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Period: to
Attack on Sikhs
From 1947, until modern day. Sikhs are still fighting to be treated the same as hindus in India. After fighting wars for India, doing all that they could as a peoples; they feel they have been put on the lowest of low priorities, only to face politicians with empty promises. Sikhs are found never forgetting the events that took place in 1984 and thereafter. Everything from smashing the skulls of children into marble walls and drinking alcohol on holy grounds was done. This attack was a genocide. -
India Independence Act
This was a time period in which plenty of small battles took place between the Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh communities in India. There was a large amount of warfare between all three based solely on religion. Where two countries were able to establish their own independence; they forgot about the people within them. One important community was the Punjab/Sikh community. Asking for their piece, they were denied and instead given acres based on their income. This resulted in lasting resentment. -
Clashes between India and Khalistan Leaders
In 1978, there was an awakening for some Sikh Punjabis. They decided that they no longer wanted to live under India's rule and wanted their own independence. This resulted in being called radicalised. This movement was inspired by Politician Jagjit Singh Johan when he used his political platform to demand Khalistan, inspiring many Punjabi Sikhs to agree with him and decide they wanted the same. As Hindus got their country, Muslims got Pakistan: Why weren't Sikhs allowed their own land? -
The First Attack
This attack lasted about 6 days in Amritsar Punjab, throughout this timeline; there will be sections on how each person was hurt. Indira Gandhi was upset to hear that Sikhs wanted their own state. As a result, she decided that rather than giving them the land they were promised; she was going to kill their political leaders. When Sant Jarnail Ji was at the Golden Temple (a place of worship), she had several military personnel go in with guns, bombs, war machines, and more. On a religious day. -
June Second
On the second day, after over 10,000 military personnel had gathered in the Golden Temple; this was not enough. The attempt to kill one man (Sant Jarnail Ji) had resulted in 25 killed and 11 deaths. The army allowed more people to enter the temple and nobody to leave. The forces were then commanded to shoot inside, not allowing anyone to escape but as many people could enter as they wanted to. Indian generals knew that they would be met with fire. As Sikhi religion is known in India to fight. -
June 5th-6th
Brahma Chellaney, a witness, had said that "Between 10.30 p.m. and midnight, we heard slogans from city outskirts of villagers trying to march to the Golden Temple from three different directions. The slogans-’Long live the Sikh religion’ and ‘Sant Jarnail is our leader’-were heard on each occasion and were followed by rapid army machine gun fire and screams.” Sikhs fought until their last, even after the attack on the temple, many army officials discussed how -
June 3rd
This day, a blackout occurred. News reports came out from different areas covering the pain that Sikhs were dealing with in India. If Indira Gandhi decided to cut their communications with the outside world, she would be able to unleash as much military power within the state of Punjab with little to no repercussions in the eyes of the rest of the world. The next few days, there was anything but silence, anything but peace within Punjab. People were still being held within the temple. -
June 6th
"...Some soldiers caught hold of small babies and children by their feet, lifted them up in the air and then smashed them against the walls thus breaking their skulls.” During the middle couple of days of their occupation of the Golden Temple, the Indian army was certain to kill as many people as it could. One witness describes watching the army shoot a woman dead, as the baby in her arms cried after; the soldier walked up to the child and shot it as well. Both of these stories have kept me up. -
October 1st, 1984
As sikh women were raped, men and children were killed. The Indian army finally lifted it's hold on the Golden Temple. Before doing this, they cremated all the bodies (without letting the red cross help), 'counted' how many were killed.Only a couple hundred reported while thousands of families are still wondering where their members went. Other operations took place before this including Operation Woodrose; major temples all over India were attacked. Apparently, terrorists are people who pray -
October 31st, 1984
Indira Gandhi was killed by her own body guards. It is believed she was planning another attack on Sikhs and she had a weird feeling she was going to die; a non-religious woman, almost immediately held prayers at her home for herself. The ghosts of the children she killed in the Golden Temple must have haunted her. Her killing caused a massive eruption of even more attacks on Sikhs. Family members of mine were told to wear a sari and not speak a word of Punjabi as it could result in death. -
Modern day Punjab
Today, Sikh families still speak to reporters about their sons who were killed in the genocide and the massacre that took place after Indira was killed. The deaths in Delhi stand at about 8,000, whereas nationwide it was up to 17,000. As much as the government likes to state that there were not that many; it is important to remember the amount of families still waiting for their members to return, with no help from the bloody hands of the government. The same community was hurt twice in one year