai Talwinder Singh Ji Saheed

 

 

Saheed Sukhdev Singh Babbar

(Attained Martyrdom in 1992)
For 18 years he served as the leader of the Sikh Freedom Fighting Organisation : The BABBAR KHALSA.
Bhai Sahib was a puran Naam-Abhyasi GurSikh, he was inspired into the Khalsa way of life by Shaheed Bhai Sahib Bhai Fauja Singh Ji. Bhai Fauja Singh's Martyrdom had a deep affect on his life which transformed him into one of the greatest generals known to the current Sikh Independence Movement. May Akal Purakh Sahib Ji bless the Khalsa Panth with more GurSikhs of Bhai Sahib's calibre.

Jathedar Sukhdev Singh Ji Babbar was a very special Gursikh with many admirable qualities. During Vaisakhi 1978, when the Indian Government sponsored "Nirankaris" were parading around Amritsar, hurling abuse at our Gurus, Sahibzaadai and Panj Pyarai, Bhai Fauja Singh collated together a group of Gursikhs to protest at the insults. At the same time, Bhai Sukhdev Singh Ji was getting married. When Bhai Sukhdev Singh Ji heard about the martyrdom of his close friend Bhai Fauja Singh Ji, he called a meeting of Gursikhs who decided that they had no alternative but to defend the Khalsa Panth against these increasing attacks by using arms. From that day forward, Bhai Sukhdev Singh was to be known as Jathedar Sukhdev Singh Babbar, Commander-in-Chief of Babbar Khalsa International.

Jathedar Sukhdev Singh Babbar was a highly spiritual Gursikh as well as being a great military Commander. His daily prayers would last many hours, as he meditated peacefully on God. He was a very humble and caring man, soft-spoken, yet very determined and strong of charachter. He was a perfect example of a Gursikh.

 In 1984, just prior to the Blue star operation in which the Indian Government set out to finish off Sikhism, Jathedar Sukhdev Singh received intelligence reports a few days earlier. Jathedar quickly formulated a defensive plan and began to fortify the Golden temple complex. As the Indian army arrived with its tanks, helicopters and thousands of troops, a few Gursikhs fought like true Warrior-Saints of Guru Gobind Singh and held out for almost a week. The first Singh to be martyred in operation Bluestar was Jathedar Sukhdev Singh's close friend, Bhai Mengha Singh Ji, who received a single sniper shot to the head.

The Gursikhs within the complex fought so courageously that they sent shivers down the spines of the Indian Army commanders. Eventually, however, the Gursikhs also suffered many losses and Jathedar Sukhdev Singh's men pleaded with him to leave the complex and to continue the resistance soon afterwards. Jathedar Sukhdev Singh had no choice but to leave, but his heart never healed having seen with his own eyes, the desecration of our holy Akal Takhat and Harmandir Sahib. For the next eight years, Jathedar Sukhdev Singh commanded attacks on the evil and merciless police and army forces who had direct orders from the Indian Government to rape all Sikh women and kill all Amritdhari Sikhs.

In August 1992, Jathedar Sukhdev Singh Babbar was ambushed by the Indian Army. He was executed immediately. He will always be remembered as a true Warrior-Saint of Guru Gobind Singh and a brave patriot of the Khalsa Nation.
 

 

 

Saheed Dilawar Singh who killed Beanta 

 

 

Saheed Bhai Amarjit Singh, Shamsher Singh

 

 

Saheed Bhai Kulwinder Singh

 

 

Saheed Bhai Dawinder Singh

 

 

Saheed Bhai Harminder Singh

 

 

Saheed Bhai Harminder Singh

 

Saheed Bhai Kulwinder Singh

 

 

Saheed Bhai Surjeet Singh

 

 

Saheed Bhai Surinder Singh

 

 

Shaheed Bhai Kulwant Singh Ji Nagoke 

Bhai Sahib Ji was a student who was very active doing Gursikhi Parchaar in Universities. Disillusioned by the way the Government had let the Nirankaris go unpunished for the murder of Gursikhs, he organised sikh youth who punished the guilty Nirankaris.  After many successful operations, the police caught him. He was the first Sikh youth to be killed in a police cell. He was Shaheed due to excessive torture by the police. He never revealed the names and whereabouts of his fellow Gurskihs. He left a wife and a son

 

 

 

 

Shaheed Bhai Labh Singh Ji

Served as the leader of the the Sikh Freedom Fighting Organization : Khalistan Commando Force. 

 

 

Shaheed Sukhdev Singh "Sukha" and Shaeed Harjinder Singh "Jinda"

To the Panth these GurSikhs are known as simply "Sukha" and "Jinda". Responsible for bringing Fasicst Indian General Vaidya to Justice for his role in the June 1984 massacre of thousands of GurSikhs, these Singhs were hanged by the Facist Hindoo Government for this un-parallel bravery. When the hangman's noose was put around their necks, these heroes eagerly entered the state of Martyrdom with battle-cries of "Sat Sri-Akaal", and "Raaj Krega-Khalsa !!"

 

 

Shahid Bhai Jasbir Singh Ji, Babbar Khalsa International

 

 

Bhai Anokh Singh Ji, "Babbar"

Bhai Sahib Ji served the Sikh Nation for many years under the forces of Jathedar Sukhdev Singh and the Babbar Khalsa. He was killed in the most ruthless manner on August 30th, 1987. Like his companion Shulkhan Singh "Babbar", Bhai Sahib's arms and legs were torn apart, his eyes gauzed and his abdomen ripped. Even after so much torture, Bhai Sahib Ji remained calm and in High Spirits. With Akal's Hukam, he reached the the Highest State known to the Sikh Warrior : Martyrdom.

Shaheed Bhai Anokh Singh ji Babbar  -  Bhai Sahib Ji was a highly illuminated gursikh, recognised by all as the one who was special amongst a generation of Shaheeds. During 1984, he not only fought, but all spend many days ferrying Sikhs, who were there for the Gurpurb, to safety. After 1984, he continued on the struggle, praised highly by everyone for ability to always uphold the highest sentiments of  Sahib Guru Gobind Singh ji.  Bhai Sahib was the one who punished the notorious torturer of Sikhs, Gobind Ram. Eventually when Bhai Sahib was captured, he was given severe torture, but he never revealed the whereabouts of his companions.  First his eyes were removed, then he was cut limb by limb. His Shaheedi was comparable to the Great Bhai Mani Singh ji. A Unique Gursikh, blessed with Bhakti and Shakti, a perfect example of a Khalsa.
 

 

 

Shaheed Bhai Mengha Singh Ji Babbar

Bhai Sahib was one of the five Singhs who led the group.  He was a most humble Gursikh, most often seen doing Jorian de sewa at Siri Harmandar Sahib Ji. His face was always radiant, shining with the essence of Naam. Always ready to serve the Khalsa Panth, he was the first Gursikh to be Shaheed during the attack of 1984. Even after he was shot, he continued to do Sukhmani Sahib, and only left for the heavenly abode when he finished.

 

 

 

Shaheed Bhai Amarjit Singh Dhaheroo  - 

Bhai Sahib Ji did sewa in the group of Sikh youth organised to punish the Nirankaris, who were guilty of murder. Bhai Sahib was a highly inspirational Gursikh, full of Nam Raas and Bir Raas. He inspired many youth to attain the Gursikhi lifestyle. He was the one who gave the other Gursikhs weapons training. After successful operations, he also was targeted by the Punjab police. His house was surrounded and he was Shaheed in the ensuing gun battle. After his Shaheedi, his Singhnee continued fighting against the police by herself for another day, before she too attained Shaheedi. It was after this Shaheedi, that this group of Sikh youth, due to many Sikhs being targeted by the police, began to call itself the Babbar Khalsa.

 

 

 

 

 

The Bloody Vaisakhi: Amritsar - April 13, 1978

 

Bhai Fauja Singh Ji Shaheed

Shaheed Bhai Fauja Singh ji – Bhai Sahib Ji was a most extra-ordinary Gursikh, who
exemplified the highest ideals of the Khalsa. Gifted with Pyar, humility, and amazing courage. Bhai Sahib went from village to village doing parchaar, creating a generation of Gursikhs who were always ready to be Shaheed for the Guru Khalsa Panth.  Bhai Sahib himself attained Shaheedi in 1978, when he with other Gursikhs peacefully protested against the Nirankaris. Bhai Sahib could not tolerate anyone speaking against Sahib Siri Guru Granth Sahib ji.

 

This new page in Sikh History was created in Amritsar, on Vaisakhi day, April 13, 1978.

Over 1 million Sikh pilgrims had assembled at Amritsar on the Vaisakhi day of 1978. At the same time, the Nirankari-called Sect of bohemians from Delhi and other parts of the Indian sub-continent held a procession and a conference at Amritsar. During their Conference the speakers made venomous attacks on Sikhism, Sikh Gurus, Sikh scriptures, etc. A few Sikhs, under the command of Bhai Fauja Singh, marched from the Darbar Sahib to protest against this fake Nirankari procession in which Gurbachan Singh Nirankari had seated himself on a higher position than Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the prevalent Guru of GurSikhs, is always respectfully seated at the highest platform in any congregation. Anyone seated on a platform higher than that of Sri Guru Granth Sahib is considered disrespectful and sacrilegious among Guru Khalsa Panth.

Further, the Nirankaris were hurling grave and malicious insults against the GurSikhism religion, beliefs, and sentiments. Oblivious to the GurSikhs, the Nirankaris had other plans, including a para-military platoon armed with lethal weapons, guns, revolvers, acid-filled bottles and mechanical propellants for shooting poison-tipped arrows, all well positioned behind a row of trucks. The GurSikh protestors were persuaded by the police officers on duty into believing that steps were being taken to stop further provocations of GurSikhism sentiments. Then the voice of Gurbachan Singh, Nirankari chief, was heard over the sound system, saying "these Sikhs think they can stop us from freely carrying out our program. Let them know today, how mistaken they are. Time has come to be active for those, who have come here for this job". Suddenly the para-military platoon briskly advanced toward the GurSikh protestors. The police on duty hurled tear-gas bombs against the unarmed GurSikhs, converting them into sitting ducks for their hunters. Even some Hindu police officials like O.D. Joshi joined the Nirankaris' attacks on the protesting GurSikhs. When it was all over 13 lay dead and over 50 were seriously injured. The batch of protesting GurSikhs were from Akhand Kirtani Jatha and Bhindranwala Jatha, led by Bhai Fauja Singh, included the following 13 who laid their lives:

 

Bhai Amrik Singh
Bhai Avtar Singh
Bhai Darshan Singh
Bhai Dharamvir Singh
Bhai Fauja Singh
Bhai Gurcharan Singh
Bhai Gurdial Singh
Bhai Harbhajan Singh
Bhai Hari Singh
Bhai Kewal Singh
Bhai Piara Singh
Bhai Raghbir Singh
Bhai Ranbir Singh

The irony of the Sikh situation was this that Punjab was being ruled by a so-called Sikh Party; Amritsar was one of the holiest cities of the Sikhs; one minister, Mr Jiwan Singh was also present in the city; the city was the headquarters of the Akali Party and the Sikh Parliament (SGPC) and the Nirankaris had long been attacking the Sikh religion and this was known in the Government. Furthermore all the killers of the Sikhs escaped from the Punjab safely, even with the help of officials of the Punjab Government (including Niranjan Singh, an official of the Punjab and, allegedly, the Chief Minister of the Punjab).

Throughout the world the Sikhs exhibited their fury. However, the Akali ministers of Punjab province bowed before the Central (Hindu) Government and refused to ban the activities of this gang of bohemians. Meanwhile these ministers addressed various Sikh congregations and spoke against the Nirankaris so that the Sikh masses should not become furious against them for their indifferent (or pro-Nirankari) attitude.

Thus this became the starting point of the new phase of the struggle of the Sikh nation. The lead was given by the Sikh Youth under the guidance of the Sikh intelligentsia. They had to fight various platforms: the Hindus, the Communists and some of the pseudo-Akalis, who loved their office more than their nation.

This Amritsar massacre was one of the most significant incidents of this century for GurSikhs. It led to the murder of Lala Jagat Narain, the rise of the Khalistan demand, attack on the Golden Temple and Sri Akal Takhat, and enormous destruction of lives and properties in Punjab, Delhi, and other locals of GurSikh population. It should be noted that although Gurbachan Singh's movement call themselves Nirankaris, they do not have anything in common with the original Nirankari movement that made enormous sacrifices and significant contributions for Gur Panth’s reform.

On October 6, 1978, a Hukumnama bearing the seal of Sri Akal Takhat (by the Jathedar of Sri Akal Takhat, Amritsar) was issued, calling upon GurSikhs all over the world to socially boycott these fake "Nirankaris" and not allow their faith and creed to grow or flourish in the society. This Hukumnama was prepared by a committee comprising of the following:

Giani Gurdit Singh
Giani Lal Singh
Giani Partap Singh
Giani Sadhu Singh Bhaura
Sardar Kapur Singh
Sardar Parkash Singh
Sardar Satbir Singh

Through this Hukumnama, all GurSikhs were asked to stop "roti beti di sanjh", food and marital relations, with the fake Nirankaris. Gurbachan Singh was subsequently killed by the GurSikhs on Apr. 24, 1980. However, the repercussion of the initial event continue to persist.

 

 

 

OPERATION BLUE STAR:

June 3, 1984, the Martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev: that was the day the Army chose to surround Guru Arjun's temple. The onslaught started two days later on the night of June 5 around 7 p.m. The total number of people killed during Operation Blue Star at Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, Punjab and other gurudwaras as well as the marching villagers and Army deserters is more than 12,000 in numbers. Mary Anne Weaver a British correspondent in her report to Sunday Times, London June 17, 1984, observed "not since independence has the Army been used in such numbers - about 15,000 troupes took part in the assault." The rest of Punjab was flooded with soldiers to put down internal rebellion. The specially picked and trained Indian soldiers were supported by tanks and armoured personnel carriers and yet it took them more than 72 hours of continuous all-out battle to gain control of the shrine which was defended by followers of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Brahm Chellany, the only foreign correspondent who managed to remain in Amritsar after the government had ordered them out, reported the statements of doctors and police officials that many of the Sikhs killed in the attack had been shot at point-blank range with their hands behind their backs. Some of these bodies with hands tied behind the back were photographed. This is also borne out by the testimonies of survivors. While the Darbar Sahib was under attack, other Army units were battling their way into 74 other gurudwaras in Punjab. In their book, "The Sikh Struggle," Ramnarain Kumar and Georg Sieberer write: "The Army which had suffered a heavy toll in three days of battle went berserk and killed every Sikh who could be found inside the temple complex. They were hauled out of the rooms, brought to corridors on the circumference of the temple and with their hands tied behind their back, were shot in cold blood. Among the victims were many old men women and children."

 

 

OPERATION  BLUESTAR

June 1, 1984 - Pieceing together the evidence of various eye-witness and also second-hand socurces, such as Kirpal Singh, President of the Khalsa Dewan, Amritsar and S.S. Bhagowalia, advocate at Gurdaspur and Vice-president for the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (Punjab), the following picture emerges as to what happened at Golden Temple from June 1, 1984. It is really amazing how, except for some minor details, the accounts of different persons interviewed separately tally so closely with regard to the date, the time and the description of incident June 1, 1984. The AISSF Member, Duggal, the girl student, Sevadar Prithipal Singh and Baldev Kaur all said the the Golden Temple was fired at by security forces from the outside for the first time on June 1 itself, not June 5 as claimed by the White Paper. According to the AISSF member, "At 14.40 in the afternoon of June 1, suddenly the CRP without provocation started firing, aiming at the people inside the Parikarmas. There was no firing, from inside the Golden Temple. The firing by the C.R.P. was on the Harmandir Sahib and the Manjih Sahib. The firing continued till about 8 p.m." Sevadar Prithipal Singh added that the shooting which started from outside, was not preceded by any warning. Devinder Singh Duggal's account is extremely detailed and lucid. "By the end of May, it was widely known that the Army is going to attack the Golden Temple, and on that account there was tremendous tension in the entire city and its surrounding ar eas. The worst fears of the people came to the surface when on 1st June, the security forces which had beseiged the Golden Temple for months together and had made strong fortification on the multi-storey buildings all around it, suddenly started firing in side the Golden Temple. The firing sarted at 12.30 p.m. and continued for a full 7 hours. What was worse was that Harmandir Sahib was made the main target of this firing. I took shelter along with my staff behind the steel almirahs of the Library, one of the bullets pierced through three almirahs and landed on the fourth and we had a narrow escape." Duggal continues - "Not a single shot was fired from inside the complex. When I asked some of the boys as to why they did not answere the firing, they replied that they were under strict orders of the Sant not to fire a single shot unless and unti ll the security forces or the Army entered the holy Golden Temple. In the evening, when I heard in the news bulletin that there was unprovoked firing from inside the Temple, but that the security forces showed extreme restrain and did not fire a single sh ot, I was surprised at this naked lie. The very fact that as many as eight persons, includeing a woman and a child had been killed inside the Golden Temple complex and there were as many as 34 big bullet wounds on all sides of the Harmandir Sahib complete ly belied the Government's version. I asked Bhan Singh, Secretary, S.G.P.C., to do something to refute this falsehood. He said that nothing could be done because all links with the outside world had been snapped." According to the girl student, curfew was clamped soon after the firing started. She confirmed the killings - "Authorities had said none had died, but I dressed the wounds of 3 men who died later in front me in Guru Nanak Nivas." That the cur few was lifted soon after the firing stopped is indicated by the AISSF member, who said, "after the firing stopped, at about 8.30 p.m., a group of people (Jatha) courted arrest." There is no doubt then that security forces (C.R.P.) fired on the Harmander Sahib on June 1 itself and the news over the A.I.R. that there was unprovoked firing from inside was a blatant lie. However, most official versions maintain a meaningful silenc e about the happenings of June 1. For them, as for example, with the Government's White Paper, the story begins on June 2 with the Government of India deciding to call in the Army in aid of civil authority in Punjab, with the object of "checking and controlling extermist, terrorist and communal vioulence in Punjab, providing security to the people and restore normalcy." How much security the Army succeeded in providing to the people and how much normalcy, they were able to restore, is however, a nother matter.

