It's Time India Accept Responsibility for Its 1984 Sikh Genocide!

1984 remains one of the darkest years in modern Indian history. In June of that year, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered a military assault on the most significant religious center for the Sikhs, Darbar Sahib (the Golden Temple) in Amritsar, Punjab. The attack killed thousands of civilians. On October 31, 1984, Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.

Frenzied mobs of young Hindu thugs, thirsting for revenge, burned Sikh-owned stores to the ground, dragged Sikhs out of their homes, cars and trains, then clubbed them to death or set them aflame before raging off in search of other victims.

Please watch this coverage of some of the horrific events from 1984: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik5ar3lx3JA

Witnesses watched with horror as the mobs walked the streets of New Delhi, gang-raping Sikh women, murdering Sikh men and burning down Sikh homes, businesses and Gurdwaras (Sikh houses of worship). Eyewitness accounts describe how law enforcement and government officials participated in the massacres by engaging in the violence, inciting civilians to seek vengeance and providing the mobs with weapons.

The pogroms continued unabated, and according to official reports, within three days nearly 3,000 Sikhs had been murdered, at a rate of one per minute at the peak of the violence. Unofficial death estimates are far higher, and human rights activists have identified specific individuals complicit in organizing and perpetrating the massacres.

Thirty-six years later, those who survived the violence have yet to receive any semblance of justice. Most perpetrators have yet to be yet to be charged and held accountable for their crimes, and many of the affected families continue to live in poverty and disenfranchisement to this day. The Indian government’s formal position for three decades has been that accountability comes in the form of silence.

In addition, this extreme violation of humanity has yet to be recognized anywhere around the world.

A few years back Jagmeet Singh, Ontario MPP, brought forth a motion calling for Ontario to recognize the 1984 anti-Sikh violence in India as a genocide. This was a very big step in helping the Sikh community get some kind of justice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROcPM8jGJMY

This is what we are calling all governments around the world to do, beginning with the one in the United States of America. Let's be leaders in this utter injustice towards a group of people. The lives that were lost have been complete unaccounted for and the silence of the Indian Government says it all. It's a chapter that they are trying to eliminate forever, however, we will not allow that to happen. 

We are calling on the New York City Council, New York State Assembly & Senate as well as the United States Congress & Senate to bring forth a motion that recognizes the horrific acts of 1984 by the Indian Government as a Genocide. We are also asking for annual moment of silence to honor the lives lost due to that genocide!

If you have any further questions or would like to join this campaign, feel free to contact us at nysikhcouncil@gmail.com