Recording Pogroms Against Religious Minorities in India

[Riyadh Haque]

Sikhs Remember Victims of 1984 Massacre

Indira's Sikh assassins met swift justice, but the murderers of 3,870 innocent Sikhs still roam free more than a quarter of a century later.

In reaction to the Sikh killings in Delhi and other places, Indira's successor and son Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi declared at a massive rally in the capital that "once a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it shakes".

One of the worst massacres took place in two narrow alleys in India's capital New Delhi's poor Trilokpuri colony where some 350 Sikhs, including women and children, were casually butchered over 72 hours, according to media reports.

The charred and hacked remains of the hundreds of dead in Trilokpuri's Block 32 on the smoky and dank evening of 2 November 1984 were stark testimony to the unimpeded and seemingly endless massacre, according to the BBC.

Soon after news of Mrs Gandhi's killing by her Sikh bodyguards spread, Hindu mobs swung into action - like they did elsewhere in the city armed with voters' lists - in Trilokpuri against the low caste Sikhs inhabiting one-roomed tenements on either side of two narrow alleyways barely 150 yards long.

With local police connivance they blocked entry to the neighborhood with massive concrete water pipes and stationed guards armed with sticks atop them.

For the next three days marauding groups armed with cleavers, scythes, kitchen knives and scissors took breaks to eat and regroup in between executing their bloodthirsty mission.

While the India's western supporters and government leaders paint a very rosy picture of India's prospects, it is important for Indians and others to understand that there are significant risks in India. For example, the extreme Hindu Nationalists are continuing to stir up trouble in many parts of India. According to All India Christian Council, the 2008 violence has affected 14 districts out of of 30 and 300 Villages in the Indian state of Orissa, 4,400 houses burnt, 50,000 homeless, 59 killed including at least 2 pastors, 10 priests/pastors/nuns injured, 18,000 men, women, children injured, 2 women gang-raped including a nun, 151 churches destroyed and 13 schools and colleges damaged. The violence targeted Christians in 310 villages, with 4,104 homes torched. More than 18,000 were injured and 50,000 displaced and homes continued to burn in many villages. Another report said that around 11,000 people are still living in refugee camps.

SM Mushrif, the author of "Who Killed Karkare?" and former police chief of Maharashtra state, has raised some very serious questions about the role of the Indian intelligence in the increasing violence committed by Hindutva outfits against India's minorities, and how India's Intelligence Bureau diverts attention from it by falsely accusing Indian Muslims and Pakistan's ISI, as was done in Malegaon and Samjutha Express blasts.

Mushrif alleges the involvement of both Police Chief Raghuvanshi and Col. Purohit with Abhinav Bharat in Maharashtra, whose hand was evident in a series of blasts across the country. It has old connections with men like Veer Damodar Savarkar (whose relative Himani Savarkar leads the Abhinav Bharat movement), Dr Munje, who led the Hindu Mahasabha, and other Hindutva luminaries. It is at the Bhonsala Military Academy run by these groups that Purohit trained police officers, including Raghuvanshi. Mushrif asks a pertinent question: Will Raghuvanshi pursue the investigation against Purohit, his guru? A plausible answer is, perhaps no. Already charges have been dropped by a special court under MCOCA against 11 accused, including Purohit, on the grounds of insufficient evidence produced in the court by the prosecution.

The violent Hindutva extremists represent a very serious threat to India's secular democracy, peace and stability. It is important for Prime Manmohan Singh's government to take seriously the warnings from patriotic Indians like S.M. Mushrif, Pankaj Mishra, Yoginder Sikand and others. Delhi needs to act by ordering a high-powered and comprehensive investigation into the allegations of the involvement of Intelligence Bureau and other Indian state officials in persecution of minorities in India.

 

[karan.1970]

What's funny is that Pakistani members keep opening new threads for historical occurances in India.. But then throw a hissy fit when an Indian opens a new thread about the news of a recent Bomb blast, or sectarian killing or targeted killings in Karachi with lectures around why an existing sticky should be used..

 

[notsuperstitious]

This new Riaz Haq avatar is equally rabid, obsessed and repetitive.

Like his previous avatar he does not believe in secularism OR democracy but he is worrying himself sick over Indias secularism and democracy. The word Hindu is a true miracle worker.

 

[ashokdeiva]

There are two things that are flawed, in this article.
First it was not HINDU mobs that went on riot against Sikh population, it was the Congress fools (Hindus, Muslims AND Chiristians)
Second the Malegon blast though initially suspected to be the handy work of forign actors was investigated and the real accused got arrested unlike PAKISTAN where cirminals rome free.
And above all, we Hindus gave our men to other faiths to increase religious understanding between all religion, we have run out of tolerance now because Christians and Muslims have pushed their idea of head count to such an extent that they threaten to dilute other religion that originated in INDIA(ALL DHARMIC RELIGION)

 

[KS]

This new Riaz Haq avatar is equally rabid, obsessed and repetitive.

LOL I was thinking in my head that this nick "Riyadh Haque" sounds vaguely familiar....