June 2, 1984 - Duggal was relieved when "fortunately, on 2nd June a team of five reporters including Mark Tully of B.B.C. came there (Golden Temple) and were told the truth . They were taken around the Golden Temple and shown 34 big wounds caused by the bullets on all sides of the Harmandir Sahib, some of them as big as almost 3" in diameter." "The 2nd June passed off peacefully," according to Duggal, because there was no firing and no curfew, while Baldev Kaur said it was 'quiet'. A large number of Sikhs came to the Golden Temple from the surrounding areas along with their familie s as the next day, June 3, was Guru Parb or the martyrdom day of Shri Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth holy Guru of the Sikhs. The peace and quiet was only on the surface, because active preparations were afoot to break the peace. Kanwaljit Singh and his friend Manjit Singh from Delhi visited Golden Temple on the morning of June 2 and found that there there was no restriction for pilgrims to enter Amritsar or even the Temple. But the exit doors out ot Amritsar were being closed. After visiting the Temple, when Kanwaljit went at noon to the Amritsar Railway Station to catch a train for Delhi, they were told that the last train had already left and that the Flying Mail in the evening would not be leaving. In fact they were told all outgoing trains had been cancelled. So Kanwaljit and Manjit were forced to return to the Golden Temple and put up in the Guru Ram Das Serai for the n ight. Thus was Kanwaljit to miss his interveiw at Delhi with the Institute of Bank Management on June 3 morning and his examination with the State Bank of India the same afternoon. The AISSF young man said that the C.R.P., outside the Golden Temple was replaced by Army on the night of June 2. Although there was no formal curfew, and all visitors entering the Temple were allowed to come in without any ado, all those who left the G olden Temple on the night of June 2 were being taken into custody. "I did not therefore leave the Golden Temple complex", said the A.I.S.S.F. member revealing his caution

June 3, 1984 - According to the AISSF member, "Guru Parb was on June 3. About 10,000 people had come from outside including many women and 4000 of them were young people. Those who were inside were not allowd to go out after 10 p.m. on June 3. The Jathas which had come mainly from Sangrur were not allowed to court arrest." Bhan Singh confirms: "June 3 being Guru Parb, thousands of pilgrims had come. But suddenly there was a curfew, so the pilgrims and the 1300 Akali workers came to participate in the Dharam Yudh Morcha and to court arrest, could not leave. The Akali Jathas consisted of about 200 ladies, 18 children and about 1100 men and all of them along with the thousands of pilgrims were forced to stay back inside the Temple complex. Most were living in Guru Ram Das Serai, some at Teja Singh Samundri Hall." The girl student remembers, "On June 3, at 6 o'clock in the evening we came to know that Punjab had been sealed for 48 hours and that even cycles would not be allowed on the streets." Kanwaljit Singh sent a telegram home to Delhi at 8.05 p.m. on June 3 from the Golden Temple Post Office "Coming after curfew". It means that the curfew was 'reimposed' (Duggal's word) between 8.05 p.m. and 10 p.m. No one inside the Golden Temple had yet realised the sinister plan of the authoritites. Punjab had been sealed. Thousands of pilgrims and hundreds of Akali workers had been allowed to collect inside the Temple complex. They had been given no inkling or warning either of the sudden curfew or of the imminent Army attack. It was to be a Black Hole-type of tragedy, not out of forgetfulness but out of deliberate planning and design.

June 4, 1984 - Duggal's recollection are vived, almost photographic. "At abut 4 a.m. in the early hours of the morning of June 4, the regular Army attack on the temple started with a 25-pounder which fell in the ramparts of the Deori to the left of Akal Takht Sahib with such a thunder that for a few moments I thought that the whole complex had collapsed. I along with my wife were then sitting in the verandah of my house adjacent to the Sikh Reference Library. Recovering from the initial shock, we moved into the room and took shelter in one of its corners. Therafter, every second the ferocity of firing increased and it continued unabated till the evening of the 6th June. As we were on the first floor, and our quarter was open on all sides our position was very vulnerable. The bullets hit our quarters on all sides and some of them pierced through the doors and landed inside the room. To add to our miseries the power and water supplies had been cut. Through a slit in the shutter of a window we saw a large number of dead bodies in the Parikrama of the Golden Temple. They included women and children. We could not leave our room. Coming out in the open would have exposed us to sure death." Baldev Kaur's account of how the Army attack began is similar - "Very early on June 4, while it was dark, there was cannon fire from outside the Golden Temple without any warning. Shots were fired from all sides." Bhan Singh is emphatic that no warning was given, no public announcement was made by the Army before the shelling of the Golden Temple started on June 4 - "had the army given a warning at least those pilgrims who had come for the Guru Parb could g o out and then those person who were simply here to participate in the Dharam Yudh Morcha could go out. But no warning was given to the people. The firing was started from all around the complex with vengeance, as if they were attacking on alien, enemy co untry." According to the girl student the shelling started at about 20 minutes past 4 o'clock on June 4 dawn and continued without interruption upto 2 o'clock in the afternoon of that day (June 4), and evening of June 5. Her account is extemely graphic - On June 4 at about 3:30 a.m. we were inside the Harmandir Sahib reciting our prayers. Suddenly, thew was a black-out in the whole of the Goldne Temple complex. The devotees continued to be immersed in worship. A about 20 minutes past 4 o'clock there was a very loud explosion. We felt that the whole of the Golden Temple complex was shaking. I was alone on the balcony overlooking the lake or sarovar. Suddenly something roundish fell in front of me. I was curious. So I ge ntly touched it and pushed it into the water. As it fell, there was a big noise and then the water rose and splashed into the Harmandir Sahib. I started reeling, once tilting on one side and again on the other. Someone pulled me inside. The explosions con tinued. We then realised that the Army's attack on the Golden Temple had begun." In a flash she described her companions - "Inside the Harmandir Sahib there were about 50 to 60 persons - soem granthis (priests), ragis (singers), sevadars (employ ees), the rest of them yatris (pilgrims or visitors) like me and my family. I did not see any armed terrorist." The Army fired from all sides and did not spare any target in the Temple complex which seemed to shelter people. According to Prithipal Singh, the Sevadar on duty at Akal Rest House, deep inside the Guru Ram Das Serai, the Akal Rest House was shelled f rom the side of Gali Bagh Wali (to the left of the main entrance from the side on chowk Ghanta Ghar) at 5 a.m. on June 4. The bullet marks on the walls, the doors and windows of the side rooms of the Akal Rest House bore silent testimony to the Sevadars s tory, as we listened to him in May, 1985, almost one year after the shooting. The Harmandir Sahib was not spared by the Army on June 4, just as it had not been by the C.R.P. on June 1. According to the girl student, bulletts hissed past her and her grandmother and aunt when they crawled across the bridge on their stomachs in the ir bid to escape from Harmandir Sahib. She managed to pick up a portion of a shell which had exploded on the bridge near Harmandir Shaib - it was marked 84 mm., and it had two colours, yellow on the upper part and blue on the lower part. Baldev Kaur's account suggests that there was no immediate counter-fire from inside the Golden Temple complex. The A.I.S.S.F. member said that "there was some stray firing from inside the Golden Temple before the Army's entry into the complex" ;. The girl student provides a comparative picture of the magnitude and intensity of firing from outside the Temple and from inside. "The firing that took place from inside the Golden Temple was negligible. On June 1, there was absolutely no firing f rom inside. Wheras on June 4, the ratio what something like this - if a thousand rounds were being fired by the Army from outside, then about one or one and a half rounds were fired in reply by the armed militants from inside the Temple complex." Meanwhile, according to Duggal, "the helicopter hovered above and continued to fire from above. Some of these helicopters also guided the firing squads of the Army by making circle of light around the targets. Immediately after these circles, the cannon bell would land on the target causing havoc. We saw a large number of boys blown to pieces." According to Bhan Singh, "they (the Army) treated the inmates of the Complex as enemies and whenever there was any person wounded on account of the firing, no Red Cross people were allowed to enter, rather the Red Cross personnel had been detained beyond the Jallianwallah Bagh," - more that a kilometre away from the main entrance to the Golden Temple from the Chowk Ghanta Ghar side. In accordance with the U.N. Charter of Human Rights, the Red Cross is permitted to go in aid of the wounded rig ht inside the enemy territory, but in Amritsar in June 1984 the Red Cross was not allowed to enter the Golden Temple - a respected and hallowed part of our country- in aid of Indians under attack from the Indian army. It only means that the attack was so brutal and the battle scene so grisly, that there was much to hide from the public scrutiny, even if it be that of a neutral agency called the Red Cross. This also explains perhaps why Press Censorship had already been imposed, the last of the journalists were hounded away and the Press was not allowed inside the Golden Temple upto June 10 when they were taken on a guided tour of the Complex for the first time since the Army Operations began almost a week before.

June 5, 1984 - The firing and counter-firing continued. Harcharan Singh Ragi saw his guardian and mentor - the old completely blind Head Ragi of the Golden Temple, Amrik Singh being shot by a bullet and dying inside the Harmandir Sahib at about 6.30 a.m . on June 5. This was the respect shown by the Indian Army to the Harmandir Sahib! The White Paper issued on July 10, 1984 adopts a holier-than-thou attitude - "Specific Orders were given to troops to use minimum force, to show the utmost reverence to all holy places and to ensure that no desecration or damage was done to the Harmandir Sahib..." (Para 10) and once more "In spite of this (machine-gun fire from Harmandir Sahib on the night of June 5) the troops exercised great restrain and refrained fr om directing any fire at Harmandir Sahib." All this is propaganda. We have recorded the truth - the Harmandir Sahib was fired at by the C.R.P. on June 1 and there wer 34 bullet marks on it which were shown to Mark Tully of the B.B.C. the next day. Wh en the Army attacked the Golden Temple at dawn on June 4, the Harmandir Sahib was the target of destructive shelling and on June 5 two Ragis - one Amrik Singh, blind, 65-year-old - a singer of devotional songs and another Avtar Singh were killed by bullet s right inside the Harmandir Sahib. Perhaps the White Paper was doing an exercise in sarcasm and irony when it stated: "the troops exercised great restraint and refrained from directing any fire at Harmandir Sahib." Meanwhile, the girl student and her companions had managed to come away from the Harmandir Sahib, crawling on their stomaches across the small bridge. They were bundled into a room on the ground floor of the Akal Takht. They kept sitting there, having nothing to eat and no water to drink. To continue, in her own words, "Helicopters were encircling the Temple from above. After the helicopters completed their circle, at about 11:30 a.m. on June 5, the huge water tank inside the Temple complex was fi red at. The tank could not be broken even after the initial 10 shells hit the tank. Then one bomb hit the tank after which it burst and all the water gushed out. The fighters who had taken their positons beneath the tank were killed. "They continued the firing till the evening of June 5 and then it was about 8.30 p.m. It was completly dark when they entered accompanied by very heavy firing. The blasting was so severe that I thought that I had reached some other world. "We were 40-50 persons huddled together in the room, including women and children, even a child of six months. In the next room were the pilgrims who had come on June 3 to celebrate Guru Parb but they had been trapped." "The upper protion of the Akal Takht had been fired at by the Army and completely destroyed. Pieces of the Guru Granth Sahib were flying in the air and littering the ground. The place seemed to have been transformed into a haunted house. "Then the tank entered. It had powerful searchlights. I thought the ambulance had come to attend to the dead and injured. But it had turned out the opposite. The tanks went riding past us. From the tanks the announcement came, loud and clear: &quo t;Please come out, God's blessings are with you. We will reach you home absolutely safe and sound," There were some among us who were frantic for some water, they came out in the open. In the morning I saw the dead bodies lying on the Parikrama. This was the worst kind of treachery." The A.I.S.S.F. Members narration of the events of June 5 has a somewhat different emphasis - less personal reflection and more of detached observation. On June 5th at about 8 p.m. the Army entered the Complex through the Ghanta Ghar side under heavy co ver fire. The road was blocked. Nobody was allowed to come out of the Complex. The Army entry was not preceded by any warning of announcement asking the people to surrender. "There was some stray firing from inside the Golden Temple before the Army e ntry into the Complex. But the real resistance began only after the Army entered the Temple. The order from Bhindranwale was to use limited firearms with discretion. There were only about 100 people to fight and there were less that 100 arms consisting mo stly of 303 rifles used in the World War II, 315 guns and a few stenguns. When the army entered, the ammunition was nearly exhausted. "After mid-night, at about 1 a.m. one armoured carrier and 8 tanks came inside the complex. The tanks had powerful s earchlights and they came down the stair-case, and the Army surrounded the langar building." Even 11 months afterwards, we could still see the marks of the tanks on the Parikrama. Duggal's account is also informative. By the evening of June 5, he and his family had managed to move to the house of the Giani Sahib Singh, the head priest of Golden Temple, which is about 25 yards away from the house he had earlier taken shelter in. In Duggal's words, "The night between the 5th and 6th was terrible. The tanks and armoured carriers had entered the Golden Temple Complex. The firing was such, that its ferocity cannot be described. In the early hours of June 6th, we learnt that the holy Akal Takht had been completely demolished in the firing. As devoted Sikhs, we were extremely shocked. Tears flowed through the eyes of everybody there. All through the night we heard the heart rending cries of the dying persons." Giani Puran Singh, a priest at the Harmandir Sahib also an eye-witness remembers - "At 7.30 p.m. on 5th I went to Sri Akal Takht where I met Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale with who I had a long satisfying talk while shots were ringing outside. Gyani Mohan Singh, whose duty was to conduct REHRAS (Evening Prayer) had not been able to reach Harmandir Sahib, due to the shooting. I then came down from the Akal Takht and joined some "Singhs" in a morcha and enquired of them whether Gyani Mohan Singh had passed that way. As per the tradition the 'Regras' at Akal Takht starts 5 minutes later than at the Harmandir Sahib, but that day Path at the Akali Takht had already started. Upon this I rushed towards Harmandir Sahib amidst gunfire, stopping for a breather at the Darshani Deori. On reaching I started the recitation. Meanwhile, Gyani Mohan Singh also reached the place. We were about 22 people in the Harmandir Sahib, some devotees and others the employees of the Gurudwara. By the time the path was over the firing outside became more intense. 'Sukhasan' of Guru Granth Sahib was done and then taken upstairs. At 10.00 p.m. the tanks started entering the complex and a barrage of shooting from without became more intense as heavy armour began to be used. At this stage an armoured carrior entered and stood beside the Sarovar. The lights on the carrier, when switched on, bathed the whole complex in bright light. We were viewing all this perched in the main dome of Harmandir Sahib and thought that prob ably the fire brigade had come to get water for extinguishing fires raging throughout the city. But we were proved wrong when this vehicle came down to the Parikrama and stared firing. From both sides the tanks started closing in, from clock tower to the Brahm Buta the tanks set fire to all rooms while desperate people collected water from the Sarovar to extinguish the fires. Loud cries and wails of both women and children rent the air. A vigorous battle ensued and the Darshani Deoris of Clock Tower and A tta Mandi along with the Serais (rest houses) was in Army control by 10 o'clock, the next day (June 6). The 40-50 youth who had been holding the forces fought bravely till either they were killed or the ammuniton was exhausted. From about 10 in the night till 4.30 the next mornign we were on the roof of Darbar Sahib."

