Photos by Tarun Sehrawat
1984
Another Haryana Massacre Discovered: Not A Whisper Escaped
by AVALOK LANGER
Amidst fields of ripening wheat, a man who had never shed a tear wept inconsolably.
Manwinder Singh Giaspur, 35, a textile engineer based in Gurgaon, broke down when he discovered the secret of a 26-year-old genocide.
On November 2, 1984, a mob attacked the small Sikh hamlet of Hondh-Chillar located 15 km from Pataudi, in Rewari district of Haryana. The remnants of burnt buildings are the only testimony to a shameful truth: that the anti-Sikh pogroms had also claimed victims in Haryana with the same ruthless and criminal efficiency displayed in Delhi.
Overwhelmed by a blitz of reporters, camera crews and netas, the then sarpanch and eyewitness, Dhanpat Singh Yadav, ran his finger through his thinning grey hair and said, "For 26 years you all were fast asleep, now suddenly the media has woken up and come to find out what happened?"
The attack came in two waves, he recalled. The villagers of Chillar and Hondh were able to fend off the first group of attackers on November 1, but at 10 am the next day, a truck and a bus carrying 200-250 young men armed with rods, lathis, diesel and matches stormed the village. Overawed by the aggression and repeated threats by the outsiders, the villagers stood helpless as the mob killed 31 Sikh men, women and children and razed their bungalows and gurudwara to the ground.
While some were burnt alive, others were beaten to death. The four-hour-long carnage came to an abrupt halt when a group of Sikhs broke out of their burning house armed with swords and attacked the rioters. Under the cover of night, the 32 survivors were taken by tractor to Rewari, from where they scattered across the country like Partition refugees.
"An FIR was filed (now apparently lost), a brief inquiry was also carried out, the police knew all the details, the local MLA Col. Ram Singh was aware of the killings but nothing happened. Everyone knew about it but chose to forget," adds Dhanpat.
As media reports from Ground Zero pour in and parties move in to get maximum mileage, we have stumbled upon memories of yet another massacre.
In a town known for its debonair Nawabs. [The current Nawab of Patudi is Mansur Ali Khan, a former cricketer and captain of the Indian cricket team. His wife is the Bollywood actress, Sharmila Tagore.]
17 Sikhs were butchered in Pataudi.Sitting in a small, unkempt room, Gurjeet Singh, pardhan of Pataudi's Gurudwara Singh Sabha said, "I have kept this room of my house unchanged from the '84 pogroms. I want my children to see what was done to us at the hands of our own people, in our own country."
He looked at his son, smiled sardonically and added, "Every day mediapersons and netas pass through Pataudi on their way to Hondh-Chillar, but no one has come here to find out what happened to the Sikh families. Before 1984, there were close to 30 Sikh families in Pataudi, but today there are only five. We, who chose to stay back, were forced to rise out of the sewers to rebuild our lives."
Gurjeet's mother, Pritam Kaur, wrapped in a grey shawl, leaning on her walking stick, said, "Every night, in every idle moment of every day, I am haunted by those memories. Whatever property that was taken, is gone. There is nothing we can do about that now, but the pain, the memories of fear and death will never fade."
At 6 pm on November 1, panic filled the city as the gurudwra was set on fire. The Sikhs of Pataudi ran for their lives, hiding wherever they could find cover as an angry mob ripped through the town burning their houses. While one group ran to the safety of the village, another chose to stay in the local ashram.
Leaving the safety of the ashram the next morning, they went to their respective houses to assess the damage. Separated, out in the open, tired and crying, they were attacked by a frenzied mob at 10 am. Many hid in neighbours' houses, some escaped to the village but 17 people were brutally murdered that day.
Burnt alive, their charred bodies - the ‘evidence' - were piled up and burnt to ashes.
Gurjeet narrates the story of two sisters, Harmeet Kaur, 16, and Karamjeet Kaur, 19.
"The mob dragged them out into the street, stripped them, abused them, beat them, urinated on their faces and burnt them alive," he says. "There was no sense of human dignity, no sense of compassion. What role did these girls have in Mrs Gandhi's assassination? Were we all responsible? Sardaron ke bachche hai, tho marao (They are children of sardars, so kill them)."
Though multiple FIRs were lodged, no one was caught or prosecuted and the stories of Pataudi, like those of Hondh, have remained but whispers in once glorious havelis.
However, when asked for an action plan, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “Action will be taken in accordance with the report filed by the Gurgaon Commissioner. Though compensation has been given, the guilty must be punished. If the report deems judicial action is needed, we will pursue it.”
When asked why no one brought out these stories before, Gurjeet said, “The media, the Sikh organisations, the politicians had all labelled the pogroms as the ‘Delhi riots’. We had no influential leader. There was no local media, we were scared and alone, what could we do? As time passed, we were faced with the responsibility of rebuilding our future, looking to the needs of our families, we did not have the time, resources or support to fight against the system. And to be honest, when you lose your whole world, your will to fight dies.”
