Operation Blue Star 1984 – Remembrances

June 6th, 2010 was the 26th anniversary of heinous slaughter named operation blue star committed by Indian state against the Sikh minority of the nation in their holiest shrine. Innocent people including olds, women & children were butchered in sanctum sanctorum of Golden Temple by Indian Army claiming it fight against terror groups. Armed struggle brought into the place which is revered as sacred not only by Sikh community but many others, was a horrible act of state terror.

It was a first of its kind incident in modern world history where a state audaciously calling itself the world largest democracy used its full fledged armed capability & artillery against its own citizens. The day too chosen for this operation also raises severe doubts about the real intentions behind scenes. It was holy martyrdom day of fifth Sikh Guru due to which lots of innocent devotees collected in the Gurudwara to pay their homage. This shameful act had naked the real temperament of the values of which Indian system is boasting about.

This was the main cause which embedded the concept of a separate state, which was only the brainchild of few fundamentalists & separatists till then, in psyche of most of the Sikh minority of nation aftermath as their rights of survival with dignity were crushed to boots in Indian state, though they were the most visible group which contributed in freedom struggle of this very nation and resulted in its creation.

Once again the state sponsored & well-planned massacre of Sikh community round the country in November 1984 after Indira Gandhi's killing resulted in widespread support for militancy and strengthened the demand of separation. Again the way in which Indian state responded to these demands with largest human rights violations in the history after the holocaust by Nazis is a slur on its very character which term itself a democratic, socialist & secular nation.

In later years, thousands of Sikh youths were killed in fraudulent encounters by officers in police & forces brutally to gain rewards & promotions from government on killing terrorists. There was a literal hunting of Sikh youths by cops going on during those black days. Thousands of other innocents got killed or handicapped while being picked up & tortured mercilessly in Indian Jails cum hells. Till date there are unexplainable missings of thousands of youths, since those days, which could be the possible victims of atrocities of uniformed constituents of state, about whom no inquiry had been carried out ever to find out the truth.

The biggest disheartening tragedy in all is that even the Indian judicial system failed completely to provide justice in any of these unpleasant incidents. There is not even a single example where a single culprit from political circle to uniformed cadre got punished for these unforgiveable crimes against humanity. This has raised the questions on moral fibre which judicial system is supposed to carry around to some extent in our rotted system.

Sikh community is advised these days by Indian fraternity of majority community to forget those incidents and move ahead with so called progress in the country. But the biggest question is whether moving on without getting justice is possible? The answer is big NO!