June 6, 1984 - " At 2 a.m. on June 6", says Prithipal Singh, Sevadar, at the Akal Rest House, "the Army people came to the Rest House. They tore off all my clothes, stripped me naked, my kirpan was snatched, my head gear (patta) was untie d to tie up my hands behind my back. They caught me by my hair and took me along with five others - who were all pilgrims - to the ruins of the water tank, there we were told, "don't move or you'll be shot." They kept hitting us with the rifle b utts. Then a Major came and ordered a soldier, shoot them, then shouted at us, "You must be Bhindranwale's Chelas? You want Khalistan? I said "I am here to do my duty. I have nothing to do with all this." "Six of us were in a line faci ng the Major, when a Pahari soldier started shooting from one end, killing four of us (with 3 bullets each). As my turn was coming, suddenly a Sikh Officer turned up and ordered, "Stop Shooting". Thus I was saved. The Sikh Officer was told, & quote these people have ammunitions". At that he ordered them to lock us in a room. Two of us were locked up in a room in Guru Ram Das Serai, but we did not talk nor did I ask the other man's name. On 7th June the door was opened at about 8 or 9 in the m orning. We had gone without water. The floor was covered in blood. I was allowed to leave." This was then the 'dignity and consideration' which the White Paper had claimed was shown to those apprehended by the Army. Bhan Singh picks up the thread of the story at about 4 a.m. on
June 6. "I was arrested along with Sant Longowal and Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra early morning on the 6th. We were encircled by the Army people, throughout the day from 4 a.m. till 5 p.m. when Sant Longowal and Jathedar Tohra were taken to the Army Camp, but I along with many others was kept inside the compound of Guru Ram Das Serai. We were taken away to the Army Camp at about 9.30 p.m." Even on this point of arrest of Longowal and Tohra, the White Paper has a totally different version - "At 1.00 a.m. on June 6, Sant Harchand Singh Longowal and Shri G.S. Tohra surrendered near Guru Nanak Niwas with about 350 people. The terrorist opened fire at them and also lobbed hand grenades to prevent surrender. As a result, 70 people were kille d including 30 women and children." Even Longowal is on record that he and Tohra were arrested at 5 a.m. from Guru Nanak Niwas (where the S.G.P.C. Office is now located) and kept there in Army custody the whole day. Neither he nor Bhan Singh talk abo ut surrendering to the Army nor do they refer to the killing of 70 people including 30 women and children, by terrorists at the time of their surrender. Should we believe Bhan Singh (and Longowal) or would we blindly accept the White Paper's Version?
On the morning of June 6, as the girl student opened the door of their small room and "came out to fetch water, what did I see but piles of dead bodies, all stacked one over the other. At first I instinctively felt that I wouldn't manage to go out . All I could see was a ceaseless mount of dead bodies. It seemed that all the persons who werre staying in the Parikrama, not one of them had survived... The Army said later that they did not go inside the Golden Temple wearing boots. But I have seen som e of the dead bodies of the Army men in uniform - they were wearing boots and belts." The White Paper is contradicted once more.
The girl student's narration continues. It is an amazing and astonishing account of how she accidentally met Bhai Amrik Singh, Prsident of the A.I.S.S.F. and Bhindranwale's close associate. She had not met him before but once he told her his name, she recognised him at once because his pictures had come out in the papers. How Amrik Singh gave her some water in a bucket which she gave to her relatives and acquaintances, but she could not bring herself to drinking it because it was red, mixed with blood. How Bhai Amrik Singh sent her a message urging her to leave the Temple Complex at once with her group in order to escape being dishonoured or being shot dead as 'terrorists' by the Army personnel, and also to survive to tell the true story of what happened inside the Golden Temple to the world outside. She recounts in breathtaking detail how she picked up the courage to first come out of the Complex and then bring out her relatives and acquaintances.
To quote her own words - "So I decided to try to find the way out. There was a man lying dead. I had to place my foot on him. My foot touched sometimes somebody's head, sometimes somebody's body. I had to move in this fashion. There is a staircase next to the Nishan Saheb (outside the Akal Takht) and next to it there was an iron gate, which had got twisted because of the shelling. I pulled the gate and came out, there was nobody. The place was deserted. The doors of the houses were shut and locked from outside. I was in a haze. For I saw the locks and yet I kept shouting for shelter. Then I came to my senses, realizing that the inhabitants had locked their houses and gone away. Then I broke the mud patch in the wall of a house and entered it. One o f the doors of this house opened out into the Golden Temple. I went back to the temple through this door. I found a wounded man who relayed my message to my grandmother through other wounded persons, that I had managed to come outside, she should also come out. By then the room in the Akal Takht building, where I had taken shelter with my grandmother was already in flames. The 20-25 people in that room came out with much difficulty and reached the place where I was. The house had been sprayed with shells and bullets and there were gaping holes in the walls. We found a water tank in that house which had escaped destruction, unlike the water tank in the Golden Temple complex. First we all drank water from that tank. We met an injured man who had also taken shelter in that house. He asked us to go with him to his house. We accompanied him. He made us change all our blood-soaked clothes; some we washed clean."
The narrations of Bhan Singh, Harcharan Singh Ragis, Giani Puran Singh and the girl student tear apart the White Paper that the Army had been instructed 'to treat all apprehended persons with dignity and consideration', and also that 'no women and children were killed in the action by the troops.'
Bhan Singh remembers- "On the 6th morning when hundreds of people were killed or wounded, everywhere there were cries of those people who were wounded and injured but there was no provisions for their dressings and there were no Red Cross people within the complex... Many young people aged between 18 and 22 years were killed and so were some ladies. A lady carrying a child of only a few months saw her husband lying before her. The child was also killed on account of the firing. It was a very touch ing scene when she placed the dead body of the child alongside her husband's body. Many people were crying for drinking water, but they were not provided any. Some had to take water out of the drains where dead bodies were lying and the water was red with blood. The way the injured were quenching their thirst was an aweful sight which could not be tolerated. The Army people were there, moving about mercilessly without showing any sign of sympathy with those injured or wounded. Those who were under arrest were not provided any facility of water or food or any other thing of that sort. The clothes of those who were arrested were removed and they were only left with shorts-their turbans, shirts, etc. were all removed and heaped together. Such a brutal treatment was given to them, as if they were aliens and not the citizens of the country to which the forces belonged."
Harcharan Singh Ragi similarly recounts- "My quarters are on the first floor above the information office and it was unsafe, with the firing going on endlessly, to stay there. Four members of the family of Narinder Pal Singh, the Information Officer who also lived on the same floor as us and we five took shelter in the basement of the Information office building. On the 6th of June, between 12 noon and 5 p.m., the Army announced that people should come out. This was the first announcement given since the Army operations began. All of us in the basement volunteered arrest and the Information Officer and myself showed our identity cards as employees of the S.G.P.C. As we were coming out, we saw that hundreds of people were being shot down as they ca me out. We saw many women being shot dead by the commanders. I also would have been, but for my little girl, Jaswinder Pal Kaur (Anju), rushing to the Army Commander and begging to save her father's life."
And now let us listen to the girl student once more- "On June 6 at o'clock in the evening, they announced a relaxation in the curfew for one hour. Meanwhile, we went through some devious lanes and managed to take shelter in a house which was some distance form the Golden Temple. The Army people announced that everyone should come out. So we came out."
"There were about 27-28 persons with us, 5 of them ladies, some elderly men, the rest young boys. The Army made all of us stand in queue. There were 13 boys out of which three I clained to be my brothers. I did not know them from before. I merely wanted to save them. I don't know why, perhaps because they thought the 3 boys were part of our family but the Army released these three boys. They went away. Out of the remainging male youths, they picked out four and took off their turbans with which th ey tied their hands behind their backs. Then the Army men beat these 4 Sikh boys with the butts of their rifles till they fell on the ground and started bleeding. They kept telling the boys all along, "you are terrorists. You were coming from inside. You were taking part in the action. You will be shot." These boys were shot dead right in front of me. They looked completely innocent. Neither they seemed to know how to use a rifle, nor they seemed to know the meaning of 'terrorism'. They were shot before my eyes. Their age was between 18 and 20 years. I did not know who they were - circumstances had brought us together by chance. Whenever I recollect that scene, I seem to lose my bearings.
"Then they (the Army people) surrounded me and started questioning me. I told my granmother not to speak a word to them as they were speaking only with bullets. I asked them whether they had come to protect us or to finish us. I said my grandfather was a colonel in the Army... The Army man... in charge then asked his colleagues to leave me and my family members. He told me to go away quickly. And so we were saved."
Giani Puran Singh narrates- "At 4:30 a.m. on June 6, Guru Granth Sahib was brought down. PRAKASH done and the Hukumnama taken, the kirtan of Asa-di-vaar started. This kirtan was not done by the appointed Ragi Jatha (Hymn singers) but by members of Bhai Randhir Singh Jatha, one member of which Avtar Singh of Parowal was later martyred inside the Darbar Sahib. The official Jatha of Bhai Amrik Singh had been martyred at the Darshani Deori the previous day. Bhai Avtar Singh was hit by a bullet which t ore through the southern door, one of which is still embedded in the Guru Granth Sahib which is there since Maharaja Ranjit Singh's time. Time passed and at 4:00p.m. on June 6, some poisonous gas was spread and the Akal Takht captured, if not for this gas the forces could not have been able to gain the Akal Takht. At 4:30 the commandant, Brar spoke from a speaker on the Sourhtern Deori that all living people should surrender. All those who had come face to face with the forces had been eliminated. We (I and Gyani Mohan Singh) asked all the 22 within the Darbar Sahib to surrender and told the commanding officer that two priests had stayed behind and if need be, he could send his men for them. He did not agree with them and called aloud on the speaker that we should come out with raised hands. We decided against this because if we were shot on the way it would merely be a waste. We were in teh Darbar Sahib till 7:30 when two soldiers and a sewadar were sent to fech us. While on our way out I stopped to pour a handful of water in the mouth of the wounded member of the Jatha, who asked us to send for help. I promised to do so provided I remainded alive. Gen. Brar, meanwhile announced over the loudspeaker that nobody should fire upon us. The moment I stepped o ut of the Darshani Deori, I saw the Akal Takht ruined and the rubble was spread all around. Hundreds of corpses were lying scattered. We were wished by Gen Brar who told that he too was a Sikh. He then enquired as to what did we propose to do. We told him that we wanted to go to the urinal and then be allowed to go to our residences. He allowed us to go to the urinal and then we were questioned of the whereabouts of Santji and were told that he would not be harmed. We told them that they knew better as th ey were in command. We were questioned, whether any machine-gunnists were operating from Darbar Sahib to which we siad that they were welcome to inspect the premises themselves. Five persons accompaied us to the Hari Mandir, one Sikh officer and 3-4 others. When we started the Sikh officer insisted that we lead because if firing started from within, we would face them, moreover we would be shot if someone shot from within. When we reached the Harimadir, a search was carried out by them, picking and search ing below very carpet but no sign of firing was traced. Meanwhile the wounded member left behind had passed away. His body was placed in a white sheet, brought out and placed along with various others lying outside."
According to the A.I.S.S.F. member, "on 6th June at 5:30 p.m. we surrendered before the Army. 199 surrendered before us. We were made to lie down on the hot road, interrogated, made to move on our knees, hit with rifle butts and kicked with boots on private parts and head. Our hands were tied behind our backs and no water was given to us. We were asked 'how many people were inside? and 'where are the arms and ammunition?' At about 7 p.m., we were made to sit in the parakrama- near the Army tanks. There was firing from the side of the Akal Takht and many were injured.".
June 7, 1984 - Giani Puran Singh's account throws light on how and when Bhindranwale was killed: "Time passed away and at 7:30 a.m. on 7th we were taken out of the complex and informed that the bodies of Santji, Gen Subeg Singh, Bhai Amrik Singh, had all been found. When asked as to where were the bodies found, the reply was that Santji's body was recovered from between the 2 Nishan Sahibs while Amrik Singh and Shubeg Singh's bodies had been found behind the Nishan Sahibs. The news carried by the m edia said that Santji's body had been recovered from the basement in Akal Takht. We were not shown these bodies but were led to our residences by the military. The head priests who also came there were informed that the bodies of Santji and others had bee n found. In fact, if the bodies had been found, we would have been called for identification but instead we were threatened to be shot lest we tried to go near the rooms where they had been kept. Moreover, if found, the body would have been embalmed taken to Delhi and kept for some time before finally dispersing it.

LYING AT FEET OF INDIAN ARMY SOLDIERS AFTER ARMY REDUCED AKAL TAKHAT TO A RUBBLE. MAJOR GENERAL SHAHBEG SINGH, WAS HERO OF INDIAN ARMY WHEN HE FOUGHT WAR AGAINST PAKISTAN [BANGLADESH WAR IN 1971] BUT WHEN HE FOUGHT FOR HIS RELIGION HE WAS ROPED AND TORTURED TO DEATH BY THE SAME INDIAN ARMY DURING 1984. MAJ. GEN. SHAHBEG SINGH DISRESPECT TO THE BODY OF GREAT MARTYR SHAHBEG SINGH WAS NOT ENOUGH, HIS FAMILY WAS NOT ALLOWED TO ATTEND HIS CREMATION, WHEN HIS SON PRABHPAL SINGH DEMANDED HIS FATHER'S ASHES, HE WAS TOLD THAT INDIAN GOVERNMENT WOULD IMMERSE THEM IN ONE OF INDIA'S SACRED RIVERS.

The White Paper's version of the events is distorted and not convincing. For example: "By the morning of June 6, the troops had effectively engaged all gun positions at the Akal Takht and were able to enter the Akal Takht. Room-to-room engagement commenced till it was cleared by 12:30 p.m. on the afternoon of June 6, except for resistance continuing from the ground floor and basements... On the afternoon of June 6, 200 terrorists surrende red including 22 from Harmandir Sahib." Giani Puran Singhy who was one of the 22 has clearly said that the 22 persons who had surrendered from inside Harmandir Sahib were 'some devotees and others the employees of the Gurdwara'. Thus there were no ar med terrorists inside the Harmandir Sahib- 50-60 persons-cited by the girl student and the same figures-of 22 persons-given by all other eye-witesses and also the White Paper. The fact that the girl student accompanied by 27-28 persons left the Harmandir Dahib on the afternoon of June 4 amidst the firing and took shelter in the Akal Takht explains the descrepency in figures.
The White Paper also claims that "On 8th June 1984, the terrorists hacked to death an unarmed army doctor who had entered a basement of the Akal Takht to treat some casualties." Giani Puran Singh's account gives an accurate description of thi s incident: "There were 4 Singhs in the basement of the BUNGA JASSA SINGH RAMGARHIA who were giving a tough fight to the forces. They had also pulled down 3 personnel of the army who had ventured close-one of them was a so called doctor. They were sw iftly put to death., The authorities wanted these people to surrender but they wanted some mutually responsible person to mediate. I was then asked to mediate but first of all I asked the army offices of a guarantee that none would be shot only arrested a nd later law would take its own course. They were not ready for this and wished me to talk to the Brigadier who too was noncommittal. They then asked me to inquire if the three army personnel were alive. The reply received was that no live personnel was t here in the base-At this the Brigadier asked me to leave and that they would themselves deal with them. These men in the basement fought the whole day, that night and also the next day when Giani Zail Singh came to visit the ruins of Akal Takht. Some thou ght that they had also aimed for Giani but it was not so. These people did not know that Giani was coming. If they knew before hand, they would definitely put a bullet through the 'tyrant' but they were totally cut out from the outside world. A colonel of the commandos attempted to flush out these men in the basement with a gun and light arrangement but as soon as he entered the basement, a burst of LMG wounded him and it was later learnt that he had succumbed to the injuries in the hospital. 2 cannons we re employed to fire at the Bunga, gaping holes were formed on the Parikrama end but the men within were safe. I saw from the roof of Harmandir Sahib that two grenadiers, had been put on the grenade shooter and a continuous barrage of grenades was being po ured but they still survived. Burnt red chilly bags, chilly powder and smoke granades were thrown in; one of them came out to be greeted with a hail of bullets while the others finally were silenced on the 10th."
Similarly the White Paper's account of the amount of arms recovered seem to be patently exaggerated. We may not accept the A.I.S.S.F. members version that there were less than 100 arms, mostly obsolete .303 guns from the II World War and some stenguns, on the ground that it may be a partisan account. At the same time it is not possible to belive the White Paper's version - "A large quantity of weapons, ammuniton and explosives was recovered, including automatic and anti-tank weapons. A small facto ry for the manfacture of hand grenades and sten-guns was also found within the precincts of the Golden Temple." If this modern arms factory had been discovered inside the Golden Temple before the Army Operations began there would have been no room fo r doubt or controversy. But making such a claim after the Army operation was over. Only there was the Army to testify. In contrast, our eye-witness have repeatedly pointed out that the terrorists had a small number of men and limited arms which had to be used sparingly. Would the resistance have collapsed so abruptly, if there were hundreds of terrorist manning a modern arms factory, as claimed by the White Paper.
The White Paper's figures of the number of people killed or injured at the Golden Temple during the Army operations, seem to reflect gross under-estimation and understatement. The White Paper's figures of the casualties on account of the Operation Blue star alone are:
1. Own troops killed 83
2. Own troops wounded 249
3. Civilians/terrorist killed 493
4. Terrorists and other injured 86
5. Civilians/terrorists apprehended 592
Our eye-witness accounts point out two unmistakable facts:
(a) There were thousands, perhaps ten thousand people, consisting of pilgrims, S.G.P.C. employees, Akali volunteers came to court arrest, and terrorists present inside the Golden Temple complex when the Army started firing at the Golden Temple from all sides on the dawn of June 4.
(b) The battle lasted nearly 56 to 60 hours from 4 a.m. on June 4 to about 4 p.m. on June 6. The firing was almost incessant and continuous and, despite the White Paper's several claims, had no constraints. It was a most fierce battle.
Therefore, not hundreds but thousands could well have died during the operations, and thousands maimed or injured. The girl student had seen stacks and stacks of dead bodies piled up all over the parikrama very early on the morning of June 6. Joginder Singh estimates that at least 1500 dead bodies were lying on the parikrama. Bhan Singh saw hundreds of people dying before him on June 6. Harcharan Singh Ragi saw hundreds of people including women and children, being shot down by Army commandos, as they came out to surrender on the afternoon of June 6 outside the Golden Temple on the Ghanta Ghar side. We may hesitate to accept exact figures such as A.F.D.R. Vice President S. S. Bahagawalia'a estimate of 2009 killed including about 400 Hindu Bhaiyyas or t he AISSF members estimate "that 7 to 8 thousand people were killed" or Surinder Singh Ragi's confident assertions that 'during the Army operation at least 7000 people were killed on the parikrama and another 1000 dead bodies were recovered from various rooms." These are all impressions. There is no reliable estimate because the Press was not allowed.
Nevertheless the clear conclusion emerges that hundreds and hundreds of people were killed during the Army Action on Golden Temple in June 1984 most brutally. It was indeed a mass massacre mostly of innocents. The post-mortem reports (see Annexures 7 & amp; 8) speak of the Army's brutatlities in very clear terms- (i) Most of the dead bodies had their hands tied behind their backs implying that they had not died during the action, but like Sevadar Prithipal Singh's temporary companions lined up before th e firing squad, all of them must have been shot after being captured and (ii) At the time of the post-mortem, the bodies were in a putrid and highly decomposed state--they had been brought for post-mortem after 72 hours implying a totally callous attitude towared the injured and the dead.
Even after June 6, many died due to negligence, while under the detention of the Army and many others were killed in Army camps. According to the AISSF member: "On the evening of 7th June 1984 I was brought to the Army Camp and locked in the Arms Rooms with 28 persons. It had no ventilation and there was no water. 14 died of suffocation including Sujan Singh, a member of the SGPC." According to a former MLA, Harbans Singh Ghumman, 37 Sikh youths were killed on one of the Army camps at Amritsa r between June 16 and June 18, 1984. He had been personally concerned about this incident at that time as he had learnt that this youngest son, Randhir Singh, was also being detatined in one of the military camps at Amritsar.