Btw regarding your signature, the third book has been delayed by four months and is due only in Dec. Hope the world doesnt end before I read it...

....... the warnings from patriotic Indians like S.M. Mushrif, Pankaj Mishra, Yoginder Sikand and others. ....

Is this the same Yoginder Sikand ?

Why I Gave Up On 'Social Activism' By Yoginder Sikand

 

[Riyadh Haque]

Gujarath Muslims Oppressed by Indian Politicians

It has been almost ten years since the 2002 Gujarat riots in India in which at least 2,000 Muslims were killed by Hindu mobs and several hundred girls and women were stripped naked, raped or gang-raped, had their wombs slashed and were thrown into fires, some while still alive. But even today, tens of thousands of Muslims continue to languish in refugee camps, too afraid to return to their homes. Why? Because the names of the politicians, businessmen, officials and policemen who colluded in the anti-Muslim pogrom are widely known. Some of them were even caught on video, in a sting carried out by the weekly magazine Tehelka, proudly recalling how they murdered and raped Muslims. But, as Amnesty International pointed out in a recent report, justice continues to evade most victims and survivors of the violence. Another organization, Human Rights Watch, has also criticized the Indian government for failure to address the humanitarian condition of the victims, "overwhelming majority of them Muslim." Following their traumatic experiences, the surviving Muslim victims of Gujarat are still living in fear, as the perpetrators of riots remain powerful and roam free.

But the plight of the riot victims does not find any echo in the general elections of the world's largest democracy, according to a BBC report. Both the ruling BJP and Congress party remain silent on the shoddy rehabilitation of the victims or the delay in bringing the culprits to justice.

Most independent observers believe that the Nanavati commission report, which absolved Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of any responsibility for the riots, is nothing but a farce. Nanavati Commission, appointed by the Gujarat government accused of complicity in the riots, echoed the government's position that the Godra incident was a pre-planned conspiracy. The Nanavati report was designed to pre-empt the findings of the independent Justice Bannerjee commission report which clearly found that the fire incident in which 58 Kar Seveks on the train died was an accidental one.

"We cannot vote for the BJP and the Congress almost has a fixed deposit on our votes. So it's a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea," the BBC quotes Mr Ansari, a refugee in Ahmadabad, as saying.

Muslims comprise barely 10% of the population in Gujarat. "Despite the riots and the headlines, the political parties here feel that they can ignore them, because they don't comprise a decisive vote bank," analyst Achyut Yagnik told the BBC.

Such total disregard for the rights and plight of minorities in India raises serious questions about the secular character of India's democracy and adherence to its secular constitution. But the Indian and Western media continue to be silent about the suffering of Gujarati Muslims.

Similarly, while the torture and human rights abuses at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib by the Bush administration have been exposed, documented and condemned by the world media, the continuing abuses of Muslims in India's "war on terror" have gone largely unnoticed. There appears to be a conspiracy of silence by the world media when it comes to the brutality against Indian Muslims practiced by officials and the right-wing Hindu extremists in world's largest secular democracy. The western media, in particular, have completely bought what Fareed Zakaria, the Indian-born Muslim editor of Newsweek International, describes as a "peaceful, stable, and prosperous" India. Even the officially-endorsed anti-Muslim violence and resulting deaths of thousands of Muslims in Gujarat have not been able to shake the faith of the Indophile western journalists.

 

[Imam Bukhari]

Sikhs Remember Victims of 1984 Massacre

Riyadh Bhai,

You are at it once again. As I have repeatedly said, we must look inside our own gireban. We must not throw stones when we live inside a glass house.

As for this issue, there is something that I don't seem to follow here. Perhaps you can help me understand it.

1) If Hindu-India was horrifically oppressing Sikhs in 1984, why were their PM Indira's personal bodyguards Sikh?
2) After the killing of Indira by the same trusted Sikh bodyguards, some Sikhs in New Delhi allegedly began distributing sweets and saying "hum nay tumharay PM ko mar diya"; this led to angry mobs of Congress goons going on a rampage against Sikhs.
3) After more than a quarter of a century, Sikhs still remember that massacre in which 3000 innocent sikhs were killed.

This is tragic, but not an uncommon sequence of events amidst all the numerous communal riots in world history.

But how do we explain the strange 1953 Anti-Ahmadiya massacres in Lahore?

Did some Ahmadis kill the PM of Pakistan in 1953? Did some Ahmadis betray any position of great trust and try to destablize Pakistan by carrying out assasinations? Were the Ahmadis asking for a separate Ahmadi State? Did some Ahmadis gloat over the killing of any Pakistani and distribute sweets in Lahore? Did the Ahmadis resort of any kind of violence whatsoever? Was there any deliberate act of provocation of any kind from the Ahmadis?

No. That does not seem to be the case. As far as can be ascertained, the Ahmadis were just going about their lives peacefully and were just as patriotic as any other Pakistani community. In fact, the Ahmadis specifically preach the forgoing of vengence and exalt non-violence as a pillar of their faith.

So then what was the background of the events leading up the 1953 Anti-Ahmadiya Massacres?

