Kids Corner

Above: Tiananmen Square.

1984

Would a Ruckus in Tiananmen Cancel its Anniversary?
Should The Orchestrated Melee in Amritsar Overshadow 1984?

SIMMI KAUR

 

 

 




With clockwork predictability, this year too -- right on time for the 30th anniversary of the 1984 Amritsar Holocaust -- a distraction was created to divert the attention of the world media from India’s crimes of 1984.

The mischief continues under India’s new regime.






The news media today should have been highlighting what 30 million Sikh social-media accounts, campaigns, conversations, hearts and minds have been abuzz with since June 1: the 30th anniversary of the bloody siege and attack on the Darbar Sahib ("Golden Temple") in Amritsar and across India by an invading Indian Army in 1984.

Instead, well-orchestrated images and meticulously shot footage of clashes, ostensibly between two Sikhs groups inside the Amritsar complex a couple of days ago, are making the headlines.

I can't help wondering: If student groups started clashing in the Tiananmen Square right now, would that stop folks from commemorating the 25th year of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in print, TV, radio, online, as it should be?

Would Tiananmen Square Massacre get hidden away and would Human Rights Watch's Ken Roth stop e-mailing me the "We Will Not Look Away" advisories and stop reminding me that those unarmed brave souls were "Attacked by Their Own Government"?

But perhaps I shouldn't wonder.

Ken Roth did already look away when it came to Punjab this Thirtieth Anniversary of India’s brutal violence in 1984.

The thirtieth anniversary of the attacks on Punjab has gone by without too many exceptional notes from internationals. The Sikh community though has been beautifully and fearlessly articulate and has been encouraged by its allies and people of conscience.

Now, though, the "clashes" of a bunch of bearded and turbaned men amongst themselves that happened yesterday have caught the attention of mainstream media.

And now, Sikhs, who stand daily taking oaths to be resolute in their faith despite all odds, are feeling shaken by the negative coverage on international media.

Defences are up and nerves are frayed.

Taking a breath of self-confidence might help.

How is this possibly comparable to the siege and savagery we saw thirty years ago?

Thousands killed: 3000, 7000, 10000, 17000, by different estimates.

That there isn't even a list of the dead speaks loudly to the value ascribed to the living.

A blackout, heavy artillery, 100,000 troops, siege of 40-75 gurdwaras.

Children, women, men, elderly shocked, stripped, scared, murdered in cold blood.

How is an orchestrated clash between two groups of men, all aligned with political parties with age-old and manufactured rivalries -- and remote-controlled agendas -- comparable to the siege we have united to remember this year?

And then again, how is this possibly unrelated?

The wounds of 30 years are gaping. They are poked at and prodded. The scabs are pulled away jarringly just when we begin to nurse them.

Tiananmen versus Darbar Sahib/Golden Temple is not the Sikh way.

Tonight, we'll hold both in our hearts.

But since internationals are having a tough time distinguishing apples from eclipses, we might want to remind them of their blind spots.

Maybe each of us can -- the Twitter typhoons; the Facebook fighters; the LIKE meisters; the petitioners; the marchers; the videomakers; the artists; the speakers -- stop to drop a quick letter to these editors scurrying to carry news of swords flying?


Dear Editor:

Your paper has yet not carried the story around The Golden Temple today. It's the thirtieth year of a massacre that was unleashed for a week inside the premises, by the Indian Army. All international media sources documenting this have been collected in various places, including: http://www.sikhmuseum.com/bluestar/newsreports/index.html

While the facts around the clashes that left about a dozen people injured on June 6, 2014 remain unsubstantiated, perhaps you would kindly run a small commemoration of June 6, 1984, when trauma set into the hearts of Sikhs in India? That this trauma plays out violently, brother against brother, is saddening, but hopefully the subject of a longer article you might run?

Just as student groups fighting amongst themselves -- whether with batons or machetes in hand -- in Tiananmen Square wouldn't change the reality of its 25th anniversary, these skirmishes don't change the reality of this 30th anniversary.

May all the dead receive some dignity.



[The author is an activist, accountant, mother, and an avid reader who spends her time between Punjab and Canada.]