 

 

OPERATION BLUESTAR: NEWS REPORTS & OTHER EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS OF THE ATTACK ON THE GOLDEN TEMPLE & 74 OTHER GURDWARAS IN PUNJAB

In early June 1984 the government forces attacked the golden temple in Amritsar on the pretext of flushing out terrorists. The attack was planned well in advance and was not in decision taken late in the day because there was no other alternative. In october 1983, the Indian Army selected 600 men from different units and sent the to rehearse the assault on a replica of the Golden temple at a secret training camp in the Chakrata Hills about 150 miles north of Delhi: 2 officers of the RAW, the Indian secret service, were sent to London to seek expertise from the SAS (see the report by Mary Anne Weaver in the Sunday Times 1984)
The attack was timed to coincide with the weekend of 2nd and 3rd, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev who built the Golden Temple and compiled the Sikh's Holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib.
It was planned in the knowledge that there would be thousands of pilgrims and visitors. No warning was given to those pilgrims of the impending attack. Despite the government 's claims that only 'extremists' were killed other reports show that many visitors were killed by the army (see e.g. 'Indian Express' 18/6/84) 'India today (30/9/84) reported the case of Zaida Khartton, a Bangladeshi women who stopped to get food for her five children at the Golden Temple and ended up in jail. Water, electricity and telephone links to the Golden Temple were cut off. Many people died through lack of water. When the army entered the Golden Temple they told the pilgrims to drink the mixture of blood and urine that covered the ground. Even the hospital staff was threatened with death by the
army if they gave food or water to Sikh pilgrims wounded in the attack and lying in hospital (as reported by the Christian Science Monitor 18/6/84)

On 18/6/84 Christian Science Monitor reported: -
" For five days the Punjab has been cut off from the rest of the world. All telephone and telex links are cut. No foreigners are permitted entry and on Tuesday, all Indian journalists were expelled. There are no newspapers, no trains, no buses- not even a bullock cart can move."

The Sunday Times (10/6/84) said:
"About 20 million people in an area more than twice the size of Wales have had no contact with the outside world for a week."

The army used excessive force. Eyewitnesses say that the army deployed tanks, armed personnel carriers, rocket launchers, heavy machine guns and helicopters. Many of the buildings surrounding the Temple were reduced to rubble. It was a military operation using indiscriminate force against a non-military target and as such was in breach of Article 51 of the 1977 Protocol to the Geneva Convention. In the Punjab as a whole, about 150,000 to 200,000 soldiers were used to flush out "terrorists".

There were several reports of barbaric acts by the army. The Guardian on 13/6/84 reported the following:
"A Sikh doctor drafted from the Government hospital to Jullunder to conduct post mortem examinations said that he had seen the bodies of two Sikhs who had been shot at point blank range, their hands tied behind their backs with their turbans. His colleagues had reported others, some of whom had been machine-gunned. This doctor headed a team that conducted 400 examinations. He said that most bodies were riddled with bullets and bore bomb wounds. He said, "It was a virtual massacre. A large number of women, children and pilgrims were gunned down."

The same doctor told journalists that bodies of victims were brought to the mortuary by police in municipal refuse lorries. (The Times of 13/6/84 and the Indian Express of18/6/84) reported that of the 400 bodies, 100 were women and between 15-20 were children under five. One was a two-month-old baby. The doctor said that one "extremist" in the pile of bodies was found to be alive; a soldier shot and killed him.

A local journalist stated that he saw a dozen Sikh Youths, arrested inside the temple, made to pull their trousers above their knees, kneel and march on the hot road whilst the soldiers repeatedly kicked and punched them.

This press report was made by Brahma Chellaney of the Associate Press. He was then accused by the authorities of falsely reporting certain facts about the army raid on the Golden Temple and inflaming sectarian passions.
Criminal charges were laid against him. Brahma Chellaney reacted by challenging the constitutional validity of the censorship and anti terrorist laws hurriedly imposed in Punjab.

Dead bodies were carried away in refuse lorries. The curfew gave no opportunity for the families to come to the morgues and identify their dead. The authorities were in flagrant breech of Article 17 of the Geneva Convention of 1949, which provides that the dead shall be honourably interred.

Associated press reports in The Times revealed that an Amritsar deputy police superintendent who helped to remove the body of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale and 200 other Sikhs from the Golden Temple had stated that at least 13 Sikhs had been tied up and shot.
Another police official told reporters that a lorry load of elderly Sikhs who surrendered on the first day of the military operation were brought to the main city police station and tortured there by the army. "The soldiers removed their turbans, pulled their hair over their eyes and tied the long hair around their necks. Then they threw sand into their faces .The old man shrieked, but I helplessly watched all this from my office window."(The Guardian and Times of 14/6/84).

Another eyewitness described how a group of about 50 Sikh males aged 8 years upwards were taken from a Sikh Temple near the Golden Temple and then killed with grenades.

Yet another eyewitness told of men, women and children being taken from a house used by a sniper and were shot in the street.

The following are extracts from the statements tape recorded and transcribed by Manjit Singh Khaira, advocate of Punjab and Haryana High Court and also a member of national executive of People's Union for Civil Liberties.
Statement of Balwant Singh Ramuwalia, an ex - Indian MP:
"..It was about 4.25 or 4.35 a.m. on the morning of the 6th. Then the firing stopped and after a while we got up. Slowly, we went into the nearby room and found women sitting down there. A little distance ahead, there was another man seated, five or seven of us got into the room, and then the military went up into Guru Ram Das Sarai. In several rooms, they broke the glass panes and threw bombs inside. We heard the sound of the bursting grenades, After a little while they brought some persons downstairs. There is an underground basement in Guru Ram Das Serai and they brought 40 men out of it.

They were bare and their hands were tied behind their backs. They were asked to squat on the ground in four rows and they were shot by the army. I was in the compound of Guru Ram Das Sarai, just near the waster tanks for bathing. It was there that they were asked to squat and were shot dead in cold blood. They were bare and had hands tied behind their backs and were made to sit in four rows and were shot there. They were shot before our very eyes by gunfire. They would move their heads this way and that, let out a shriek and drop dead.my clothes were drenched with blood and I had lost my shoes. I had put on bandages on an old injured man after having put him into my lap. In
this condition, I went to the Commanding Officer and got another man sanctioned. After having done this, another Colonel and Brigadier called Ravi also came.

I told the Brigadier that some people had already died and asked about the fate of those 400 people who remained alive. He indicated that they were prisoners of war. I then said that they should be taken somewhere. He answered, "MP Sahib, if you could do the job of preparing lists of men, women and children and old people separately." In 40 to 50 minutes we had prepared the lists. During this interval, the army had started taking people in batches of five each to another place, as they were doing this, doubts arose that they may be taking them away in order to kill them with impunity. I rushed to a Major named Parta and asked him why the people were being killed and took him to see Sant Longowal, who also insisted upon knowing whether they were being killed after being taken away in groups of five each. He replied that it was wrong, this could never happen. He further indicated that they regarded Sant Longowal as Mahatma Gandhi and asked us as to why we doubted him. Then I was sent along with him towards the other side and found 50 persons sitting there in one corner. I asked him the purpose of their being kept confined in that place. He told us that they were to be arrested and then taken away. Then I asked him to bring the others as well. All the rest were taken there, then transferred to camps.

People were killed like that. No medicine was provided, in fact no medical aid was administered at all. Sant Sujan Singh died because he was not given water. Many people died in the camps. Neither water nor medicine aid was provided and you could not even donate blood for the injured in hospitals as it was stated that they were POW's and hence no blood transfusions were permitted. The situation is so bad that you can only look up to God for solace."

The statement of Bhan Singh, Secretary of Shromani Gurudawara Parbandhak Committee, corroborated the statement of Balwant Singh Ramuwalia and further stated: -
"When these Assistant Managers who had been injured came to me and requested medical aid I went to Subedar and told him about it. He asked me to talk to a Major and so I went to him and made a request for some arrangement to be made in this regard. He immediately caught hold of my turban and shouted to the soldiers who were lined up in three rows of eleven each holding their guns, "shoot him." Before catching hold of my turban he has asked as to who I was, and then preceded to pull my turban and ordered that I be shot. At this moment, I ran and hid behind a pillar and then reached the room where Sant Longowal and Tohra Sahib were. They were in a room at the back of Guru Ram Das Sarai, where rooms for executives members are located, they were sitting there, by the time I reached them, one of the persons who had witnessed what had happened to me already had informed Tohra Sahib about it. Then Tohra Sahib came out and asked me whether I was injured.

It was precisely during this interval that those 40 young men whose ages were between 18 and 20 were shot. About 25 of them wore long hair and the rest of them wore their hair cut as young village Jats (agriculturalists) often do. Their bodies were naked and they had their hands tied behind their backs. It was precisely the same time when I was running to save my life that they were killed. This was the reason that the attention of the soldiers was diverted from me to that side and this was what saved me.

Sardar Nachattar Singh had died after remaining in agony for four hours. Some others also died. As far as I know some people were shot instead of being taken to hospital. There were some soldiers from the Kuamon regiment who treated us as enemies and they were treating us as criminals and worse than that. They never treated us as human beings or as people belonging to a friendly country, much less as members of their own country."

Statement of Devinder Singh Duggal, Custodian of the Sikh Reference Library at the Golden Temple: -
"During those three days more than 4000 people must have been killed there. Out of them more than 90% were pilgrims who had come on the occasion of the death anniversary of the 5th Sikh Guru and they could not go because of the curfew. Among them were mostly women, children and old people.

I know of several Sikh young men being accosted on the way, their hands being ties behind their backs and then being shot in the temple complex. I know about 60 to 70 people being killed like that. I know of some boys who were captured and taken to camps where they were denied water for more than 50 hours and died of thirst. It was extremely hot in those days. Where I was staying, more than 50 persons were caught in one place. A stage came when only 1 jug of water was left with us. Children were asking for water again and again. The elders were suppressing their thirst to meet the needs of the children. A stage came when we just put a small amount of water to our lips to save ourselves. The situation got so bad that some children almost breathed their last. These people who had been deprived of water for 32 hours before, were denied for another 50 hours in the camps and it was there that many died, crying for water."

One resident of Amritsar gave an eyewitness account to the editor of the Sikh Messenger, a British publication. Parts of that account are reproduced as follows: -
"On Friday 1st June, I went to my bank Chowak Fawara, some 300 yards from our home on the edge of the Golden Temple. We were to leave for Delhi on the 4th June and fly to London on the 9th. As I walked the short distance to the bank, I saw that the BSF and CRP (para-military) fortifications, previously set up on the taller buildings, had been visibly strengthened. As I entered the bank, a barefoot Sikh cycle rickshaw boy was being beaten mercilessly by a policeman with a lathi; it was not an uncommon site.
It was soon after midday, 12: 35 pm, when we first heard firing. I was about to leave the bank, but changed my mind as the firing grew in intensity. I had to walk an estimated 3-4 miles through side streets to get there (home). Frequently, I was stopped by the paramilitary, who asked my business in menacing and frightening terms in comparison to previous curfews, which had been comparatively lax. Sometimes they accepted the truth, that I was an old man trying to get to the safety of his own home. Sometimes they sent me back, forcing me to take a circuitous route. On several occasions I was told that I would have been shot if I were a younger man. Although the streets were almost deserted, there were still a number of Hindus going about unchallenged.. He (a Hindu fruit seller) said that police at the end of the street were particularly brutal and had already shot and beaten several Sikhs. He pointed me to a tiny side street and I eventually reached the comparative safety of my own home. Water had by now been cut off and no more was to flow through the taps for the next 8 days...
The curfew was extended for another 36 hours and, in fact, remained in force until the 10th. It was cruelly and rigidly enforced by the army who had now replaced the police and paramilitary. Two young Sikh boys were shot dead outside our home..
I would like to say with all possible emphasis, that at no time were pilgrims trapped in the Temple given any warning, until the 5th, of the proposed army action. Every man, women and child pilgrim inside the Temple were treated as 'the enemy to be shot and killed if possible or if wounded, to be denied first aid or water'. Even the warning on the 5th was couched in war terms - 'surrender at the police station or be shot'. Very few surrendered, preferring death from a soldier's bullet to death from torture at the hands of the police.
Our house and every other house in the neighbourhood was searched and ransacked several times over the next few days. Anything of any value was taken. We were lucky in that my wife was not stripped or molested as happened to several other women in the street. The excuse used by soldiers in making women remove their upper garments was that they were looking for tell-tale marks of bruising from rifle butts among terrorist suspects.
On Monday 4th June, at about 4:40 am, occasional shooting gave way to heavy gunfire that increased in intensity over the next three days. Through our now shattered windows we could see heavy guns being used. We also saw tanks and armoured cars. The stench of death was so powerful as to be truly unbearable. By the afternoon of the 6th, the Golden Temple seemed to be almost entirely in the hands of the army and this was confirmed by radio broadcasts. What now followed were periods of eerie silence punctuated by shellfire from guns and tanks as the army demolished structures sacred to every Sikh. There was also some occasional rifle fire, presumably from Sikh snipers.

The army pounding of the Golden Temple area continued over the next few days confirming our fears of deliberate and vindictive destruction.
On the night of the 5th, one of the houses backing onto the Temple precinct and owned by a Hindu, caught fire. The father sent his two teenage sons to the nearby square to get water. They arrived there to find that the army had rounded up some 14 Sikhs youngsters and were about to shoot them with Sten gun fire. They, too, were bundled alongside the Sikhs and only when they pleaded that they were Hindu and had come to get water to put out a fire on their home, were they spared. The soldiers then shot the Sikhs in front of their eyes.
Also on the night of the 5th, the aged and chronically ill father of the couple next door finally expired and on the morning of the 6th the army gave our neighbours special permission to take him to the crematorium. Even before reaching this site, they could smell the stench of putrid and burning flesh. On entering the crematorium grounds they saw a sight that literally made them sick with horror. Grotesque piles of dozens of bodies were being burnt in the open without dignity or religious rites like so many carcasses. The bodies had all been brought there by dust carts and from the number of carts; the attendant estimated some 3,300 had so far been cremated.
On the night of the 7th, an elderly Sikh soldier banged on the door demanding water. We showed him the water in the bath, now covered with a layer of dust from the soot and flames all round. He said he would get some from the hand pump in the square. As he turned to leave, my wife asked him why was the firing was still continuing when the radio had announced the capture of the Golden Temple a day earlier. Near to tears, the old soldier replied that the army was bringing in the young Sikhs from surrounding areas and shooting them in rows near the Golden Temple.
The curfew was lifted intermittently, a few hours at a time after the 10th, and over the next few days we continued to learn with horror of the barbarism, savagery and mindless destruction by the army. We were visited by a priest I knew well and whose face was black and blue with bruises. He said he had been beaten mercilessly by the army who eventually let him go when he was recognised by friends at the police station. He narrated how, on his way to the station, he was taken past a square where young Sikhs were being lined up and killed with sten guns and grenades.

ARMY ACTION IN THE PUNJAB

News of the attack on the Golden Temple spread quickly despite the curfew. Thousands of people in the surrounding villages gathered to march to Amritsar to defend the Golden Temple. At Golwand village in Jhubal District a crowd of several thousands gathered with makeshift weapons under the leadership of Baba Bidhi Chand and began to march the 25 km to Amritsar. Helicopter patrols spotted them and strafed them with bullets without warning. Within minutes hundreds were dead and wounded.
Crowds gathered at the villages including Ajnala, Rajash Sunsi, Dhandhesali, Fatehpur, Rajpurtan and Batala Gurdaspur). A large crowd gathered at Chowk Mehta, HQ of the Damdami Taksal, where the army killed 76 Sikhs and arrested 285. All across the region, wireless sets carried the message from army chiefs to soldiers to shoot on sight anyone on the streets.
The army continued its task of moving through the villages in the countryside and flushing out alleged 'terrorists'. The young Sikh men in the villages were lined up in rows; some were stripped and publicly flogged and accused of being terrorists or withholding information about terrorists. Some were taken away and sent to interrogation centres, never to be seen again.
In the Sunday Times of 22/7/84 Mary Anne Weaver reported:
"Thousands of people have disappeared from the Punjab since the siege of the Sikh's Golden Temple here seven weeks ago. The Indian army have been engaged in a massive flushing out operation, aimed at Sikh extremists. In some villages men between 15 and 35 have been bound, blindfolded and taken away. Their fate is unknown.
The worsening relations between Indira Gandhi's government and the Punjab's 9.4 million Sikhs could be observed recently in the tiny village of Kaimbwala. One evening during prayers 300 troops entered the small-whitewashed temple, blindfolded the 30 worshippers and pushed them into the street.
According to the priest, Sant Pritpal Singh, the villagers were given electric shocks and interrogated about the whereabouts of Sikh militants. Guirnam Singh, a 37 year old landowner, was held in an army camp for 13 days. Last week, his face bruised and his arms and legs dotted with burns, he said he had been hung upside down and beaten."
The army violated many other Sikh Temples in the Punjab on the pretext that they contained arms and terrorists. These violations were in breach of section 295 - 298 of the Indian Penal Code which protects religious shrines from such abuse. On the night of the 6th of June 1984 soldiers who had been surrounding the Dukh Niwaran Sahib Temple in Patiala began firing. The shooting lasted about half an hour. Twenty people were killed and seven others wounded. Newsweek on 2/7/84 carried the following report:
"Nobody ever explained to us why they had attacked, or why they had not given us a chance to come out first." Ajaib Singh manager of the Temple told me, "Not a single shot was fired from here."
The army set up camps in Punjab at which Sikhs were detained. One camp was at Jullander Shauni behind the military hospital. Another was set up in Hoshiarpur District near Shan Choracy and yet another in Ropar District at
the village of Kotla. There are reports of the torture of Sikh women detained at the camps in the Jullander area

 

 

EYE WITNESS ACCOUNTS OF THE ARMY ACTION Who were the eye-witnesses to the Golden Temple episode?

