|
Sikh Quom Sends Message With Total
Punjab Shutdown
WSN Bureau
 25
years after Delhi’s roads lay strewn with half-burnt, mutiliated
bodies of thousands of Sikhs and a community’s faith in the Indian
Political Establishment lay completely shattered, justice eludes the
Sikhs. On November 3, panthic organisations led by Dal Khalsa,
Shiromani Akali Dal (Panch Pardhani) of Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu and
Damdami Taksal sent a simple, effective message to New Delhi’s
rulers and the world: People still want justice, and they haven’t
forgotten.
With a complete
Bandh (shutdown) in Punjab without any threat of violence, the Sikh
community also told India’s entrenched brahamanical power centers
that they haven’t forgiven the perpetrators, and they shall not.
1984 Genocide still awaits closure, and that closure can only come
via justice.
Trains stopped
in their tracks, buses went off the roads, shops downed shutters,
the industrial areas were quite and the silence of grief prevailed
all over as normal life came to complete halt in all of Punjab at
the Punjab Bandh call given by panthic organizations.
Ironically, and
also significantly, the ruling Akali Dal of the Badal father-son duo
and the SGPC not only did not join the Bandh call but even kept
their offices open, thus defying the expressed will of the Khalsa
Panth whom they claim to represent.
The fact that
the 25th anniversary of 1984 Genocide of Sikhs in Delhi and
elsewhere came at a time when Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu and his many
associates have been languishing in jails under an Akali Dal regime
lent a special significance to the message that the Punjab Bandh
sent out.
In certain parts
of Ludhiana, some incidents of minor clashes, including one at Arya
Mohalla, were reported but largely the shutdown was complete and
peaceful. Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala, Bathinda and Ludhiana all
reported total shutdown.
| |
With a complete shutdown in Punjab, the Sikh community told
India’s entrenched brahamanical powers that they haven’t
forgiven the perpetrators, and they shall not. 1984 Genocide
still awaits closure, and that closure can only come via justice |
A good number of
trains were either cancelled or terminated following blockades at
various places, including between Rajpura and Shambhu on the
Ambala-Ludhiana section and at Mananwala near
Amritsar.
Many trains were
either detained or terminated or cancelled. Passengers were stranded
after a few trains from Amritsar, Ferozepore and Ludhiana were
cancelled but organizers said they had cautioned people in advance
and that the intention was to stand up for the victims, not to
inconvenience the general public. They said the people knew pretty
well that justice should be everyone’s concern, not just of the
Sikhs.
The trains
detained or cancelled included the Amritsar-Haridwar Jan Shatabdi,
Amritsar-New Delhi Express, New Delhi-Amritsar Swarn Shatabdi,
Howrah-Amritsar Express and the New Delhi-Amritsar Shan-e-Punjab.
Public transport was seriously hit as private buses remained off the
road all over the state.
In Chandigarh,
Bandh supporters blocked roads even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
was visiting the city for convocations in the PGI and
Panjab
University.
Shops and
business establishments remained closed at several places, while
private schools and some banks also remained shut as a precautionary
measure.
Dal Khalsa
spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh had assured that private vehicles and
emergency services would not be affected by the Bandh. The
organizers kept their word.
The Delhi Sikh
Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) had extended support to Dal
Khalsa’s Bandh call.
Next door to
Chandigarh, Mohali saw a complete Bandh as members of the Akali Dal
(Panch Pardhani) and Guru Asra trust blocked traffic on National
Highway-21 and held prayers in memory of the 1984 genocide victims.
4
November 2009
|
Read Also