Physically, emotionally and financially, none of the Sikh families of Pataudi have been able to recover.
If stagnation is normalcy, their lives are on an even keel.
STORIES OF SOME SURVIVORS
AMRIT KAUR, 55
Lost her husband. To escape the mob, she hid in a
neighbour's toilet for hours with three of her four children. She was
forced to sweep houses to raise her children.
SHANTI DEVI, 55
Lost her father-in-law. She was forced to hide in the jungle at first and then kept moving from house to house to escape the mob.
ISRI BAI, 70
Lost her husband and one son. 37 hyears earlier, she was forced to flee during Partition. She moved to Pataudi where her house was burnt and looted during the 1984 pogroms.
GEEVNI BAI, 70
Lost her husband and three sons. She escaped with her three daughters, whom she had to bring up on her own. She received a widow's pension for only three months.
PRITAM KAUR, 80
Lost her house and commercial shops. She and her son GURJEET SINGH, the pardhan of the local gurudwara, stay in a house that still bears scars from the pogroms.
[Courtesy: Tehelka]
March 5, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Harneet Kaur (New Delhi, India), March 05, 2011, 11:15 AM.
As the main landords in the village, I am interested in knowing how much the Nawab of Pataudi and his wife, Sharmila Tagore, knew of the massacre, and what they did about it. It is impossible that they weren't aware of the crimes, either contemporaneously or shortly thereafter. And if they did know, and didn't do anything ... I believe they have broken the law and should be charged criminally. I hope some Sikh and other Civil Liberty lawyers are looking into this.
2: H.S. Vachoa (U.S.A.), March 05, 2011, 1:55 PM.
What is so startling to me is that there is no mention of the discovery of mass graves of Sikhs in the Western media.
3: Brijinder Singh (New York, U.S.A.), March 05, 2011, 3:16 PM.
"When all peaceful means have failed, it is righteous to draw the sword." - Guru Gobind Singh.
4: I.J. Singh (NewYork, U.S.A.), March 05, 2011, 5:25 PM.
All the more reason to preserve history, not to wallow in but to shape our future. Preserve it like the Jews are doing to the history of the Holocaust. In the convoluted and serpentine corridors of India's socio-political system, justice may come but not automatically and never in a hurry. Yes, at the same time, we continue to move forward. Preserving the past and moving forward are both equally essential. Neglecting either is not an option.
5: Baljit Singh Pelia (Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.), March 06, 2011, 1:46 AM.
My daughter will be visiting the museum of tolerance at Los Angeles tomorrow. Where is our museum? Why are these stories not posted on the walls of every gurdwara? Where are our leaders and jathedars? Do we have any Saint-Soldiers left who are Saint enough and Soldier enough to demand - and obtain - Justice for these innocent victims?
6: Brijinder Singh (New York, U.S.A.), March 06, 2011, 3:48 PM.
Baljit Singh ji: No one is fighting for us because no one believes we can win. They keep telling us that it is a lost cause, and that we should move on and forget. We all feel angry, sad and frustrated. Anyone who speaks against the Indian govt. is harassed and labeled a Khalistani terrorist. We all want the same thing, and we are all waiting to see which one of us is brave enough to make the first move. Who will step forward and light the match? Look at what has happened in the Middle-East. The Tunisian revolution has sparked a fire of revolutions across the region. The people are no longer afraid of their governments. In this modern age of social media, every person with a cell phone and internet is a reporter. Let's show the world how the Indian regime has been oppressing its minorities. Let's show them how government officials that commit crimes against humanity are awarded with cabinet positions. They want us to keep quiet and forget. Let's stop waiting on our so called "leaders" to fight for us. Politics is a dirty game and they have shown that they are willing to sell us out to remain in power. Sad to say, but nothing will come of this one-man investigation by the Indian govt. They will take 5 years to do the investigation, then 10 years to file the report and by that time everyone will have forgotten about the case again. They are waiting for all of us to die so that they can bury the case and wipe any mention of it from the history books. They will deny that it ever happened just like people deny that the Jewish holocaust ever happened. Let's not let it come to this.
7: M.K.S. (New York, U.S.A.), March 07, 2011, 12:21 PM.
Most worthy of note: "The four-hour-long carnage came to an abrupt halt when a group of Sikhs broke out of their burning house armed with swords and attacked the rioters. Under the cover of night, the 32 survivors were taken by tractor to Rewari ..."
8: Baljit Singh Pelia (Los Angeles, U.S.A.), March 07, 2011, 6:38 PM.
As I said, I along with my daughter visited the museum of tolerance yesterday in Los Angeles. They have speakers that narrate their personal experiences of the holocaust they had been through. Can we arrange the survivors to go on a circuit to each and every gurdwara and testify about their sufferings. After listening to the survivors of the holocaust, I wondered how they might feel if Hitler's family still ruled Germany and all airports and landmarks were named after him, like the Indira Gandhi airport, and so on. Can you see what the survivors of the Sikh Holocaust have been going through for the last 27 years?