New York (KP) – A conference on the genocide of Sikhs in 1984 was recently organized by the ‘Sikhs for Justice’ organization and the Sikh Student Federation in New York to raise awareness of Government involvement in the murder of thousands of Sikhs. The main purpose behind this event was to reach to worldwide human rights organizations and attract their attention towards the continued human rights violation in 'the world’s largest democracy’: India.
Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, who was the main attraction at this event, held that there was a big need for the Sikhs to unite together and spread the truth about Sikh genocide to human rights organizations based worldwide so the enemies of the Sikh Nation could be punished. Furthermore, Jathedar Vedanti upheld that the incidents of 1984 could not be called riots, they were Government organized pogroms. According to Jathedar Vedanti, riots take place when two communities fight amongst each other, but during 1984, the Government supplied chemical powder, tires and weapons to the Hindu mobs to attack the innocent Sikhs. Although 24 years have passed since the hundreds of thousands of Sikhs were uprooted, the main culprits are roaming freely in India and abroad.
Jathedar Vedanti appealed to committees of Gurdwara Sahibs worldwide to work together for the betterment of the Khalsa Panth. He urged everyone to put aside the small differences that exist in the Panth and raise the voice of the Khalsa Panth to get justice for thousands of innocents Sikhs that were killed during the pogroms. He further asked all Sikhs to submit their statements regarding the 1984 pogroms with the ‘1984 Sikh Genocide Commission’ without any fears.
Several resolutions were passed at the conference regarding the Sikh Genocide of 1984. These resolutions were read by Gurpatwant Singh to the Sikh Sangat in the presence of the Akal Takhat Sahib Jathedar. Sikh Sangat acknowledged its support for the following resolutions:
• The ‘1984 Sikh Genocide Commission’ that has been formed by the All India Sikh Student Federation and Sikhs for Justice Organization should call for investigations of murders of Sikhs in India.
• The Supreme Court of India should also investigate these murders.
• The Commission should raise awareness of the Sikh genocide to worldwide human rights organizations and democratic governments.
These resolutions were also passed in the presence of the Akal Takhat Sahib Jathedar and thousands of Sikhs at the annual ‘Sikh Day Parade’ held on April 26, 2008 in New York. The resolutions also called for the Sikh Sangat situated worldwide to support the efforts of the Commission established by the Sikhs for Justice Organization and the All India Sikh Student Federation.