1.      1.      Devinder Singh Duggal - In charge of the Sikh Reference Library located inside the Golden Temple complex. Duggal is an acknowledged authority on Sikh history. He used to reside in a house adjacent to the Sikh Reference Library, was present there between May 28 and June 6, 1984 and hence (in his own words) "an eye-witness to some of the atrociities committed by the Army during its attack on the Golden Temple". About fiftyish, Duggal now lives with his lecturer-wife in Jallandhar, where we interviewd him. His eyes become moist and his voice quivered as he described the assault on the Golden Temple. 2. Bhan Singh- Secretary of the S.G.P.C., short, slim, in his mid fifties, Bhan Singh is a man of few words. He was present in the Golden Temple Complex during the Army attack and was arrested at dawn on June 6 along with Longowal and Tohra from the Guru Nanak Nivas which now houses the SGPC Office, where we met and talked to him. His account begins from June 3, 1984. 3. Giani Puran Singh - one of the priests at Harmandir Sahib. 4. Girl Student - Grand-daughter of SGPC member, she preferred to remain anonymous. Aged about 20 years, she goes to college at Amritsar. She went to the Golden Temple on May 29, 1984, with her grand-parents and an aunt, to fulfill a vow, and was there until June 6. We met her in Amritsar in the house of a widowed victim of the November 1984 Delhi violence. 5. A.I.S.S.F. Member - about 25-years old, he would not give his name, son of a police officer, he was visiting the Golden Temple in June 1984 for the Gurupurab and was there from June 1. He was arrested by the Army on June 6 but released in October. He was rearrested soon after and had been again released a little before we met him. Remarkably calm and soft spoken, he said that there were about 100 fighters with Bhindranwale inside the Temple Complex and less than 100 arms, mostly, 303 guns of the II World War. Extremely handsome, he is a member of the All India Sikh Students Federation. 6. Prithipal Singh - A young (24 years) Sevadar at the Akal Rest House, inside the Guru Ram Das Serai, Golden Temple complex, where mostly distinguished guests stayed. He was on duty throughout the period of the Army Operation. He narrated how he had a hair-breadth escape, even after being lined up before the firing squad on June 6, after he had been arrested, stripped naked and his hands had been tied behind his back with his turban. He showed us the bullet-ridden walls of the Akal Rest House, where we spoke to him. 7. Joginder Singh - and empoyee of the S.G.P.C. whom we met at the Golden Temple. 8. Surinder Singh Ragi "Patnasahib Wala" - Head Ragi (singer) at the Harmandir Sahib, we met the young man (about 35 years) outside the Information Office of the Golden Temple, He was in the Kesari (Sochre) roles of a priest. He was on duty at the Harmandir Sahib during the Army action. He is an extremely popular singer of 'Shabads' from the Gurbani and his tapes are on great demand. He spoke to us with great conviction. "The Guru taught us to resist atyachar (represssion), not to do atyachar". 9. Baldev Kaur - an Amritdhari woman in her mid-thirties, she had come to the Golden Temple on June 2, 1984 for the Gurupurab with her husband (Puran Singh who is now in Kapurthala Jail) and three children from her village Khanowal in Kapurthala district. She was so calm and fearless when she described her tribulations. She is facing severe economic hardships, cultivating only two acres of land, having no regualr source of income since her husband's arrest more that 9 months back. 10. Harchan Singh Ragi - one of the Hazuri Ragis who sings at the Harmandir Sahib, he is in his late fifties. With serene eyes and flowing white beard, he has an endearing touch. He was on duty at the Harmandir Sahib singing 'kirtans' when the Army shelled it very early morning on June 4. Born into a Hindu Brahmin family, he was orphaned at the time of partition and then adoped and brought up by Amrik Singh, the blind Head Ragi of the Golden Temple who was killed inside the Harmandir Sahib on the morning of June 5. We met him at the Information Office of the Golden Temple, and he lives just above it. Raminderpal Singh - an innocent boy - one of his sons, is detained at Jodhpur Jail as a 'terrorist'. Some of the details of the life in Amritsar at the time of the Army action, were provided to us by the relatives of a few of those who were captured from the Golden Temple after the army operation, as 'terrorists' accused of 'waging war against the State' and who are now being tried under the Special Courts (Terrorists) Act at Jodhpur Jail. It is the Jodhpur detenues who are eye-witnesses to the Army operations in Amritsar in June 1984, not the relatives we met. But some of their evidence was passed on to their relatives in the course of brief meeting in jail from time to time. We met the relatives of: (a) Kanwaljit Singh - A 20-year-old student of Khalsa College (evening) Delhi, whose father (Satnam Singh) runs a provision store at Lawrence Road, Delhi. Kanwaljit Singh visted the Temple with his friend on June 2, wanted to return to Delhi the same afernoon, but found that the last train had left Amritsar. And so he was forced to stay at the Guru Ram Das Serai inside the Golden Temple Complex. After Army action, he was arrested by the Army from the Serai and later chargesheeted with 378 others as 'terrorists' and detained under the N.S.A. We spoke to his youger brother, Inder Mohan Singh, at Delhi. (b) Jasbir Singh and Randhir Singh - Two brothers who went to Golden Temple, separtely, on June 3 to pay their respects. As Jasbir Singh was coming out after fulfilling his vow on June 3 at about 1:30 p.m. on the side of the Chowk Ghan ta Ghar, he was detained along with other youths by the C.R.P. The C.R.P. made them take off their shirts, tied their hands behind them and made them sit on the hot road outside the Information Office. Randhir Singh was staying in a room in Guru Ram Das Serai, belonging to their uncle (a member of the SGPC) from where he was arrested on June 5. Randhir was injured by bullets on his leg. We spoke to their father, Harbans Singh Ghumman, about 55 years a farmer and former MLA belonging to village Ghummankala , district Gurdaspur.

 

 

OPERATION BLUESTAR:

OFFICIAL VERSION - FACT OR FICTION?

