Dubbing as “wrong” to draw any parallel between the killing of innocent Sikhs in 1984 and 2002 Godhra riots in Gujarat, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday said that the unfortunate incident that happened in Godhra were riots whereas the killings in 1984 was a “carnage of the Sikhs undertaken at the behest of then Congress Government at the Centre”. Badal, interacting with the media on the sidelines of Sangat Darshan programme of Malout Assembly segment, said that the riots are always a result of clash between two communities whereas what happened in 1984 was “a planned execution of Sikhs as the then Union Government had used all its might to kill Sikhs by especially targeting them”.
Badal said that the Central Government had deliberately allowed the killings of Sikhs to take place by becoming a mute spectator to this dastardly act. “Due to the inaction of the Union Government and the Police, the mob led by Congress leaders had killed the innocent Sikhs in full public view,” he said. He said that even several enquiries conducted for probing the 1984 carnage have time and again indicted the Congress leaders for their dubious role behind the massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other parts of the country.
PHOOlKA FOR SETTING UP SIT BY REOPENING CASES WRONGlY ClOSED BY POlICE
Fighting battle since long for the 1984 riot victims at different forums, the senior Supreme Court lawyer HS Phoolka on Thursday asserted that the SIT, by reopening cases wrongly closed by the Police, would finally achieve justice for the victims. “A question is being repeatedly raised as to whether the SIT to be constituted now would be able to find any evidence against the accused personsIJ A large number of witnesses are available and ready to provide evidence, the unfortunate incident is very much alive in their memories. I am certain that the SIT by reopening cases wrongly closed by Police will finally achieve justice for the victims,” said Phoolka, who had recently joined the Aam Aadmi party.
TREAD WITH CAUTION WHIlE DEAlING WITH AAP: DAl KHAlSA
The radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa on Thursday said that a string of inquiry commissions and committees have failed to uncover the truth and prosecute the “high and mighty perpetrators”. The Sikh outfit also slammed Congress and BJP for playing “narrow politics over the dead Sikhs and Muslims”. Dal Khalsa leader and spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said, “A string of inquiry commissions and committees, set up by the Centre so far, has been unable to uncover the truth and also prosecute the high and mighty conspirators and perpetrators.”
He said that it would be too early to judge AAP’s intentions and approach vis-à-vis Sikh concerns. “At this juncture, we could only say that Sikhs would have to be very, very cautious in dealing with the AAP,” he added. Singh also criticised Rahul Gandhi for speaking “white lie” that Congress Government tried to stop massacre of Sikhs in November 1984.
