Above & below: Three of India's thug politicians who led the mobs that massacred thousands of innocent Sikhs in 1984. They were rewarded by Rajiv Gandhi with senior cabinet posts in his government.
1984
1984 & I:
This is How Militants Are Born
by SHOBITA NAITHANI
This year, 2009, marks the 25th Anniversary of 1984, when horrendous crimes were committed against the Sikhs in the very land of their origin. To commemorate this sad milestone, we at sikhchic.com have asked our regular columnists, as well as our contributors and readers, to share with us the impact 1984 has had on their lives. We have also sought out personal stories and anecdotes, in an attempt to capture the inner thoughts and deepest ruminations of those touched in any way by the events of that fateful year, on what 1984 means to each one of them and their loved ones - without going into a litany of facts and figures or a listing of the injustices to date, all of which will invariably be covered with due diligence elsewhere. We intend to present these personal perspectives to you throughout the twelve months of 2009. The following is the 29th in the series entitled "1984 & I".
The photographs of the two men who are significant to Nirpreet Kaur's life hang on the walls of her living room.
The first is a faded black-and-white photo of her father.
The second is a framed photo of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani leader who was killed by the Indian Army in its notorious attack on the Darbar Sahib complex in June 1984.
Nirpreet was 16 years old on November 2, 1984 when the mob came for her father, Nirmal Singh.
The gurdwara next to their house in South Delhi's Raj Nagar had been set ablaze, and a mob of about 450 was looking for more Sikhs to butcher. The Sikhs of Raj Nagar decided to confront the mob.
An hour later, Nirpreet recalls, Balwan Khokhar, the Youth Congress leader, came to her father requesting him to "settle the matter." A day earlier, when violence against Sikhs broke out following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards, Khokhar had sworn to the Sikhs that they would be protected from violence.
"Khokhar sweet-talked my father into coming with him for a compromise," says Nirpreet. But Khokhar went straight to the mob and handed Nirmal Singh over.
The oldest of three siblings, Nirpreet, ran to the mob, but could only watch helplessly as her father was tied up and set ablaze.
The family then fled to safety. When they returned to collect his ashes for Nirmal Singh's last rites, the area had been swept clean.
They moved from one rented house to another before settling in a home in West Delhi's Tilak Vihar in 1986.
Earlier, Nirpreet had moved to Chandigarh in September 1985 for her post-graduate degree.
"My life then changed drastically," she says. "I joined the Khalistan movement to avenge the brutal killing of my father." Nirpreet married a militant in November 1986: the reason why Bhindranwale's portrait hangs next to that of her father's.
As a functionary of her group, Nirpreet came in contact with those involved with the Khalistan movement [an armed insurgency created by the mounting human rights violations against the community by government authorities over the course of several decades], fighting for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab, and became part of the militancy that ravaged the state for over a decade in the 1980s.
Twelve days after her wedding, the Delhi police picked up her husband. He was never heard of again. Nirpreet, then pregnant with her son, was declared an absconder. She went into hiding. In December 1986, Nirpreet's mother, Sampooran Kaur, was sentenced to three years in Delhi's high-security Tihar jail for "sheltering a terrorist."
"She didn't even have an inkling of what I was up to when they arrested her," Nirpreet says.
In May 1988, Punjab Police and paramilitary forces launched another operation [given another juvenile name, Operation Black Thunder] against militants who had sought refuge within the Golden Temple in Amritsar. At least 40 of them were killed and several arrested.
Sampooran Kaur was watching the news on television in the jail. She leapt with joy as she caught a fleeting glimpse of her daughter among those arrested. She hadn't heard from Nirpreet for over a year.
Five months after her arrest in Amritsar, Nirpreet, by then a mother of a one-year-old boy, was also brought to Delhi's high-security Tihar Jail. Sampooran rushed to Nirpreet's cell as soon as the gates were unlocked.
"She wouldn't stop weeping," recalls Nirpreet, a tear betraying her resolute demeanour. Other inmates gathered around the cell to witness the reunion of a 20-year-old "dreaded terrorist" and her mother.
Aftyer eight-and-a-half years in prison, Nirpreet was acquitted on October 24, 1996. Though, her family was supportive, it took time to start life anew.
Today, Nirpreet, a readymade garments exporter, is actively involved in fighting for justice for victims of the 1984 Sikh carnage.
She is one of the 11 witnesses who, in January this year, testified before the CBI against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar.
On the morning of November 2, 1984, Nirpreet says Kumar stood up in a police jeep near Palam colony and announced: "No Sikh should live. If anyone gives shelter to Sikh families, their houses will be burnt." The CBI is yet to file a charge against Kumar.
Though she regrets having taken the extreme step of joining the Khalistan movement, she is not unhappy with the way life has turned out for her. "I was forced to take that step because of the Congress government's injustice. The irony is that while I have been punished for what I did after the 1984 killings, those who executed the massacre of Sikhs still roam freely."
The situation took a new turn following the CBI's exoneration of Jagdish Tytler this month. A Delhi court has postponed the hearing on the CBI's plea that the case against Tytler be closed.
The survivors of the Sikh killings still live in the hope that the courts will bring them justice. Till that day, they will, like they have been doing for almost 25 years, relive the horror of 1984.
"I don't think we'll ever get justice because the politicians are bothered only about votes," rues Nirpreet.
[Courtesy: Tehelka]
June 12, 2009
Conversation about this article
1: Didar Singh (New Delhi, India), June 12, 2009, 9:05 AM.
If one studies the 20th century history of the sub-continent, it becomes obvious that Pakistan was created through the excesses, foolishness and over-reactions of Hindus; otherwise, the idea would have died an early death. I fear the same thing is happening vis-a-vis Khalistan. By far the majority of Sikhs do not, and never did want Khalistan. It was no more than a cri-de-coeur for a promised land, in response to the denial of basic rights and freedoms to them by the Indian government. But it looks like India is back to the same knee-jerk reactions. And I fear that it will create a clear and unavoidable NEED for a Khalistan, and it will prepare the Sikhs by helping them unite and mature politically to be able to make it a viable entity. Having been slaves for millennia, I guess it is difficult for India's majority community to think and behave like a free people. Pity!
2: Amanjot Singh (Jal, Punjab), November 05, 2009, 9:11 AM.
The whole article brings out the picture of why the Sikh Freedom movement grew and why people supported it, but the quote: "..The second is a framed photo of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the Khalistani leader... " does not depict the true persona of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, as he was not fighting for Khalistan but for the human rights of Sikhs; he was quite explicit about this in his speeches that "I neither support Khalistan nor am I against it. If the Indian Government is ready to give us [Sikhs] our rights, then it is good, otherwise if they want to give us Khalistan instead, then we will accept it!"