June 7, 2014
 

Conversation about this article

1: Nav Kaur (Australia), June 07, 2014, 8:03 AM.

You have expressed my feelings so well, Simmi Kaur. I hope the public stays focused and not allow themselves to fall for this current media propaganda, which overshadows the seriousness of the 30th anniversary of 1984.

2: Inni Kaur (Fairfield, Connecticut, USA), June 07, 2014, 8:31 AM.

Thank you, Simmi Kaur, for your leadership in writing this much-needed piece. The events that transpired at the commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of The Sikh Holocaust, at Darbar Sahib, filled me with despair. Silence followed. Gurbani nurtured. History revealed. A pattern ... changing of the narrative by the oppressors. Meticulously executed, once again ... similar to what transpired 30 years ago. Listen carefully: "The Police cannot go in. If the Police was there, this would not have happened. Sikh separatists once again demanding a separate state." We have heard these statements before. What I find interesting are the voices of my Sikh brothers in the Diaspora: "If the Kaurs were there, this would not happened." Kaurs, we need to be more visible. It is not going to be easy. But we are 50% of the population, and we are needed now more than ever. To every Kaur, my heartfelt plea -- Please embrace the Gift of equality, liberty and freedom that Guru has bestowed on us. Radiate Guru's Love, the rest will follow.

3: N Singh (Canada), June 07, 2014, 12:01 PM.

I am sorry, but if our marriage is broken down, why would we blame the other woman? I think it's time the Sikhs stopped blaming others for their problems and started to take a long, hard look at themselves. Stop whining. Yes, #2, if the Kaurs are not there, then who is to blame? If we butcher our own female fetuses, chose drugs over education, spend our life stupified in Bollywood trash, have yet to develop viable leadership and the only ones that we develop end up selling their souls to their masters, then who is to blame? Let's stop finding excuses about why we are where we are and start taking action. Create leadership, create unity and start educating our own masses.

4: Nav Kaur (Australia), June 07, 2014, 9:37 PM.

In response to this act of stupidity by a bunch of idiots to create a distraction, I am going to delve further into the history of 1984 and learn more.

5: Jasvir Kaur (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), June 07, 2014, 11:02 PM.

I agree with #3. Let's stop blaming others for our own actions. I saw the video on msn while on lunch break. It's disgusting that we are sending this message to the world on this anniversary. Do I blame the media for reporting it? NO. We are our own worst enemy.

6: Harmeet Singh (USA), June 07, 2014, 11:57 PM.

What a show of uncivilized behavior by the SGPC and Mann Dal to the world? Couldn't each one of them have acted peacefully to convey their message. Idiots!

7: Jasbir Singh (Chandigarh, Punjab), June 08, 2014, 2:34 AM.

Any ideas? On creating leadership and unity? Any names for a pool of people or criteria to bring peace in our community?

8: GC Singh (USA), June 08, 2014, 9:24 AM.

Let us not fall for the Indian propaganda mills' version of the story which has been given extraordinary coverage for obvious reasons. The demonstration today in London by thousands of Sikhs is a non-story. Even the "appointed" Jathedar of Akal Takht, Giani Gurbachan Singh, who many a time toes the line of his political masters, has openly accused Indian "agencies" and agent saboteurs for this planned distraction and absolved Simranjit Singh Mann who had already left the venue when the manufactured violence broke out.

9: Baljit Singh Pelia (Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.), June 08, 2014, 12:31 PM.

Since we all now know the role of the Punjab political leaders, specifically Badal and Amarinder group, in 1984 in backstabbing the Sikhs and bringing Punjab to its knees, it is time to disown them and their puppet regimes which are bent on suppressing the voices of the Sikhs through the SGPC and Akal Takht appointees at the behest of their central govt masters. Their stranglehold on our Sikh institutions must end if we are to progress as a community. Once and for all, it is time to raise our voices collectively and gain sovereignty and put an end to this oppression.

10: N Singh (Canada), June 08, 2014, 6:37 PM.

@9 Baljit Singh ji: Amarinder Singh has gone as far as saying on TV that he feels that a UN probe of 1984 is not necessary since everything there is to know about it is already in the open. Can you believe the treachery of this man? And then, the SGPC agrees!

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