June 1984

What happened in June 1984

Operation Blue Star, code name for an attack that began on 1st June 1984. Up to 150,000 Indian army troops were sent to the northern Indian state of Punjab, the Sikh homeland, equipped with helicopter gunships and tanks.

The state was sealed off from the rest of the world. Journalists were removed. Telephone lines were cut, preventing internal and external communication. All news and information was controlled by the Indian government. Independent newspapers and radio stations were closed down. An indefinite curfew was imposed across the whole of Punjab, with 20million residents placed in a state of siege and imprisonment.

On June 4th 1984, India's Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, ordered the Indian Army to invade the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, the Sikh's national institution. As it was the anniversary of the martyrdom of the Sikh's 5th Guru(teacher) Arjan Dev, it was full of thousands of pilgrims.

Forty other Sikh shrines were simultaneously attacked. On the pretext of apprehending 'a handful of militants' lodged inside the Golden Temple, the Indian Army unleashed a terror unprecedented in post-independence India.

It took the use of Vijayanta tanks to win the fight for the army. These let loose a barrage of highly explosive shells, which took off the entire front of Akal Takht, the temporal seat of the Sikhs, setting off fires in many of its internal rooms (some which housed very precious historical relics), and badly damaged its dome.

"The army went into Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) not to eliminate a political figure or a political movement but to suppress the culture of the people, to attack their heart, to strike a blow at their spirit and self-confidence." 
Joyce Pettigrew.Reader in Antropology, Queens University, Belfast.

"For five days the Punjab has been cut off from the rest of the world. There is a 24-hour curfew. All telephone and telex lines 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. Orders to shoot on site were widely carried out. The whole of Punjab, with its 5,000 villages and 50 major cities, were turned into a concentration camp. The rules were what the Indian army and its political decision makers decided."
Christian Science Monitor, 8th June 1984.

"It was a virtual massacre. A large number of women, children and pilgrims were gunned down."
The Guardian, 13th June 1984.

 Before and after. The damage on Sikh's holiest shrine, the Akal Takht.

 Kids and women were not spared by the Indian Army.

Does it make any sense?

1. To apprehend a 'handful of militants', the Indian army gathered 150,000 troops equipped with helicopter gunships and tanks, and chemical gas (banned worldwide since World War 2)

2.Such a perfect time chosen, during Guru Arjan Dev's martyrdom anniversary when all Sikhs from all over India will visit the Golden Temple complex to pay respect. 

3.All sources of communication were cut.

4. Women and kids were killed (factual and pictorial evidence present)

5. According to then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, the attack was done as a last resort when all other means to capture 'the so called handful of militants' were unsuccessful. Well, according to an Indian Army officer, speaking on record, the attack was already planned ONE YEAR earlier. The army were trained, and a replica model of the Golden Temple complex was even made by the Indian Army in their preparation for the attack.


P/S- I am not trying to point fingers here. All i want to do is to set the records straight. All my points here are based on facts and evidence. As a Sikh, i believe the world needs to know what really happened on June 1984. No Sikh should tolerate injustice to their fellow Sikh brothers and sisters.  And no one has the rights to destroy our most sacred place of worship for whatsoever reason. And it's my humble request to all Sikhs to spread this message around.
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.