The Eye Witness accounts of what happended at the Golden Temple on June 5 are in marked contrast to the white paper or the army's common charge sheet to the 379 alleged 'terrorists' captured from Golden Temple now detained under N.S.A. at Jodhpur. According to the White Paper: " All Commanders were instructed to continuously use the public address systems for a number of hours at every suspected hidout of terrorists to give themselves up in order to prevent bloodshed and damage to holy plac es before the use of force for their apprehension." Was this actually done? Our eye-witness accounts prove that it was not. Regarding Golden Temple, the White Paper is also specific, "During the afternoon and evening of June 5 1984 repeated appe als were made to the terrorists over the public address system to lay down their arms and surrender and to others inside the Temple to come out, to prevent avoidable bloodshed and damage to structures in theTemple Complex. In response to this appeal 129 m en, women and children came out and they were handed over to the civil authorities." Is it possible to believe this version? We have seen how the Army started shelling the Golden Temple without any warning or public announcement from the early hours of June 4. They continued this firing throughout June 4 and 6. The militants also fired in reply but they were no match, either in terms of numbers of men or in amounts of ammuntion. How could the Army make 'repeated appeals' during the afternoon and even ing of June 5 when intense fighting was going on and how could 120 person come out during this raging battle? The Army's version, as revealed by its chargesheet to the 379 alleged 'terrorists' detained at Jodhpur Jail, is even more incredible. On June 5, when they were supposed to have been deputed for duty outside the Golden Temple, the Army had the informati on that "the extremists/terrorists led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had collected men, arms, ammunitions and explosives within the Golden Temple and had also made other preparations to wage war against the Government of India with the intention to e xtablish a State independent of the Government of India to be known as Khalistan". Or in other words, Khalistan was to be established at the Golden Temple and if the A.I.S.S.F. member is to be believed, by about 100 fighters equipped mostly with 303 decrepit guns of the II World War, a few 315 rifles and some stenguns. S. S. Bhagowalia an advocate at Gurdaspur and Vice President of the Associtation for Democratic Rights (A.F.D.R. Punjab) investigated and found that Bhindranwale's supporters numbered no more that 140-150. It is strange that the White Paper has nothing to say about the Khalistan flag - a country without a flag! But the White Paper says that Khalistan was to be established at the Golden Temple. According to the Army's chargsheet and als o the White Paper, in response to the Army's repeated appeals to the Terrorists to lay down their arms and surrender, they opened intensive firing from inside the Complex. "They were shouting anti-national slogans." This was a battle not a demon stration. How could 'terrorists' engage in shouting anti-national slogans at a time when they were allegedly using automatic and semi-automatic weapons, grenades, explosives, etc? Even if they did shout these slogans how could the slogans be heard over the din and noise of rattling stenguns and automatic rifles? The White Paper also describes how the library was allegedly gutted on the night between June 5 and 6 - "Troops were able to enter the area around the Sarovar through the northern deori and the Southern library building. Terrorists were in control of the Library building and fired from there. At this stage, the library caught fire - the Army fire brigade was rushed but their attempts were failed by the machine-gun fire from the terrorists." A perfect brief for the Army! But according to Duggal who was in incharge of the Sikh Reference Library and who cared for it, the Library was intact when he last saw it on June 6, evening while leaving the Temple Complex. However, he was in for a terrible shock when he was brought back to the Temple complex by the Army on June 14. Let us listen to Duggal's tale of sorrow as well as courage: "On 14th June 1984 I was arrested by the Army and taken inside the Golden Temple, where I was shocked to see that the Sikh Reference Libra ry had been burnt. The entire Golden Temple Complex presented a very, very painful look. It bore at least 3 lakhs of bullet marks. The Akal Takht was in shambles. Guru Nanak Nivas, Teja Singh Samundri Hall, Guru Ram Das Serai and the langar buildings had been burnt. When I left the Complex on 6th all those buildings were in good shape in spite of the Army Attack, Taken to the Library's ruins, I was asked by the Army Col. to take charge of the Library. I asked him as to were is the Library. He said that I had no option but to sign a typed receipt to the effect that I have taken over the charge of the Library. I refused to oblige him saying that I would not tell such a big lie." The White Paper is very emphatic the "Troops were particularly instructed not to wear any leather items in holy places and to treat all apprehended person with dignity and consideration." What was the reality? The reality was this:- June 6, 1984 - " At 2 a.m. on June 6", says Prithipal Singh, Sevadar, at the Akal Rest House, "the Army people came to the Rest House. They tore off all my clothes, stripped me naked, my kirpan was snatched, my head gear (patta) was untie d to tie up my hands behind my back. They caught me by my hair and took me along with five others - who were all pilgrims - to the ruins of the water tank, there we were told, "don't move or you'll be shot." They kept hitting us with the rifle b utts. Then a Major came and ordered a soldier, shoot them, then shouted at us, "You must be Bhindranwale's Chelas? You want Khalistan? I said "I am here to do my duty. I have nothing to do with all this." "Six of us were in a line faci ng the Major, when a Pahari soldier started shooting from one end, killing four of us (with 3 bullets each). As my turn was coming, suddenly a Sikh Officer turned up and ordered, "Stop Shooting". Thus I was saved. The Sikh Officer was told, &quo t;these people have ammunitions". At that he ordered them to lock us in a room. Two of us were locked up in a room in Guru Ram Das Serai, but we did not talk nor did I ask the other man's name. On 7th June the door was opened at about 8 or 9 in the m orning. We had gone without water. The floor was covered in blood. I was allowed to leave." This was then the 'dignity and consideration' which the White Paper had claimed was shown to those apprehended by the Army. Bhan Singh picks up the thread of the story at about 4 a.m. on June 6. "I was arrested along with Sant Longowal and Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra early morning on the 6th. We were encircled by the Army people, throughout the day from 4 a.m. till 5 p.m. when Sant Longowal and Jathedar Tohra were taken to the Army Camp, but I along with many others was kept inside the compound of Guru Ram Das Serai. We were taken away to the Army Camp at about 9.30 p.m." Even on this point of arrest of Longowal and Tohra, the White Paper has a totally different version - "At 1.00 a.m. on June 6, Sant Harchand Singh Longowal and Shri G.S. Tohra surrendered near Guru Nanak Niwas with about 350 people. The terrorist opened fire at them and also lobbed hand grenades to prevent surrender. As a result, 70 people were kille d including 30 women and children." Even Longowal is on record that he and Tohra were arrested at 5 a.m. from Guru Nanak Niwas (where the S.G.P.C. Office is now located) and kept there in Army custody the whole day. Neither he nor Bhan Singh talk abo ut surrendering to the Army nor do they refer to the killing of 70 people including 30 women and children, by terrorists at the time of their surrender. Should we believe Bhan Singh (and Longowal) or would we blindly accept the White Paper's Version? On the morning of June 6, as the girl student opened the door of their small room and "came out to fetch water, what did I see but piles of dead bodies, all stacked one over the other. At first I instinctively felt that I wouldn't manage to go out . All I could see was a ceaseless mount of dead bodies. It seemed that all the persons who werre staying in the Parikrama, not one of them had survived... The Army said later that they did not go inside the Golden Temple wearing boots. But I have seen som e of the dead bodies of the Army men in uniform - they were wearing boots and belts." The White Paper is contradicted once more. The girl student's narration continues. It is an amazing and astonishing account of how she accidentally met Bhai Amrik Singh, Prsident of the A.I.S.S.F. and Bhindranwale's close associate. She had not met him before but once he told her his name, she recognised him at once because his pictures had come out in the papers. How Amrik Singh gave her some water in a bucket which she gave to her relatives and acquaintances, but she could not bring herself to drinking it because it was red, mixed with blood. How Bhai Amrik Singh sent her a message urging her to leave the Temple Complex at once with her group in order to escape being dishonoured or being shot dead as 'terrorists' by the Army personnel, and also to survive to tell the true story of what happen ed inside the Golden Temple to the world outside. She recounts in breathtaking detail how she picked up the courage to first come out of the Complex and then bring out her relatives and acquaintances. To quote her own words - "So I decided to try to find the way out. There was a man lying dead. I had to place my foot on him. My foot touched sometimes somebody's had, sometimes somebody's body. I had to move in this fashion. There is a staircase next to the Nishan Saheb (outside teh Akal Takht) and next to it there was an iron gate, which had got twisted because of the shelling. I pulled the gate and came out, there was nobody. The place was deserted. The doors of the houses were shut and locked from outside. I was in a haze. For I saw the locks and yet I kept shouting for shelter. Then I came to my senses, realizing that the inhabitants had locked their houses and gone away. Then I broke the mud patch in the wall of a house and entered it. One o f the doors of this house opened out into the Golden Temple. I went back to the temple through this door. I found a wounded man who relayed my message to my grandmother through other wounded persons, that I had managed to come outside, she should also com e out. By then the room in the Akal Takht building, where I had taken shelter with my grandmother was already in flames. The 20-25 people in that room came out with much difficulty and reached the place where I was. The house had been sprayed with shells and bullets and there were gaping holes in the walls. We found a water tank in that house which had escaped destruction, unlike the water tank in the Golden Temple complex. First we all drank water from that tank. We met an injured man who had also taken shelter in that house. He asked us to go with him to his house. We accompanied him. He made us change all our blood-soaked clothes; some we washed clean." The narrations of Bhan Singh, Harcharan Singh Ragis, Giani Puran Singh and the girl student tear apart the White Paper that the Army had been instructed 'to treat all apprehended persons with dignity and consideration', and also that 'no women and chil dren were killed in the action by the troops.' Bhan Singh remembers- "On the 6th morning when hundreds of people were killed or wounded, everywhere there were cries of those people who were wounded and injured but there was no provisions for their dressings and there were no Red Cross people w ithin the complex... Many young people aged between 18 and 22 years were killed and so were some ladies. A lady carrying a child of only a few months saw her husband lying before her. The child was also killed on account of the firing. It was a very touch ing scene when she placed the dead body of the child alongside her husband's body. Many people were crying for drinking water, but they were not provided any. Some had to take water out of the drains where dead bodies were lying and the water was red with blood. The way the injured were quenching their thirst was an aweful sight which could not be tolerated. The Army people were there, moving about mercilessly without showing any sign of sympathy with those injured or wounded. Those who were under arrest were not provided any facility of water or food or any other thing of that sort. The clothes of those who were arrested were removed and they were only left with shorts-their turbans, shirts, etc. were all removed and heaped together. Such a brute treatme nt was given to them, as if they were aliens and not the citizens of the coutry to which the forces belonged." Harcharan Singh Ragi similarly recounts- "My quarters are on the first floor above the information office and it was unsafe, with the firing going on endlessly, to stay there. Four members of the family of Narinder Pal Singh, the Information Offic er who also lived on the same floor as us and we five took shelter in the basement of the Information office building. On the 6th of June, between 12 noon and 5 p.m., the Army announced that people should come out. This was the first announcement given si nce the Army operations began. All of us in the basement volunteered arrest and the Information Officer and myself showed our identity cards as employees of the S.G.P.C. As we were coming out, we saw that hundreds of people were being shot down as they ca me out. We saw many women being shot dead by the commanders. I also would have been, but for my little girl, Jaswinder Pal Kaur (Anju), rushing to the Army Commander and begging to save her father's life." And now let us listen to the girl student once more- "On June 6 at o'clock in the evening, they announced a relaxation in the curfew for one hour. Meanwhile, we went through some devious lanes and managed to take shelter in a house which was some distance form the Golden Temple. The Army people announced that everyone should come out. So we came out." "There were about 27-28 persons with us, 5 of them ladies, some elderly men, the rest young boys. The Army made all of us stand in queue. There were 13 boys out of which three I clained to be my brothers. I did not know them from before. I merely wanted to save them. I don't know why, perhaps because they thought the 3 boys were part of our family but the Army released these three boys. They went away. Out of the remainging male youths, they picked out four and took off their turbans with which th ey tied their hands behind their backs. Then the Army men beat these 4 Sikh boys with the butts of their rifles till they fell on the ground and started bleeding. They kept telling the boys all along, "you are terrorists. You were coming from inside. You were taking part in the action. You will be shot." These boys were shot dead right in front of me. They looked completely innocent. Neither they seemed to know how to use a rifle, nor they seemed to know the meaning of 'terrorism'. They were sho t before my eyes. Their age was between 18 and 20 years. I did not know who they were - circumstances had brought us together by chance. Whenever I recollect that scene, I seem to lose my bearings. "Then they (the Army people) surrounded me and started questioning me. I told my granmother not to speak a word to them as they were speaking only with bullets. I asked them whether they had come to protect us or to finish us. I said my grandfathe r was a colonel in the Army... The Army man... in charge then asked his colleagues to leave me and my family members. He told me to go away quickly. And so we were saved." Giani Puran Singh narrates- "At 4:30 a.m. on June 6, Guru Granth Sahib was brought down. PRAKASH done and the Hukumnama taken, the kirtan of Asa-di-vaar started. This kirtan was not done by the appointed Ragi Jatha (Hymn singers) but by members of Bhai Randhir Singh Jatha, one member of which Avtar Singh of Parowal was later martyred inside the Darbar Sahib. The official Jatha of Bhai Amrik Singh had been martyred at the Darshani Deori the previous day. Bhai Avtar Singh was hit by a bullet which t ore through the southern door, one of which is still embedded in the Guru Granth Sahib which is there since Maharaja Ranjit Singh's time. Time passed and at 4:00p.m. on June 6, some poisonous gas was spread and the Akal Takht captured, if not for this gas the forces could not have been able to gain the Akal Takht. At 4:30 the commandant, Brar spoke from a speaker on the Sourhtern Deori that all living people should surrender. All those who had come face to face with the forces had been eliminated. We (I a nd Gyani Mohan Singh) asked all the 22 within the Darbar Sahib to surrender and told the commanding officer that two priests had stayed behind and if need be, he could send his men for them. He did not agree with them and called aloud on the speaker that we should come out with raised hands. We decided against this because if we were shot on the way it would merely be a waste. We were in teh Darbar Sahib till 7:30 when two soldiers and a sewadar were sent to fech us. While on our way out I stopped to pour a handful of water in the mouth of the wounded member of the Jatha, who asked us to send for help. I promised to do so provided I remainded alive. Gen. Brar, meanwhile announced over the loudspeaker that nobody should fire upon us. The moment I stepped o ut of the Darshani Deori, I saw the Akal Takht ruined and the rubble was spread all around. Hundreds of corpses were lying scattered. We were wished by Gen Brar who told that he too was a Sikh. He then enquired as to what did we propose to do. We told him that we wanted to go to the urinal and then be allowed to go to our residences. He allowed us to go to the urinal and then we were questioned of the whereabouts of Santji and were told that he would not be harmed. We told them that they knew better as th ey were in command. We were questioned, whether any machine-gunnists were operating from Darbar Sahib to which we siad that they were welcome to inspect the premises themselves. Five persons accompaied us to the Hari Mandir, one Sikh officer and 3-4 other s. When we started the Sikh officer insisted that we lead because if firing started from within, we would face them, moreover we would be shot if someone shot from within. When we reached the Harimadir, a search was carried out by them, picking and search ing below very carpet but no sign of firing was traced. Meanwhile the wounded member left behind had passed away. His body was placed in a white sheet, brought out and placed along with various others lying outside." According to the A.I.S.S.F. member, "on 6th June at 5:30 p.m. we surrendered before the Army. 199 surrendered before us. We were made to lie down on the hot road, interrogated, made to move on our knees, hit with rifle butts and kicked with boots on private parts and head. Our hands were tied behind our backs and no water was given to us. We were asked 'how many people were inside? and 'where are the arms and ammunition?' At about 7 p.m., we were made to sit in the parakrama- near the Army tanks. There was firing from the side of the Akal Takht and many were injured." This is yet another convincinbg evidence of the dignity and consideration shown by the Indian Army to those captured, after the action was over. June 7, 1984 - Giani Puran Singh's account throws light on how and when Bhindranwale was killed: "Time passed away and at 7:30 a.m. on 7th we were taken out of the complex and informed that the bodies of Santji, Gen Subeg Singh, Bhai Amrik Singh, h ad all been found. When asked as to where were the bodies found, the reply was that Santji's body was recovered from between the 2 Nishan Sahibs while Amrik Singh and Shubeg Singh's bodies had been found behind the Nishan Sahibs. The news carried by the m edia said that Santji's body had been recovered from the basement in Akal Takht. We were not shown these bodies but were led to our residences by the military. The head priests who also came there were informed that the bodies of Santji and others had bee n found. In fact, if the bodies had been found, we would have been called for identification but instead we were threatened to be shot lest we tried to go near the rooms where they had been kept. Moreover, if found, the body would have been embalmed taken to Delhi and kept for some time before finally dispersing it. The White Paper's version of the events is distorted and not convincing. For example: "By the morning of June 6, the troops had effectively engaged all gun positions at the Akal Takht and were able to enter the Akal Takht. Room-to-room engagement commenced till it was cleared by 12:30 p.m. on the afternoon of June 6, except for resistance continuing from the ground floor and basements... On the afternoon of June 6, 200 terrorists surrende red including 22 from Harmandir Sahib." Giani Puran Singhy who was one of the 22 has clearly said that the 22 persons who had surrendered from inside Harmandir Sahib were 'some devotees and others the employees of the Gurdwara'. Thus there were no ar med terrorists inside the Harmandir Sahib- 50-60 persons-cited by the girl student and the same figures-of 22 persons-given by all other eye-witesses and also the White Paper. The fact that the girl student accompanied by 27-28 persons left the Harmandir Dahib on the afternoon of June 4 amidst the firing and took shelter in the Akal Takht explains the descrepency in figures. The White Paper also claims that "On 8th June 1984, the terrorists hacked to death an unarmed army doctor who had entered a basement of the Akal Takht to treat some casualties." Giani Puran Singh's account gives an accurate description of thi s incident: "There were 4 Singhs in the basement of the BUNGA JASSA SINGH RAMGARHIA who were giving a tough fight to the forces. They had also pulled down 3 personnel of the army who had ventured close-one of them was a so called doctor. They were sw iftly put to death., The authorities wanted these people to surrender but they wanted some mutually responsible person to mediate. I was then asked to mediate but first of all I asked the army offices of a guarantee that none would be shot only arrested a nd later law would take its own course. They were not ready for this and wished me to talk to the Brigadier who too was noncommittal. They then asked me to inquire if the three army personnel were alive. The reply received was that no live personnel was t here in the base-At this the Brigadier asked me to leave and that they would themselves deal with them. These men in the basement fought the whole day, that night and also the next day when Giani Zail Singh came to visit the ruins of Akal Takht. Some thou ght that they had also aimed for Giani but it was not so. These people did not know that Giani was coming. If they knew before hand, they would definitely put a bullet through the 'tyrant' but they were totally cut out from the outside world. A colonel of the commandos attempted to flush out these men in the basement with a gun and light arrangement but as soon as he entered the basement, a burst of LMG wounded him and it was later learnt that he had succumbed to the injuries in the hospital. 2 cannons we re employed to fire at the Bunga, gaping holes were formed on the Parikrama end but the men within were safe. I saw from the roof of Harmandir Sahib that two grenadiers, had been put on the grenade shooter and a continuous barrage of grenades was being po ured but they still survived. Burnt red chilly bags, chilly powder and smoke granades were thrown in; one of them came out to be greeted with a hail of bullets while the others finally were silenced on the 10th." Similarly the White Paper's account of the amount of arms recovered seem to be patently exaggerated. We may not accept the A.I.S.S.F. members version that there were less than 100 arms, mostly obsolete .303 guns from the II World War and some stenguns, on the ground that it may be a partisan account. At the same time it is not possible to belive the White Paper's version - "A large quantity of weapons, ammuniton and explosives was recovered, including automatic and anti-tank weapons. A small facto ry for the manfacture of hand grenades and sten-guns was also found within the precincts of the Golden Temple." If this modern arms factory had been discovered inside the Golden Temple before the Army Operations began there would have been no room fo r doubt or controversy. But making such a claim after the Army operation was over. Only there was the Army to testify. In contrast, our eye-witness have repeatedly pointed out that the terrorists had a small number of men and limited arms which had to be used sparingly. Would the resistance have collapsed so abruptly, if there were hundreds of terrorist manning a modern arms factory, as claimed by the White Paper. The White Paper's figures of the number of people killed or injured at the Golden Temple during the Army operations, seem to reflect gross under-estimation and understatement. The White Paper's figures of the casualties on account of the Operation Blue star alone are: 1. Own troops killed 83 2. Own troops wounded 249 3. Civilians/terrorist killed 493 4. Terrorists and other injured 86 5. Civilians/terrorists apprehended 592 Our eye-witness accounts point out two unmistakable facts: (a) There were thousands, perhaps ten thousand people, consisting of pilgrims, S.G.P.C. employees, Akali volunteers came to court arrest, and terrorists present inside the Golden Temple complex when the Army started firing at the Golden Temple from all sides on the dawn of June 4. (b) The battle lasted nearly 56 to 60 hours from 4 a.m. on June 4 to about 4 p.m. on June 6. The firing was almost incessant and continuous and, despite the White Paper's several claims, had no constraints. It was a most fierce battle. Therefore, not hundreds but thousands could well have died during the operations, and thousands maimed or injured. The girl student had seen stacks and stacks of dead bodies piled up all over the parikrama very early on the morning of June 6. Joginder Singh estimates that at least 1500 dead bodies were lying on the parikrama. Bhan Singh saw hundreds of people dying before him on June 6. Harcharan Singh Ragi saw hundreds of people including women and children, being shot down by Army commandos, as they came out to surrender on the afternoon of June 6 outside the Golden Temple on the Ghanta Ghar side. We may hesitate to accept exact figures such as A.F.D.R. Vice President S. S. Bahagawalia'a estimate of 2009 killed including about 400 Hindu Bhaiyyas or t he AISSF members estimate "that 7 to 8 thousand people were killed" or Surinder Singh Ragi's confident assertions that 'during the Army operation at least 7000 people were killed on the parikrama and another 1000 dead bodies were recovered from various rooms." These are all impressions. There is no reliable estimate because the Press was not allowed. Nevertheless the clear conclusion emerges that hundreds and hundreds of people were killed during the Army Action on Golden Temple in June 1984 most brutally. It was indeed a mass massacre mostly of innocents. The post-mortem reports (see Annexures 7 & amp; 8) speak of the Army's brutatlities in very clear terms- (i) Most of the dead bodies had their hands tied behind their backs implying that they had not died during the action, but like Sevadar Prithipal Singh's temporary companions lined up before th e firing squad, all of them must have been shot after being captured and (ii) At the time of the post-mortem, the bodies were in a putrid and highly decomposed state--they had been brought for post-mortem after 72 hours implying a totally callous attitude towared the injured and the dead. Even after June 6, many died due to negligence, while under the detention of the Army and many others were killed in Army camps. According to the AISSF member: "On the evening of 7th June 1984 I was brought to the Army Camp and locked in the Arms Rooms with 28 persons. It had no ventilation and there was no water. 14 died of suffocation including Sujan Singh, a member of the SGPC." According to a former MLA, Harbans Singh Ghumman, 37 Sikh youths were killed on one of the Army camps at Amritsa r between June 16 and June 18, 1984. He had been personally concerned about this incident at that time as he had learnt that this youngest son, Randhir Singh, was also being detatined in one of the military camps at Amritsar.

General Brar walking into Harimandir Sahib after the attack with shoes ON, as if shooting at the holy site with tanks wasn't enough, he clearly had to openly disrespect it as well, despite this picture being in the public domain, he continued to tell national & International media agencies that he did not direspect the most sacred of Sikh shrines, see for yourself below in the picture, what a blatant liar he obviously is:

The picture on the right shows General Brar, and many of his troops walking into the most sacred & treasured of Sikh Places of Worship WITH THEIR SHOES ON, even his 2nd in command (in front of him) notices such blatant disrespect.

 

 

SINCE OPERATION BLUESTAR

JODHPUR DETENUES- WERE THEY WAGING WAR? One of the purposes of "Operation Bluestar"; according to the White Paper, was to flush out the terrorists from the Golden Temple complex. Hundreds of people who were arrested from the Golden Temple after the army action and detained by the Ar my were charged as terrorists". 379 of the alleged 'most dangerous terrorsits' were forced to sign a common confessional statement and thereafter served a common charge sheet that they were all Bhindranwale's closest associates and comrades-in-arms e ngaged in 'waging war against the State'. They were, therefore, detained under the NSA and are now being tried at Jodhpur under the Terrorist-Affected Areas (Special Courts) Act of 1984. As we were curious regarding the extent of danger these hardcore 'te rrorists' posed to the State 'with the intention to establish a State independent from the Government of India to be known as Khalistan", we visited the homes of some of the Jodhpur detenues and met their families or relatives. The evidence collected established beyond doubt that none of the Jodhpur detenues we succeeded in profiling are 'terrorists' but rather all of them are completely innocent, ordinary persons, whose only crime was that they had all gone to or were coming from the Golden Temple-a s devotes or pilgrims visiting the golden Temple for the Guru Parb on June 3, 1984 or farmers gone to the Temple to deliver village donation of grain to the S.G.P.C. or students gone to pay obeisance at their holiest religious shrine, the Harmandir Sahib before their examinations or interviews. The following are the case studies of the Jodhpur detenues:

1. RAMINDERPAL SINGH (Pet name: Happy), aged 20 years, son of Harcharan Singh Ragi, whom we have met already. When Harcharan Singh Ragi and Information Officer Narinder Pal Singh's families came out of the basement on the 6th of June, they were all arr ested from outside the Golden Temple and taken to the Army Camp. In the words of Harcharan Singh Ragi- "I was release on June 18. My wife and daughter were released on June 22, but not the boys. Again, on July 13, my eldest son was released but not R aminderpal, my second son. He was taken to Amritsar Jail from where he took his frist year examination between August 8 and 22. Then he was shifted to Nabha Jail on August 31, 1984. On March 10, 1985, he was taken to Jodhpur Jail, from where he is taking the second year examinations now. There was no charge-sheet against any of us. But Raminderpal was falsely imlplicated as having been arrested from inside the Golden Temple and charged 'with waging war againt the State.' He was put under the Amended NSA, which disregards the recommendations of the Advisory Board.... My son has been charged with "waging war against the State". But he is one of the gentlest and known for his courteous behaviour. He used to play hockey at the district level when he was at school. He is fond of reading, can play the harmonium and he is a good singer. Often he used to accompany me in the golden Temple during our Kirtan sessions. He was a serious student and in December 1983 when there was a strike at Khalsa College, he left it in disgust and studied at home. What he earned doing overtime singing kirtans in Harmandir Sahib, he spent it for lessons in mathematics. His closest friends are Hindus. An ideal boy, so innocent, today he is in Jodhpur Jail accused as an 'extr emist'. With great sadness, his wife said, "One who spent his life in struggle, how could he bring up his children as 'extremists'?

