The Pakistani Spectator

The Operation ‘Blue Star’ was conducted by the Indian Army from 3 to 6 June 1984 inside the worship place of Sikhs holiest shrine the ‘Golden Temple’. Golden Temple is a nerve centre of the Sikh religious and political authority. On the fateful night of 4-5 June, the genocidal massacre of hundreds of Sikhs coincided with a Sikh annual festival wherein pilgrims had converged to the ‘Golden Temple’ from all over the world on 3rd of June to participate. The gathering comprised elderly, weak and children who unfortunately got trapped inside the temple once the Indian Army started pounding the religious complex with heavy artillery shells without any warning. Coinciding with the assault on the ‘Golden Temple’, 38 other Gurdwaras (Temples) were also attacked by the Indian Army across the state. The ‘Times of London’ had covered the Sikhs extermination by writing that, ‘Several Sikhs were shot at point blank range by troops who first tied their hands behind their backs’. There were no precise body counts done. The government projected figures of 493 civilians killed in the ruthless operation whereas independent groups like Citizens for Democracy estimated the casualties as 8000 Sikhs killed during the Operation.

Twenty six years on, the emotional scars inflicted through barbaric attack on the fateful night of 4-5 June on Sikhism’s holiest shrine, are far from being healed. The victims of the highly tabulated atrocities against Sikh community throughout India still strive to seek justice from the largest democracy of the world that unfortunately happens to be their country of living also.

Prior the launch of the operation, the Indian Government was of the belief that somehow it could take such brutal action in utter defiance of international law and opinion. Despite the huge loss of Sikhs’ lives the Operation failed to jolt the collective conscience of the international community especially the West on the biggest massacre of unarmed Sikhs by an organized military force. Operation Blue Star according to many Sikhs worldwide and in Britain, was a well orchestrated plan to suppress the Sikh faith itself through massacre along with worldwide vilification of its practitioners that still is visible when it comes to giving equal opportunities to the Sikhs. In an Amnesty International (UK Chapter) report of 2008, the events that took place twenty six years ago in Golden Temple describes them as a ‘national disgrace’ for India as the Government has failed thus far to mete out justice to those responsible for the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.

The events of June 1984 demonstrate the fragility of Indian democracy and an example of modern day massacre of a religious minority on a grandeur scale. The Indian official media continues to overlook the events of the operation and still tries to justify the massacre. For example, an Indian government sponsored BBC documentary aired in January this year compared Sikh martyr, a saint and a great leader Jarnail Singh Bhinrawale with Osama Bin Laden. Twenty six years have passed since the greatest Sikh tragedy took place at the hands of the Indian Army. There are two issues that keep the bewildered Sikh victims of the Indian extermination effort against their community even today. The first one is that ‘was the army action necessary and unavoidable’ and the second is that ‘if the action was unavoidable, could it not have taken any other saner form that could prevent destruction, blood shed and the brutalities of the Indian army?

Despite the constitution of innumerable high-powered committees from time to time on the issue, a very few people have been booked whereas the actual perpetrators of the crimes remain eluding the call of justice. Without a resolve and political will, the culprits will never be nabbed. It is believed that some of the Congress leaders were also involved in the genocide of Sikhs. There are also possibilities that under the patronage of the Indian army and some leaders at that time some other fanatic groups may have also been active in carrying out the massacre. The eye witnesses of the 1984 Sikh genocide still recall the swiftness and military precision of the marauding gangs under the guidance of the Indian army that went on a burning spree of innocent and unarmed Sikhs including elderly and the children. Same madness was also observed during the demolition of Babri Mosque and the last pogrom of Muslims in Indian State of Gujrat. The possibility of Hindu fanatics in the massacre has never been considered or investigated at any forum to-date.

A document titled, ‘Indra Congress – RSS collusion’ authored by a luminary and veteran of RSS Nana Deshmukh, was published in one of the weekly Hindi language magazine ‘Pratipaksh’ in its edition of November 25, 1984. The document highlights some of the unhidden aspects of genocide and justifies the massacre of the Sikh community as the result of genuine feeling of anger among Hindus of India.

The Golden Temple humbly known as The Harmandir Sahib also, brings peace and solace for those who seek spiritual succor. The same worship place was brutally assaulted on its sublimity by the Indian army. More than the tragedy of the slain innocent men, women and children who had gathered therein the Golden Temple to pay homage on the martyrdom gurpurb of Guru Arjun Dev ji, it still remains a sinister reminder for the twentieth Century society that boasts the sanctity of individual rights and privileges, India could still adopt barbaric methods to curb the democratic rights of a section of its society. The ghastly invasion by the Indian Army on the Golden Temple has acted as a catalyst on the psyche of the Sikh nation around the globe. The incident led them to introspect, to redouble their resolve in achieving justice for their Golden Temple slaughter and to water their roots afresh to have their identity acknowledged by Indian State. The present Indian government led by Mr. Manmohan Singh who himself is a Sikh, must take on as a moral obligation to readdress the campaign for justice, in order to assuage the sense of mass grief that is abundantly prevalent in the Sikh community over Golden Temple decades later.