'84 anti-Sikh riots victims call off protest, to meet Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann

Amritsar, December 1

After getting assurance of a meeting with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on December 8, members of the 1984 Sikh Katle Aam Peerat Welfare Society today called off their protest.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh said families of the victims of the 1984 Delhi Sikh genocide had been demanding punishment for the perpetrators, however, the justice still eludes them.

He said the previous state governments extended some social welfare schemes for the survivors and relatives of the anti-Sikh riots, but the AAP government was not implementing them in its entirety.

Members of the Society demanded a hike in widow pension to Rs 10,000 per month and 5 per cent reservation in the state government jobs. Despite directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the victims residing in the state had not been allotted booths and houses, said members of the Society.

They also demanded that the state government should pass a resolution in the Assembly to punish those responsible for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. They said the Centre had failed to punish the perpetrators of the riots in which around 10,000 Sikhs were killed in various parts of the country.