India Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards on 31st October 1984. The two Sikh bodyguards saw the damage that Indira Gandhi's act had caused to the Sikh community. The swore in front of Guru Maharaaj, Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (the Sikh holy scripture) that they would take revenge for the destruction on the Golden Temple Complex and the death of all the innocent people.
What happen after the news of the assassination spread was pure chaos.
THOUSANDS of Sikhs were massacred in the most barbaric method of killing. Mobs were assembled to carry out three days of brutal killings, all this encouraged by central government ministers and Members of the Parliament with the help of the police.
On 1st November 1984, hordes of people from suburbs of Delhi were transported to areas with Sikh population. These people carried weapons like iron rods, knives, and combustible materials including kerosene. One interesting fact to be noted is that the mobs were also supplied with government issued voter and ration list of houses and business establishments belonging to Sikhs.This clearly shows the government's involvement in this mass killings.
What these mobs did to the Sikhs is very painful to imagine. Big gangs, led by the leaders and some policeman swarmed into Sikh houses, HACKING the occupants into pieces, CHOPPING OFF heads of the children, RAPING women, tying Sikh men to tires set aflame with kerosene, burning down the houses and shops after ransacking them. They stopped Sikh passengers traveling in buses and trains and set them on fire, burning them alive.
Some Sikhs tried to defend themselves, but somehow the police always arrived before the mobs came and confiscated whatever weapon of self defense the Sikhs had.
There is evidence from various sources that soon after Operation Bluestar, there had been a plan to destroy Sikhs. A plan of retaliation by identifying Sikh targets like houses, shops and Gurdwaras has been made, this included logistics planning and techiques to be employed.
A point worth stressing here is that all the mobs were armed with iron rods of the same size and had abundant supply of petrol and kerosene which was too costly for and average Indian to purchase in large quantities. Sources of the kerosene was traced, and it was discovered that the dealers belonged to the Congress (I) party.
"As we were standing just near the house, where I was being sheltered, we saw a child of about ten, dressed in a salwaar-kameez, who was moving on the road. The child was walking quite normally down the street. He was actually a young boy in the process of fleeing to safety and had been dressed as a girl. Something about the child's appearance made the mob suspect that the child was a boy and someone shouted 'sardar ka ladka hoga' (it must be the son of a Sardar-a Sikh). The child panicked and started running but the mob pursued him and caught him. They asked him where the other members of his family were. The boy was really frightened and he pointed in a certain direction and said that his father was lying there and that he was dead. To my horror the mod dragged the boy up to the father's body, threw the child on him and burnt him saying 'yeh sap ka bacha hai, isse bhi khatam kar do' (This is the son of a snake, finish him off also)."
Nandita Haskar and Uma Chakravarti, Interview with Gurmeet Singh Gill. 'The Delhi Riots'
Rape was also a common happening during the mass killing, but was overshadowed by the intense killing.
On 1st November 1984, Gurdip Kaur, her three sons and husband were at home. Here is how she described the attack.
'Three of the men ran out and were set on fire. My youngest son stayed in the house with me. But they came into the house.Those young boys, 14 to 16 year olds, began to drag my son out even though he was hiding behind me. They tore my clothes and stripped me naked in front of my son. The raped me right there, in front of my son, in my own house. They were young boys, maybe eight of them.
After they had taken my honor, they left. I took my son to sit among the women but they came and dragged him away. They took him to the street corner, hit him with lathis, sprinkled kerosene over him, and burnt him alive. I tried to save him but the struck me with knives and broke my arm. At that time i was completely naked. I had managed to get hold of an old sheet, which I had wrapped around myself. If I had even one piece of clothing on my body, I would have gone and thrown myself over my son and tried to save him. I would have done anything to save at least one young man of my family. Not one of the four is left."
to be continued........
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