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One by one, They die
Pogrom continues by other means as India frustrates justice seekers
Sach Kanwal Singh
 NEW
DELHI: One by one, they will all die. Men and women who watched
blood-thirsty mobs led by India's top political leaders hunt, track,
beat, kick, loot and burn Sikhs in the country's national capital
are increasingly getting old, exhausted, frustrated and thwarted in
their efforts to seek even a semblance of justice.
A few are brave
enough to come out, stand up and be counted, and Giani Surinder
Singh was one of them. Under intense pressure, and threat to life,
Surinder Singh dared to depose as a witness, time and again, once
even before the dreaded CBI, and then returned to
India
from the
US to persue the case and depose again. His one last wish was to see
some justice before he died.
He lost.
Surinder Singh
died at his Delhi home following a cardiac arrest last Monday. He
was 58, and a brave man. He was suffering from acute diabetes and
was admitted to the AIIMS last week. He is survived by his wife, a
son and two daughters.
 Surinder
Singh fought for justice till the last breath. A number of Sikh
leaders and families of victims of 1984 pogrom attended his
cremation at Nigambodh Ghat in Delhi on Tuesday morning.
Surinder Singh
had filed an affidavit before the Justice Nanavati Commission in
January 2002, narrating how he saw Congress leader Jagdish Tytler
inciting the mob in November 1984 but had then withdrawn the
affidavit in August the same year. Later, when he saw the time was
opportune, Surinder Singh stood up and said he was threatened and
pressurised, and he stuck to his original statement.
Following
Delhi's Karkardooma court's directive to the CBI for
re-investigations in the case, his statement was recorded by the
probe agency in
New York
after much drama and reluctance. He returned to
India
on April 28 this year to ensure that Tytler does not go free and CBI
does not use his absence as an excuse to issue the mass murderer a
clean chit but the court did not permit him to record his statement.
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The Case of Surinder Singh
In November
1984, Giani Surinder Singh was at the Pul Bangash Gurdwara in
Delhi where he witnessed Jagdish Tytler ordering the killings of
Sikhs. As a result of instigation and orders of Jagdish Tytler,
three Sikhs, namely, Bhai Badal Singh Raagi of the Gurdwara,
Thakur Singh, a retired police inspector and Amarjit Singh
Bedi’s servant were killed. On the instigation of Jagdish Tytler,
Gurdwara Pul Bangash was also set on fire and 36 copies of Guru
Granth Sahib were burnt to ashes.
After his
statement to the CBI in India, Giani Surinder Singh had said he
was receiving threatening and harassing calls and messages and
had then come to the United States. After this, his wife and
daughters were harassed back home and his house No. 9, 10 New
Block Aruna Nagar, New Delhi was seized by men backed by Jagdish
Tytler and his wife and daughters thrown out of the house.
Police had even threatened to put his wife behind bars, Giani
Surinder Singh had alleged. After this the CBI asked him to give
a statement about the November 1984 events before the CBI
officers on December 23 and December 24, 2009 in New York, USA.
“I appeared before the CBI on said dates and was subjected to
interview which lasted for more than fourteen hours over a
period of two days.” |
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As we said, one
by one, they will all die.
Surinder Singh's
death comes within months of the death of Gurcharan Singh Rishi. In
fact, Surinder Singh had said that it was the death of Gurcharan
Singh Rishi on February 17 this year that convinced him that he must
go to India and pursue the case. Rishi remained bed ridden for 25
long years after being thrown into a burning truck during the 1984
genocide and kept waiting for an opportunity to record his statement
against Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, involved in killings of Sikhs,
but never got it.
It was not easy
to depose as a witness, not even 25 years after the pogrom. In fact,
the mental torture continued unabated. When he landed in Delhi this
year, his passport was seized and he was not allowed to return to
the US. He was illegally detained, harassed and accused of speaking
against the Indian government in the United States.
"He was under a
lot of pressure to change his statement against Tytler," activist
advocate HS Phoolka, who has represented 1984 victims in courts,
said.
Legal counsel
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, also fighting the cases of the victims,
said in the US that Surinder Singh's demise was a "great setback to
the Sikh community". Surinder Singh had recorded his statement
before the CBI alongwith Jasbir Singh, another witness, after an
expose thwarted the agency's bid to let Tytler off the hook.
Men like
Surinder Singh and Gurcharan Singh are dying. When Gurcharan Singh
died, he was half-burnt half-alive and had spent 25 years watching
Akali Dal and Congress governments come and go, commissions of
inquiry being appointed and wrapped up, and had witnessed that the
world cared no more. When he died on February 17, he was still
fighting on the frontline trenches of human rights and was preparing
to again try and appear on February 19 before a Delhi court, ready
to say again that yes, he did see Congress leader Sajjan Kumar,
leading the bloody mobs.
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The Case of Gurcharan Singh
In a damning
front page report on Jan 30 this year, India's The Asian Age
newspaper had quoted Gurcharan Singh as narrating: "Sajjan Kumar
told the rioters: ‘Is mohalle ka ek bhi sardar zinda nahin
bachna chahiye. In kutton ko saza deni hai (Not even a single
Sikh here must escape alive. These dogs must be punished).' He
had come there specifically to direct the rioters, who were
mostly from surrounding villages and bastis, but led by one of
his henchmen, Kirpa Ram," Gurcharan Singh had alleged. Then only
17 years old, the frightened young man had heard the
Congressman's thunderous speech from the edge of the restive
crowd that had collected near his home that morning.
"I wore a
cap over my patka (under-turban) to disguise my identity," he
had said. Baying for blood after Sajjan Kumar's venomous sermon,
the mob began fanning out and targeting homes and shops owned by
Sikhs. "They first set fire to the Singh Sabha Gurdwara at Mohan
Garden and then stormed our home because my father Nath Singh
was the president of the gurdwara," Gurcharan Singh had said,
recalling the worst morning of his life.
The killers
did not spare any male Sikh. Gurcharan's uncle, who was visiting
from Khurja, was hacked to death. His father was beaten
mercilessly and left only because the attackers thought he was
dead. "They thrashed my brother, Tejinder and me and flung our
bodies onto a truck that they had just set on fire," he said.
The two brothers were later dragged out from the smouldering
vehicle by some young boys who had managed to hide from the
killers.
Gurcharan
Singh escaped with his life, but only just. He relived the
horror and pain every single day of the rest of his 24 years
confined to his bed and completely dependent on the meagre care
his poor family could ill afford. He decided to break his long
silence despite his own suffering, but had little hope from the
Indian justice dispensing system. "When they flung me into the
burning truck I called out to Wahe Guru three times and I
believed He (God) saved me for a purpose. Now it is up to Him to
bring the guilty to book," he had said.
It was wise
of Gurcharan Singh to have faith in Waheguru, because the Indian
state failed him and the so-called leaders of the community who
came to exercise some political power have since found new
agendas and secularized themselves, translating secularism as a
move to shun all concerns of the community and their people. |
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15
July 2009
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