Ahead of the upcoming summit-level talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama at the White House on September 27, a US-based Sikh rights group has written to Obama urging him to question the Indian leader regarding the continuous impunity extended by his government to the Congress party leaders, who were involved in the orgy of violence perpetrated against innocent Sikhs in November 1984, in the aftermath of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
‘Sikhs for Justice’ will also stage a justice rally in front of the White House when the Obama-Manmohan meeting will be under way. SFJ has been lobbying with the US administration on the issue of denial of justice to the victims of the anti-Sikh riots and to pressure the Indian government to punish the perpetrators, who have been enjoying positions in the government.
And in its communique to the Obama administration, the rights group cited the cases of Union Minister Kamal Nath and fellow Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar who have been enjoying political patronage. This was despite the fact that there was ample proof of their involvement in organising the violent reprisals against the Sikhs, it was pointed out. The letter also drew the Obama administration’s attention to Washington’s response to the Sikh Riots Petition tabled before the White House in December 2012, with more than 45,000 signatures. It had resulted in the US Government acknowledging the systematic violence against the Sikhs saying, “during and after the 1984 violence, the US monitored and publicly reported on the grave human rights violations that occurred and the atrocities committed against members of the Sikh community”.
Condemning the pogroms, the response noted “we continue to condemn –and more importantly, to work against–violence directed at people based on their religious affiliation”. According to SFJ legal adviser Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, since Manmohan heads the party that orchestrated the 1984 violence which has been acknowledged by the White House, the Sikh community has approached Obama to raise the issue of impunity and denial of justice during his meeting with the PM.
“We want to hold the perpetrators of 1984 and their protectors, accountable before the international community for their crimes against humanity,” added Pannu.
Meanwhile, Sikh organisations and Gurudwara management committees across the US and Canada have given their backing for the SFJ’s justice rally,which is aimed at exposing the incessant policy of impunity practised by the Manmohan Government towards the villains in the Sikh genocide.
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Source: The New Indian Express