2.KANWALJIT SINGH - We have met Kanwaljit before we left his story at the point when he sent telegram home on the night of June 3, 1984. Operation Blue Star started thereafter. Kanwaljit was arrested by the army from the Serai and was taken to an Army Camp where he was tortured and interrogated. "Why did your come to Golden Temple? Where have you come from? Did you have arms? Did you come to fight?' Meanwhile, Kanwaljit and Manjit's families in Delhi had no knowledge about their whereabouts, Kanwaljit's mother visited Amritsar in the late June 198 to inquire about her son. His father and brother did not go as it was feared that any male Sikh who w ould go to Amritsar to inquire would be arrested. At Amritsar, Kanwaljits's mother saw a list of those killed, injured, and arrested during Operation Bluestar with the S.G.P.C. In the list of those who had died, there were only 3 or 4 names, that of Bhind ranwale, Amrik Singh and so on. The mother saw Kanwaljit and Manjit's names in the list of those arrested. She was told that Kanwaljit was being detained in an Army Camp. She went to the said Army Camp in July with her sister. She was not allowed to meet her son. She went twice more in July to the Army Camp but was not permitted to see or meet her son. The Government first informed Kanwaljit's family on September 15, that he had been transferred to the Nabha Jail. They could have an interview with him twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In Nabha Jail, Kanwaljit and many others were made to sign a common confessional statement and served a common charge-sheet alleging that he and his companion, were armed terrorists, that they were followers of Bhindranwale and that they had gathered to wage war against the Indian State in order to establish a se parate State of Khalistan by violent means. They were then transferred to Jodhpur Special Court. He has been put under NSA, detained for 2 years. Whereas in Nabha Jail, all relatives were permitted to visit, at Jodhpur only parents were allowed to visit once a week. Kanwaljit was brought to Delhi on April 11, 1985 to take his examinations to reappear for B. Com. (Hons.) II year. The parents were allowed to meet him at Tihar Jail only after a lot of harassment and objections. Kanwaljit is a man of few words. He does not mix much and has few friends, Manjit being the closest. Kanwaljit used to go to the NDMC Stadium at New Delhi every morning for swimming. On returning he used to play carrom and chess with Manjit and read ch ess books. Chess is his first love and he was winning awards in chess competitions. In 1982-83, he came second in the Khalsa College (Evening) Class tournament. In 1983-84, he again came second in the Inter-class Chess Tournament. He received a magnetic c hess set as a prize from Raja Bhalinder Singh, who was President of the Indian Committee of the Asiad Games, 1982. He used to participate in various chess tournaments in Delhi and rarely missed prize chess matches between well known chess masters. There is a photograph of Kanwaljit receiveing a prize from Raja Bhalinder Singh. He looks simple, innocent and so straight-forward and honest. He is not an Amritdhari. Lately, he was very keen to find a job and that is why he was to attend an interview with the National Institue of Bank Management at Delhi on the morning of June 3, 1984 and again take an examination in the afternoon for the State Bank of India Regional Recruitment Group. He has also applied to the Railway Service Commission to take the written examinations for recruitment to non-technical popular categories such as signallers, ticket collectors, train/office clerks, etc. He was to appear for this examination on 26 February 1984 but it was postponed. It was to be held again on September 9, but this time Kanwaljit was under detention. Kanwaljit enjoys a very good reputation. Mr. Shyam Lal Garg, Member of the Delhi Metropolitan Council from Tri Nagar and Mr. Sahib Singh Verma, Member of the Municipal Corporation from Lawrence Road, West Delhi, have both certified that Kanwaljit was p ersonally known to them and that he was just a student and never participated in any party or political activity.

3. BHUPINDER SINGH, aged 22 years, s/o Jiwan Singh r/o Vill. Rayya Tehsil Baba Bakala, P.S. Beas, Distt, Amritsar - Interview with the father, Jiwan Singh: "I came here during partition from Sargodah, Distt. Multan, which is now in Pakistan, I have 3 sons and 2 daughters. I have a business of paints, steel trunks and agricultural implements. I have no agriculture land. I am the Pradhan of Akali Dal ( Longowal) unit in village Rayya. My youngest son Bhupinder used to manufacture steel almirahs. He had taken part in the Rasta Roko movement, putting up posters, etc. but was not arrested then. But during the Constitution agitation of 1983 he was arrested and mercilessly beaten but he was released due to the intervention of Bhai Amrik Singh of the AISSF. That was his first contact with AISSF. And is was only after his brother, Tejender Singh's arrest in a false case for which he was jailed and the case went on for 7 months, that Bhupin der started visiting Darbar Sahib. After his brother's arrest, because of the harassment of the police, he was careful and often he used to sleep out. Finally, he himself was arrested at Kathiwali Bazar on June 6, 1984 after he had escaped from Golden Temple on June 3. He was taken to an Army Interrogation center from where he was taken to Nabha Jail. The army subjected him to inhuman torture. When h e was in Nabha Jail, he was taken to Ladha Kothi in Sangrur for 18 days. When I saw him, I could see that he had been terribly tortured but he wouldn't tell us. There I learnt from him that he had taken Amrit and was doing Path daily, which he said gave him strength. In all Bhupinder has been implicated in 8 cases, each of which is false:

(i) Today he is Jodhpur jail because he is supposed to have been arrested from the Golden Temple for 'waging war against the State'. But the police know that he was picked up from Kathiwali Bazaar outside Amritsar.

(ii) The Nirankari murder case of village Khabbe Rajputana near P.S. Mehta of 1979-80, when Bhupinder was just a school boy. It is obvious that this case has been planted on him retrospectively.

(iii) Another Nirankari murder case of village Ghanupur Kaleke, P.S. Chaherta, near Metha Chowk of 1980.

(iv) Mannawale Railway Station, Flying Mail Murder Case of Sub-Inspector in 1982.

(v) Encounter of an 'extremist' group with the Railway Protection Force at Rayya Railway Station.

(vi) Nirankari Bomb case of Rayya - Bhupinder was at thome at 4-5 p.m. when the bomb exploded. Bhupinder's name was not there in the initial list of suspects but was added later.

(vii) Sadhuram Bomb Case - which occurred at 10 p.m. when Bhupinder was actually at home.

(viii) Dhyyanpur Bridge Expolsion case in which Bhupinder's name was added to the list of the three accused. At this point, Jiwan Singh brought out the photograph of his son Bhupinder. AN AMAZINGLY GENTLE AND INNOCENT FACE FOR SUCH A SUPPOSEDLY HARDENED CRIMINAL. Bhupinder's mother has given up eating certain dishes which the boy was fond of. Very gently, she told us that the food the boys get in jail is so bad. Jiwan Singh continued, and went on to narrate the harassments that he and his family have undergone: "After the Operation Bluestar, the CRP visited my house 3 times in 24 hours and raided it but found nothing. They abused my wife and daughters and daughter-in-law. After a couple of days, the Punjab Police came and took me and my eldest son Gurvinder Pal to Jandiala, P.S. and released us after a couple of days. Another couple of days, the Punjab Police came again and took away two of my sons Gurvinder Pal and Tej inder for interrogation and detaind them at Rayya P.S. for 20 days. But we were not to have peace. A couple of days after Gurvinder and Tejinder's removal, came the army, who took me, my son-in-law and the son of my brother-in-law to the Army camp at Sathiala College, Baba Bakala. We were made to sit in the hot sun. We were terrorised and then released." The old man said with the great bitterness, "We are gulams (slaves). Whenever they made signs, we are taken." 4. Kashmir Singh s/o Gajjan Singh, r/o Vill & P.O. Baba Bakala, P.S. Beas, Distt. Amritsar, aged 50 years - Interview with Smt. Jasbir Kaur, 45 years, wife of Kashmir Singh. "My husband went to Darbar Sahib for the Guru Purb. He did not return for about a month, when I learnt from a policman who came to tell me that he had been arrested and was in Nabha Jail. I went to see him on 20.7.84 and heard that he had been pic ked up from Bazaar Kathian on June 6." (Obviously, he too like Bhupinder Singh of Rayya who was arrest from outside the State' a middle aged small farmer hardly owning one and half acres of land and four small children to feed and not belonging to an y political organisation. He was too dangerous to move about freely and knew so much that he had to be repeatedly tortured at Ladha Kothi. "He was taken twice to Ladha Kothi and tortured for 12 days each time by the well known methods." "I met him again on October 31. Since then I have not been able to see him since I am too poor to afford it."

5. RAM SINGH, s/o Late Makhan Singh, r/o Vill & P.O. Baba Bakala, aged 30 years - His uncle Sulakhan Singh (who looks after the family) was interviewed: "Ram Singh is the only son of widow. He has only 1/9 acre of land, belongs to a poor peasant family. He has studied only upto class 8 and was employed in a small capacity in the Government depot. He is a bachelor. He had gone to Darbar Sahib for the Guru Purb. He was arrested from Golden Temple charged, with 'waging war', taken to Amritsar and Nabha Jails and is now in Jodhpur jail. There was never any case against him. He was extremely well-behaved. He is total ly innocent. The police have been coming and repeatedly interrogating his mother and uncle.

6. GULZAR SINGH s/o Late Arjun Singh, r/o Vill & P.O. Baba Bakala, aged 33 years - Interviewed his uncle Rattan Singh, a granthi. They have a joint family. Gulzar is married and has a little girl, aged one and a half years. He is a preacher and does the Akhand Path in the Gurudwara. He went to Golden Temple for Guru Purb and was arrested from there and chrged with 'waging war aga inst the State'. Gulzar is a simple person. He studied in a orphanage in Amritsar.

7. MANJIT SINGH s/o Bawa Singh

8. RANDIR SINGH s/o Mangal Singh

9. RANDIR SINGH s/o Bahadur Singh r/o village Dehriwal, Kiran, P.S. Kalanpur, Distt. Gurudaspur. These 3 young boys took the village donation of grain to Darbar Sahib for the Guru Purb but were arrested and charged with 'waging war against the State' and are now proclaimed as terrorists and lodged in Jodhpur Jail.

10. BAKSHSISH SINGH, s/o Hon. Cap t. Ram Singh, r/o Vill. Butala, P.S. Dhilwan, Distt Kapurthala, aged 43 years. Interview with Bakshish Singh's sister, Smt. Hardev Kaur, a widow with two children. "My brother Bakshish Singh was a manager of Punjab & Sind Bank branch at Guru Ramdas Serai, Golden Temple, Amritsar. He was receiveing a salary of Rs. 3000 per month. He was a devout Sikh, had taken Amrit and used to preach in the villages and exhort people to take Amrit. He was very generous and used to help people. Our mother is 65-year-old and father is ill and now in Patiala Hospital. We have no land. On June 7, 1982 my brother had organised a religous meeting at the village, but he did not speak. Early the next day he was arrested for the first time in his life, on a false report that he was propagating Khalistan. He was detained at P.S. Dhilwan an d then sent to Interrogation Center, Amritsar for one week, where he was severly beaten. Later he was taken to Kapurthala jail and was released only afer 1 year between June 1983 and May 1984 when Bakshish rejoined his work at the Punjab and Sind Bank, Am ritsar. On June 1, 1984 Bakshish had gone to the Golden Temple with his wife for her treatment for tumour and they were in Guru Ram Das Serai, from were both were arrested on June 6. His wife was taken to Jallandhar jail, kept therre for 22 days and then taken to Hospital and operated upon. Bakshish Singh was first taken to Amritsar Jail and after two months in Nabha Jail and after 7 months there, and mercilessley tortured at Ladha Kothi were he was kept for 15-20 days, ant then he was shifted to Jodhpur Jail on January 11, 1985. We have not met him since then. The family is so impoverished that Bakshish's two sons could not continue their studies. The elder son (Iqbal) along with his mother are in Patiala Rajindra Hospital suffering from mental depression. The Bank had not paid Bakshish Singh anything and ha s shown him as absent. We have about 5 to 6 acres of land for the entire joint family. We are being constantly harassed. Earlier the Army used to come and interrogate us and now the polcie visit us every other day." We have here documented for the first time eye-witness accounts of what really happened when the Indian Army attacked the Golden Temple complex in the first week of June 1984. It is one of the most gory and tragic chapters in the entire history of modern India. The brutalities, the killings, the desecration and destruction of their most sacred place, has left a most bitter memory and feeling of deep resentment in the mind of every Sikh.

 

 

OPERATION BLUESTAR:

Part of an Interview with Pritam Kaur from the Punjab Times

Pritam Kaur was married to Rashpal Singh who was Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's P.A. and was arrested in operation Blue Star and was tortured and sent to prison for 4 years and then released in 1988. The harrasment continued even after release. Her 3 brother were taken away by the Police and killed. Her story is tear-rendering...

Q "Bibi Ji how did you get to know Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale"?

A "On the 20th Febuary 1983 was my Anand Karaj with Rashpal Singh (Sant Bhindranwale's P.A). The Anand Karaj was arranged by a Singh from the Damdami Taksal who was close to the Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. After the Anand Karaj I got to know Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale better as we lived in Guru Nanak Niwas and then moved to the Akal Takth with the him".

Q "At the start of Operation Blue Star where were you"?

A "At the start of Operation Blue Star we were living near the Akal Takth in a room. It was on top of the Karah Parshad counter & the wet cloths counter. I gave birth to my child on 19th May 1984. Between 1st & 3rd June there was on and off firing from outside the Darbar Sahib the aim was to find out the locations of where the Singhs were postioned, but the Singhs were farsighted. On 4th June at 4.45a.m the army started the attack inside the Darbar Sahib complex on the Parkarma with bombs. On the night of 3rd June I was giving my baby some milk while my husband Rashpal Singh tried to make a phone call, but he found that he could not get through anywhere. We found out that the telephone, electricity and water supply had been cut off. This was discussed secretly between Rashpal Singh and Sant Bhindranwale and I was only told of this situation on 4th June as he did not want me to start worrying with the baby being so young aswell. On the morning of 4th June we moved downstairs to the wet cloths store where in anticipation of the attack we had stored some dried food".

Q "What happended on 4th June"?

A "On 4th June bullets were raining all day. Singhs did not let the army get passed the entrance on to the Parkarma. The attack was intensified on the night of 4th June, the dark night sky showed the firing clearly & dramaticaly. Some Singhs attained Shaheedi but during the day & night of the 4th the army bore the majority of casulties. We too stood our postions!"

Q On 5th June....?

A Heavy fighting continued. On the early hours of the morning of 5th June the Water tank was blown up by army tanks, this was the Babbars quater (Morcha). The blowing up of the water tank left some Singhs Shaheed and others were very badly injured. On this day the army targeted the postions occupied by the Singh in high positions, trying to bomb tall buildings. We were still holding our positions strong. Up until the night of 5th June not even 1 army soldier got through to the Parkarma. Singhs kept blowing them up at the entrance. On the morning of 5th June at 9.30 a.m Bhai Rashpal Singh went to the Akal Takth to meet Sant Bhindranwale and asked what was the next programme and the Sant replied "Hold our positions till the last breath, this is our last programme. We will give our last drop of blood to Sikhi." Once again on the evening of the 5th they spoke again and this was stand was reiterated. At about 8.30pm on 5th June the entrance from the Langar hall stairs were blown up and tanks were taken into the Parkarma. Behind the tanks were soldiers. The Singhs kept the tanks and army at bay for some 3 hours. One tank got stuck at the asthan of Baba Deep Singh and was only moved after the attack. At the same time the army stormed Teja Singh Samundri hall and the rooms in the Parkarma and behaved liked savages, they raped women, looted, killed children, burnt people alive, set the rooms on fire and tied the hands of devotees behind their backs and shot them. Heavy firing was still continuing and we were still holding our positions. Then on 6th June 12.15a.m Bhai Rashpal Singh did Kirtan Sohela and then kissed the baby and said his last fateh and was going onto the Parkarma to face the enemy, just as he was a bullet hit the baby who I was holding next to my chest and pierced into my chest. The baby died immediatly (18 day old baby shaheed!) and I fell to the floor. Rashpal Singh saw me drop to the floor and as he did another bullet came and hit him on the head and he fell on top of me and became a Shaheed. I was in pain due to the bullet, some Singhs came and dragged me into a room. One of the Singhs went out to fetch me some water but as he left he was captured by soldiers. The army came into this room, we (me and 2/3 others) were captured and were told to face the wall ready to be shot at. They were about to aim and shoot us in the back when from the Sikh reference Library side a "Sikh" officer shouted out not to kill us but to hand us over to him."

Q "What happened next?"

A "It was the morning of the 6th June, there was still the ocassional firing going on. Soldiers took us towards the library, as we turnred the corner of the Bibi da Ishnan area I looked at the Akal Takth and is was smoking and fire was burning. Rooms were burning we were walking over dead bodies, there was blood everywhere. The sarowar water was red in colour some bodies were floating on the water. Children and women were dying for water. The soldiers sat us down near the reference library. Some women were crying out for water but I kept quiet. After a while the army allowed people to drink water. The women and children had to drink the blood filled water. I also drank that water. The soldiers at this time began to suspect that I was someone important, they began to look at me differently to the other bibian. After leting us drink the water the soldiers took us to Darshani Deori side. They seperated me from the rest as they were suspicious of me. They brought over 3 sevedars of the SGPC to identify me. They all knew me but they did not identify me, all 3 were then shot dead. The soldiers thought that this would scare me but I did not fall for that. I told the soldiers that I was a Singhni of one of the sevedars. I was still in great pain because of the bullet in my chest and because of the heat I was very thirsty but kept quiet in Vaheguru's fate. On the night of 6th June we were made to lie on the stones and debris of the building...

Q "Tell us about the Shaheedi of Sant Bhindranwale".

A "Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was commited to sacrificing his life for Sikhi (if need was) and took shaheedi infront of the Akal Takth on 6th June. At this time all the Singhs had come out of their Morche (postions) and were fighting the soldiers. I got injured on the early hours of the 6th June and was captured so I can not explain how Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale got Shaeed but his body was identified in front of me. His body lay near two Nishan Sahibs. On the morning of 7th June about 9.00am Sant Bhindranwale's brother Captain Harcharan Singh and his sister Daljit Kaur came with officers straight to the body. I was watching this sitting on the stones. The body was identified and a nod was given by in the form of a yes and they left. After that 3 Ambassador cars came and took 3 bodies, which were Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Bhai Amrik Singh & some one else (probably Baba Tahra Singh). General Subheg Singh's body was taken into a open army truck. Then all four bodies were taken away. At this time some Hindus of the town were at the building apposite us and were dancing and giving out sweets out to the soldiers. After this the soldiers took us to the army camps...

 

 

After 1984 why has the growth of Sikhs and Sikhism come to a dead stop?
Things have happened exactly as the Center wanted them to be!

