1984 riot victims protest at Akal Takht, urge people not to vote for Congress

Amritsar, May 24

Members of the 1984 Sikh Katle-Aam Peerat Welfare Society today protested at the Akal Takht over denial of justice to the victims of anti-Sikh riots even after a lapse of 40 years.

Society president Surjit Singh, in his address to the assembled victims, urged them not to vote for the Congress party whose workers had attacked unarmed Sikhs. He said that on June 1, 1984, curfew was imposed in Punjab and around the Golden Temple and the Army assault took place. He lamented that even after the passage of 40 years no perpetrator of the Sikh massacre was punished. He said bullets were fired at the holiest place of the Sikhs which was reprehensible and regrettable.

President of the women’s wing of Society Bibi Gurdeep Kaur told the voters that before casting their votes in the Lok Sabha elections on June 1, they should not forget the brutalities committed on Sikhs in the June 1984 military attack on Akal Takht. Keeping in mind the thousands of innocent and unarmed Sikhs martyred, they were urged not to vote for the Congress party.

They said after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Sikhs were massacred in Delhi, Kanpur, Bokaro and various other parts of India, property was burnt and looted. They gave a call for boycott of Congress candidates in the elections.