Jalandhar: Radical Sikh group Dal Khalsa
on Sunday said it would hold a state bandh on Tuesday to express
solidarity with the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which
followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira
Gandhi.
"We have written letters to railway and transport
authorities to suspend services on November three," Khalsa
spokesman Kanwarpal Singh told reporters here.
Khalsa would hold protest marches at Jalandhar,
Amritsar, Ludhiana and Fatehgarh Sahib. Bandh was called to
pay tributes to Sikhs killed in riots and protest delay in
delivery of justice in such cases, he said.
In riots that followed the assassination of Indira
Gandhi by her Sikh body guards on October 31, 1984 many people
of the community were killed in many parts of the country.
Senior advocate H S Phoolka, who has been on the
forefront to seek justice for the 1984 riots victims, demanded
re-opening of the cases and proper trial to provide them
justice.
"Majority of riot cases were closed by the police
themselves. There was a need to re-open all such cases which
were closed by the investigating agency," he said.
The families which lost the earning members during
riots are still in pitiable condition and the government must
provide concessions to them and start providing jobs to the
children of such victims, Phoolka said.
The compensation of Rs 10,000 for death and complete
destruction of house was too meagre, he added.
Nirpreet Kaur, who lost her father in the riots,
resented that her family did not get any justice till date.
Kaur, who is also a witness in a case allegedly
involving Congress leader Sajjan Kumar and Balwant Khokhar,
accused the CBI of failing to file chargesheet in the matter
even after recording her statement.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the riots, a 3-day
'Shri akhand path sahib' (religious discourse) was also
started at Gurudwara Bangla sahib, which would be attended by
leader of opposition L K Advani and his party colleague V K
Malhotra tomorrow.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 01, 2009, 20:50