Those who have been witness to the state of the Sikhs and Sikhism in
countries such as UK and USA, prior to the holocaust of 1984, know its very well that the holocausts had shook them out of apathy and complacency. But sixteen years later, now if we look at the condition of the Sikhs and Sikhism in India, particularly in the Punjab, it appears that the tragic holocausts have a virtually uprooted both the Sikhs and their religion. A Sikh leadership dreaming of a bright future for the community and winning laurels for the Panth is nowhere to be seen. If after the holocausts of 1984, a right and dedicated Sikh leadership had emerged, the situation would have been the same as it was during the rule of Mir Mannu, when it used to be said:

Mannu is our sickle and we his 'soye' (a wild plant)
The more Mannu cuts us, the more we increase in numbers.

As a result of the machinations of central secret, the new Sikh leadership
was not allowed to emerge and the leadership that was handed down the reins of power, was no
better than the Dogras who controlled the Sikh Raj after Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Just as the Dorga
leadership wrote defeat on the face of the victorious Sikhs similarly the present Sikh leadership wrote no different a chapter in the fateline of the Sikhs. At that time, renouncing their religion had become a daily feature with the Sikhs [The Census Commissioner had written that the Sikh population was fast dwindling and three would not be any need to keep a separate column for them at the time of the next census]. Today's new Sikh leaders are doubt, Akali
in appearance, sport flowing beards, tie blue turbans and are duly baptized (amritdharis) also, but after 1984 they have never taken care of the Sikh sentiments. Rather they have been doing all that the central agencies wanted them to do. The central agencies had demanded:
That the Sikh leadership should not let the Akali Dal remain an exclusive party of the Sikhs so that
the Sikhs may lose the only political party which hitherto was their chief spokesperson.
That the Sikh leadership should forget all the Sikh demands and put them down the drain and
give up the idea of initiating a movement for their acceptance.
That the Sikh leadership should not even make a mention of the atrocities committed on the Sikhs, should not get an inquiry conducted into the events of the past, should not put any Police official in the dock and should advise the Sikh to forget the past.
That the Sikh leadership, at the bidding of the Centre, should promote Police official guilty of committing atrocities and post them on plum posts so that this message should go to average Sikh that no harm could come to the perpetrators of atrocities on them.
That the Sikh leadership should not let a resolution condemning 1984 holocausts be passed in the Punjab Assembly, where they enjoy absolute majority.
That those who, during 1982 to 1996, made sacrifices for the glory of the Punjab and the Panth (youth, Dharmi Faujis, widows, orphans, militants and their families) should not be given any financial help, nor should political prisoners be granted amnesty.
That the Sikh leadership should not let survive a single memory or trace of the 1984 holocausts
and create such an impression about the tragedy that was million times more horrendous than the Jallianwala masscre, located only a few metres away from the Darbar Sahib, as if nothing significant had happened there.
That Sikh leadership, after diluting the Panthic image of the Akali Dal, should take the lead in doing idol-worship and violating Gurmat in such a way that the average Sikh should fail to draw a line between Brahminism and Sikhism.
That the Sikh leadership should shatter the image of Sri Akal Takhat in the Sikh minds in such a manner that this great institution might lose its grandeur and supremacy.
That Sikh leadership should give up the idea of raising its voice against any injustice and excess committed on the Sikhs.
That, if an organisation, such as the RSS, preaches voiceferously that Sikhs are Hindus, the Sikh leadership should extend its full co-operation and raise no objection against it. If in the name of celebrating Khalsa Tercentary, the Centre gives that organisation a grant of Rs. 50 crore anti-Gurmat propaganda, the Sikh leadership should not object to it.
That if, in order to reduce the Sikh majority in to a minority in the Panjab, a plot is prepared to settle large number of 'bhaiyas' from U.P. and Bihar, the Sikh leadership shuld not only refrain from raising any objection to it, but should also render full help in giving them ration cards, identity cards etc. to enable them, register themselves as voters.
That if, under a well planned conspiracy, the movement aimed at spreading apostasy among the Sikh youth in the Punjab starts bearing fruit, the Sikh leadership should not make any efforts to oppose it and should rather look the other way.
That no effort should be made to check the habit of drinking among the Sikh youth. On the other and, liquor vends should be opened in very nook and corner of the State.
That such persons should be appointed as Akal Takhat Jathedaras as are neither well-versed in Sikhism, nor are capable of acting independently of the politicians and providing leadership to the Panth. The Sikh leadership has done exactly as the central agencies wanted them to do. Just imagine, if the Sikhs had got a leadership that refused to toe the line of the central agencies and instead of implementing the Centre's agenda in the Punjab, had implemented the Panthic agenda, what a radically different picture would have emerged! Certainly, the area of Panth's glory would have set it, in a new sense of confidence would have developed among the youth and the Centre would have submitted to the Sikh's strong determination. By following a wrong leadership, the Sikhs have wasted their sixteen precious years. But things can be made to take a right turn even at this late stage. If genuine persons with their independent approach on vital issues, rather than those actively involved in politics, come forward and take a pledge that they would go around every household in the villages of Punjab, so as to acquaint the people with the reality and thus enlighten them about the truth, there is much that can be done.
On June 6, some persons at least should come forward and dedicate themselves to the service of the Panth. In the previous century, only 8 persons had started the Singh Sabha movement. Today also, if we have to bring about some movement in the present state of stagnation, we only need e few Gursikhs, who are determined to reach the victory stand and are willing to face every difficultly. Guru will grant them success!

 

 

STILL UNANSWERED QUESTIONS SINCE MILITARY OPERATIONS AGAINST INNOCENT SIKHS

[1] The official Telex message sent at about 11 A.M.
on 31.10.84 to Indian Embassies and High Commissions
abroad mentioned "Two Sikh Guards and a clean-shaven"
as the assassins of Indira Gandhi. Who was the third
man "the clean shaven" one ?

[2] Why was the large number of Sikh police personnel
taken off duty, and sent to the barracks on the 31st
October when no one could see any risk to their lives
? Why were they disarmed?

[3] Who was the clearly visible and identifiable man
who continued to be shown on the Doordarshan
television throughout the first part of October
31-Nov. 1 night (standing at the threshold of the room
where lay the dead body of Indira Gandhi for public
darshan) shouting: "Sardar Qaum ke ghaddar" and "Khoon
ka Badla Khoon" - openly inciting spilling of Sikh
blood.

[4] Why no action has been taken against that man,
till date, for openly spreading disaffection between
communities and provoking bloodshed of identifiable
persons ?

[5] What happened at the meeting held in P.M. Rajiv
Gandhi?s house on the evening of October 31? Who were
present there ? Official records are stated to refer
to such a meeting and the presence of the Govt. and
police officials therein.

[6] Some police officers - above DSP level were called
by wireless messages to attend a meeting at a
Minister?s (H.K.L. Bhagat?s) house late on Oct. 31.
Who ordered the meeting, how much time was spent in
the meeting, who addressed the meeting, and for what
purpose?

[7] Who accompanied Rajiv Gandhi on the night between
31.10. and 1.11.1984 when he - admittedly - went
around East Delhi with HKL Bhagat, and others, for a
short time?

[8] Photographs and news published in newspapers and
magazines showed that wherever any Sikh properties
were on fire, the fire brigade showered the water on
the adjoining non-Sikh properties - and not on the
burning ones. What action has been taken against the
fire brigade people for this deliberate mischief and
wanton disregard of duty? What was it due to?

[9] Was any inquiry held into the deployment of D.T.U.
(PSU) drivers for ferrying rioters from place to place
in official buses, to which fact reference was made in
the press and some police reports? Who organized the
drivers and provided for fuel?

[10] Why did the police take away even the kirpans of
the Sikhs from their houses (violating their
Constitutional right) to defend themselves against
organized violence? Why was this continued even after
the first set of disarmed defenders was fatally
attacked?

[11] How was it that all the Delhi police stations
adopted the patently illegal method of not recording
separate reports (FIRs) of separate complaints, but
compressed all the complaint of murders into a single
case of riot in the area? What action has been taken
against the delinquent officials?

[12] When at 12.23 P.M. on 1.11.84, a wireless message
from East Dist. Central Police Room (office of DCP
Sewa Dass) was received by SHO Kalyanpuri (Surbir
Singh) to the effect that people had set fire to the
Gurdwara:

Why was the message confined to sending the fire
brigade and why was police force not sent to arrest
the "people" who were roaming about during curfew with
cans of petrol?

[13] Why did the SHO Kalyanpuri not take any police
action except sending back the wireless message that
"information has been sent" (to the fire brigade)?

[14] When at 12.40 P.M. on Nov. 01. 1984 a wireless
message was sent by Surbir Singh, SHO to his
Kalyanpuri police station to reach Block No.11
Kalyanpuri, why did police not rush to the spot to
control the killings and looting?

[15] Why was neither any adequate police action taken
nor serious notice taken of the alarming wireless
message sent at 14.35 hours, and again at 15.10 hours
on November 01, to SHO Kalyanpuri,, that there was
serious trouble in Blocks 32 and 36 of Tirlokpuri,
where the Gurdwara and Sikh shops were being put to
fire and the position was serious? Why was extra force
not called/sent to the spot from the police lines or
Central Area or from non-Sikh areas which were quiet?

[16] Same questions as No. 15 above arise, with
greater force, to the situation reported at 15.10
hours on Nov. 01 by East Dist. Control Room to the
area police station, Kalyanpuri, by wireless,
specifically reporting that extensive loss of life and
property was taking place in Blocks 32 and 36 of
Tirlokpuri? Why was army not called by higher-ups when
every minute report was being received by them?

[17] Why did none of the scores of wireless messages
refer to the target (Sikhs) of all the killings or
looting?

[18] Why was seriousness not attached to the situation
when wireless messages started pouring in from 18.30
hours on Nov. 01 onwards, about dead bodies lying on
the roads? Why was the common feature of dead bodies
being of Sikhs not brought on record?

[19] Why were the higher-up police and executive
officers - upto the Home Minister, Narasimha Rao,
paralyzed when the situation in Kalyanpuri and
Tirlokpuri (in East Delhi) reporting: (a) the cutting
and murders of persons on large scale was reported on
Wireless at 17.31 hours; and again (b) when DCP R.K.
Sharma?s wireless message was received at 18.58 hours
on Nov. 01 reporting about 200 persons having already
been killed in Tirlokpuri alone?

[20] Was this deliberate non-action not due to the
publically expressed view of the then P.M. that all
this was the natural rumbling caused by the fall of a
Big Tree?

[21] In spite of details of the wholesale killings of
Sikhs reaching highest quarters by late night on Nov.
01, why no preventive measures were taken on the
following two days?

[22] Why, and by whom, was the request of Commissioner
of Police, dated October 31, to call Army on Nov. 1
turned down? Why was calling Army postponed even on
Nov. 01 after the mayhem had already started?

[23] Why did no Govt. officials contradict the
statements made by Congress leader Dharam Dutt Shastri
(who has been given State security at your and our
cost) in police station (reported in Indian Express)
that police should not arrest the people who resorted
to the violence, as they were not criminals, but
respectable persons. Who were those "respectable
persons"?

[24] Who and why was public notice (report in Indian
Express) issued on or about 5.11.1984 that persons who
had stolen property from Sikh homes in their
possession should place them in the street corners, so
that the owners can take it back? The obvious object
was to destroy evidence of legal presumption that the
holder of looted (stolen) property had looted it.

[25] When Addl. Commissioner of Police, Ved Marwah,
IPS, started inquiry into the conduct of erring police
officers, and they were letting out the truth, why was
he not allowed to continue the enquiry and to make his
report?

[26] What has happened to the notes of the true
statements made before Ved Marwah unofficially?

[27] Why did Govt. not oppose the prayer for stay of
inquiry made by Brahmanand - a Congress stooge - in
his Writ Petition heard by Justice Maharaj Krishan of
Delhi High Court?

[28] When Army units from Meerut side reached borders
of Delhi, and it was found that the units had some
companies of Sikhs, they were stopped from being
deployed. Who ordered this - and why?

[29] How is it that when their substitutes were called
from elsewhere, there was no Sikh unit therein?

[30] When, instead of holding departmental
proceedings, criminal cases were filed against some
policemen under the Police Act, and/or Cr. P. Code,
why was Govt. sanction not first obtained, when the
law in that respect under Section 197 Cr. P. C. is
clear?

[31] When such cases were dismissed "for want of
sanction" why did the Govt. not promptly give sanction
for prosecution ? Alternatively, why did the Govt. not
resume the departmental proceedings which had been
stayed suo moto because the cases had been filed in
court.?

[32] Why, instead of following at least any one of the
two logical courses, (viz. grant sanction and/or
resume departmental proceedings), the Govt. went up in
patently useless Criminal Revision petitions to the
High Court and kept them pending for a long time, and
then conceded that sanction was indeed necessary,
after having, in the meantime, dropped the
departmental proceedings?

[33] When the Kusum Lata Committee (appointed by the
Govt.) found about 72 police officers to be guilty of
crimes and serious dereliction of duty, why no action
was taken against them? On the contrary, why were
those officers given promotions?

[34] When, on the eve of Punjab elections (1991)
Narasimha Rao, then Prime Minister, gave a press
statement that action would be taken against the
alleged guilty police officers, one such officer made
a press statement threatening to speak out the truth
if action was initiated against him by the Govt., that
was the end of the action announced by then P.M. Why?

[35] What was "Operation Shanti"? When was it
conceived and worked out?

[36] How is it that hundreds of attackers drawn from
different parts of Delhi and Haryana appeared, armed
with iron rods of same material and size? Why have
these rods not been recovered from them after the
killings?

There are about one hundred other questions - to ask
those questions is to answer them!

The record is full of material to expose the reality.
For example, there is a videotape showing why Satnami
Bai, having identified HKL Bhagat in the earlier
hearing, refused to identify him in court after she
had been drugged.

I have given here an indication so that in case of
fresh independent inquiry, if I am no more on the
scene, this indictment can be published and pursued.

 

 

At the end of it all, two questions are asked by the Sikhs of Punjab. Was the Army action necessary and unavoidable? Secondly, if unavoidable, could it not have taken a different form, avoiding all the destruction and the blood shed and the brutalities ? Kirpal Singh, President of Khalsa Dewan, Amritsar, told us - "If the government had been sincere in its efforts in solving the Punjab problem, it would have solved it long ago even before the Blue Star Operation, and there would have been no cause for the Akalis and others to orgainise Morchas of the thousands of the peopl, from time to time, and the extremists would have been isolated and it would have become known as to who were the extremists, what kind of men they were, and what they had been doing. The Government could have negotiated with them. If the Government could talk with Laldenga of Mizos and extremists of the Nagaland, who had been fighting with our military for the last 31 years, then what was the difficulty in talking to the extemi sts of Punjab and asking them what they wanted, what they were fighting and why they were collecting arms?" Similarly, S.S. Bhagowalia who is the Vice-President of the Association fro Protection of Democratic Rights (Punjab) was extememly forthright, "when the government in 1948 could control and capture Hyderbad from the Nizam who wanted to secede from independent India without any violence and killing of the common people, why this Government could not capture Bhindranwale with tact, without any damage to the Golden Temple? This has created tension and anger amongst the minds fo the people". Surinder Singh Ragi gave another example - "The Indian Army had captued 93,000 soldiers of Pakistan army in Bangladesh in 1971 without bloodshed. Was bloodshed the absolutely necessary at the Golden Temple to flush out a hundred or so terrorists?" Hazara Singh Vadale, and employee of the SGPC, echoed a common sentiment. "The way the government of Independent country attacked the Golden Temple reminded us of the medieval time when our religion was attacked and we are persecuted. Thousands of women, children, pilgrims, had gathered here on June 3 for Gurupurab. They had no connection with politics, why they shot down?" Kirpal Singh elaborating on the excesses committed said: "At the time of Blue Star Act, it could be known how many died of those who were fighting with the military but the fact is that due to Guru Purb Day hundereds of pilgrims had come and were staying in the premises of the Darbar Sahib. There were children and women among them. These pilgrims were unarmed and the military attacked them and killed them. Thereafter the military did not allow their dead bodies to be cremated by the relative nor h anded over the same to them. Their dead bodies were insulted. No effort was made to record their names and addresses. Now it has created a lot of problem. For example, if any deceased has any insurance or bank balance or any land dispute, his heirs require death certificate but in absence of any record of it, they did not get any compensation. Even in the history of military wars, the people are allowed to take the dead bodies from each others territories by showing white flags. When General Dyer killed people in Jallianwall Bagh, he also allowed the dead bodies to be taken by the relatives." Shiv Singh Khushpuri, 65 years, a member of the S.G.P.C. from Gurdaspur district, said, "It was the duty of the State to identify the bodies of those who died in Operation Blue Star. Afer the Jallinwala Bagh massacre, the British Government identi fied those killed, handed over their bodies to the next kin and paid Rs. 2000 as compensation for every person killed in the incident. Whereas in Blue Star Operation, the present governemnt of an apparently independent country have not only not identified those killed or missing, rather they are harassing and persecuting the families and friends of those who are reportedly missing." S.S. Bhagowailia throws light on the efforts of the Government to suppress information. "The doctors who conducted the post-mortem of the victims of the army action at Golden Temple were simply terrorised. If there were 20 bullets in a body, they were forced to record only two bullet wounds, under the threat of being shot." This only indicates the extent of massacre that took place and the ferocity with which the Army undertook the operation. The common feeling in Punjab is that it was indeed not an Operation against Bhindranwale and other so called terrorists according to the Government, it was an attack on the Sikhs "to teach them a lesson" so that they would never again raise their head or voice of protest.