Book on 1984 riots unveiled

Tribune news service

Amritsar, December 16

Simarjit Kaur, humanitarian activist and author, who is one of the nominee of the World Sikh Awards, on Monday addressed a conference about her book Saffron Salvation. The book is based on the 1984 riots and was written in 1999. Kaur, who is based in UK and comes from the family of UK-based Sikh leaders Joginder Singh and Harbhajan Kaur, said that she was glad that all first edition copies of her book have sold out.

“The book has been written with a perspective of witnessing the world as a Sikh. It tells the story of a protagonist, who seeks to find love in Punjab of 1984, a time when the state is middle of its biggest social and political movement,” she said. It also highlights the stories of persecution Sikh community faced in 1984. Ït is also an attempt by me to revive the Sikh literature and heritage as it comes from in the vein of Nanak Singh and many other veteran notable authors. It attempts to humanise the struggle of activists then and challenges of human rights activist inspired by Khalra’s life,” she said.

Simarjit has been an activist herself since 2002, taking up cases of widows of extra judicial killings and torture survivors of 1984. She set up the first medical network for all survivors in this region with her own savings in 2002. She was nominated for World Sikh Awards in 2013 for her work in the field. Her book is being released in Amritsar with support of Narain Singh, author of Khalistan Da Penda.