Manish Tewari [File Photo]
Chandigarh/ Punjab (February 09, 2014): India’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari reportedly said on February 08 that Punjab had moved on from the terrible times of 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom followed by militancy and was now in the process of healing itself.
Reacting to fresh revelations that policemen may have had a role in covering up the “involvement” of senior Congress leaders in the carnage, Tewari said: “Those were terrible times. Punjab’s quest for justice remains, but a process of healing has set in and we have all moved on. This I can say from first-hand experience of militancy”.
SFJ Challenge To Manish Tewari:
Challenging Manish Tiwari’s statement, Sikh human rights and advocacy group – Sikhs for Justice has said that [i]n 1984, ruling Congress party of so called democratic country organized genocide of Sikhs throughout India, and more than thirty thousand innocent sikhs were necklaced to death.
“November 1984 genocide of Sikhs witnessed two decade long systematic extermination of Sikhs under the cover of ‘counter insurgency’ operations and thousands more Sikhs were butchered to death, and for the crimes committed by the Indian State” a written statement sent by SFJ to the Sikh Siyasat News (SSN) reads.
“Tewari is suggesting that Punjab is moved on, infact, the Sikh community is committed and united throughout the world to hold ‘India’ accountable for their crimes”, said Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor of SFJ.
“Let us remind Tewari and his master, it is high time, that, Indian government, give the Sikhs right to self determination or else time is not far when Sikhs will force a UN backed plebiscite in Punjab”, he added.