Thirty years after the Army attack on the Golden Temple and the Akal Takht Sahib in 1984, the Sikh radical outfit, Dal Khalsa, has given the call for “Amritsar shutdown” on June 6 to mark the anniversary of Operation Bluestar.
“The motive to give call for an Amritsar bandh is to protest against the killings of hundreds of innocent pilgrims, loot of invaluable holy books, manuscripts and artifacts from the Sikh reference library and to recall and relive the pain and agony of the heinous attack besides paying tributes to all martyrs and innocent persons killed in the dastardly inhuman action of the State,” said Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh, addressing a Press conference at the party office.
Justifying the call, he said: “Since Amritsar was a battleground, we had decided to give the call for Amritsar bandh only.”
He urged the people to observe a peaceful bandh to send a strong and firm message to the government that the wounds of June 1984 genocidal attack were still simmering and that the Sikhs would never forget this. He clarified that the call was only for business and educational institutions and there would be no stoppage of transportation.
The hardliner leader appealed to the non-Sikh population of Amritsar to share the pain of the community and express solidarity by closing their business premises. “It is time for the Hindu community to show that they are a friend of the Sikhs,” he said.
Outlining the programs, Kanwar Pal Singh said that to commemorate the day, a Genocide Remembrance Parade would go around the streets of Amritsar, on the eve of the 30th anniversary on June 5.“The blood of innocent spilled on the sacred floor of Darbar Sahib cries for justice. No perpetrator has been held accountable for slaughtering hundreds of innocent pilgrims, no attempt has been made to address all territorial, economic, social, language and cultural issues and concerns for which the Sikh struggle was waged,” he said.
Singh added that the Government of the day vandalised and looted invaluable religious books and artifacts from Sikh reference library and had not returned any of the cultural heritage till date.