Do the few Ahmadis remaining in Pakistan still remember it? What about the Ahmadis who fled Pakistan to escape the anti-ahmadi laws and were given refuge in England? Do they still remember the 1953 massacre? Do they still remember the 1974 (Bhutto) & 1984 (Zia) anti-Ahmadi laws?

Would you please do some in-depth research and write a post about this?

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

From Riaz Haq to Riyadh Haque ?

Nice try . He knew he had to change his name after all the loss of credibility he had to face after all the crap he used to spew all across the internet .

But with the way he is going right now , he is going to have to change this one too pretty soon.

 

[baajey]

Riyadh Bhai,

You are at it once again. As I have repeatedly said, we must look inside our own gireban. We must not throw stones when we live inside a glass house.

As for this issue, there is something that I don't seem to follow here. Perhaps you can help me understand it.

1) If Hindu-India was horrifically oppressing Sikhs in 1984, why were their PM Indira's personal bodyguards Sikh?
2) After the killing of Indira by the same trusted Sikh bodyguards, some Sikhs in New Delhi allegedly began distributing sweets and saying "hum nay tumharay PM ko mar diya"; this led to angry mobs of Congress goons going on a rampage against Sikhs.
3) After more than a quarter of a century, Sikhs still remember that massacre in which 3000 innocent sikhs were killed.

This is tragic, but not an uncommon sequence of events amidst all the numerous communal riots in world history.

But how do we explain the strange 1953 Anti-Ahmadiya massacres in Lahore?

Did some Ahmadis kill the PM of Pakistan in 1953? Did some Ahmadis betray any position of great trust and try to destablize Pakistan by carrying out assasinations? Were the Ahmadis asking for a separate Ahmadi State? Did some Ahmadis gloat over the killing of any Pakistani and distribute sweets in Lahore? Did the Ahmadis resort of any kind of violence whatsoever? Was there any deliberate act of provocation of any kind from the Ahmadis?

No. That does not seem to be the case. As far as can be ascertained, the Ahmadis were just going about their lives peacefully and were just as patriotic as any other Pakistani community. In fact, the Ahmadis specifically preach the forgoing of vengence and exalt non-violence as a pillar of their faith.

So then what was the background of the events leading up the 1953 Anti-Ahmadiya Massacres?

Do the few Ahmadis remaining in Pakistan still remember it? What about the Ahmadis who fled Pakistan to escape the anti-ahmadi laws and were given refuge in England? Do they still remember the 1953 massacre? Do they still remember the 1974 (Bhutto) & 1984 (Zia) anti-Ahmadi laws?

Would you please do some in-depth research and write a post about this?

how did u come to know of the bolded part ?????
n btw , even if some sikhs said the above....it doesnt justify the killings of so many innocents.
n i agree with everything in ur post....very informative n unbiased.

 

[ashokdeiva]

how did u come to know of the bolded part ?????
n btw , even if some sikhs said the above....it doesnt justify the killings of so many innocents.
n i agree with everything in ur post....very informative n unbiased.

no one aguments the killing of innocent Sikhs, but its some thing that the entire Indian Community has to forget and the Congress fools who did this need to ask for forgiveness from the Sikh community of the nation.

 

[Rhino]

Sikhs Remember Victims of 1984 Massacre

Indira's Sikh assassins met swift justice, but the murderers of 3,870 innocent Sikhs still roam free more than a quarter of a century later.

In reaction to the Sikh killings in Delhi and other places, Indira's successor and son Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi declared at a massive rally in the capital that "once a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it shakes".

One of the worst massacres took place in two narrow alleys in India's capital New Delhi's poor Trilokpuri colony where some 350 Sikhs, including women and children, were casually butchered over 72 hours, according to media reports.

The charred and hacked remains of the hundreds of dead in Trilokpuri's Block 32 on the smoky and dank evening of 2 November 1984 were stark testimony to the unimpeded and seemingly endless massacre, according to the BBC.

Soon after news of Mrs Gandhi's killing by her Sikh bodyguards spread, Hindu mobs swung into action - like they did elsewhere in the city armed with voters' lists - in Trilokpuri against the low caste Sikhs inhabiting one-roomed tenements on either side of two narrow alleyways barely 150 yards long.

With local police connivance they blocked entry to the neighborhood with massive concrete water pipes and stationed guards armed with sticks atop them.

For the next three days marauding groups armed with cleavers, scythes, kitchen knives and scissors took breaks to eat and regroup in between executing their bloodthirsty mission.

While the India's western supporters and government leaders paint a very rosy picture of India's prospects, it is important for Indians and others to understand that there are significant risks in India. For example, the extreme Hindu Nationalists are continuing to stir up trouble in many parts of India. According to All India Christian Council, the 2008 violence has affected 14 districts out of of 30 and 300 Villages in the Indian state of Orissa, 4,400 houses burnt, 50,000 homeless, 59 killed including at least 2 pastors, 10 priests/pastors/nuns injured, 18,000 men, women, children injured, 2 women gang-raped including a nun, 151 churches destroyed and 13 schools and colleges damaged. The violence targeted Christians in 310 villages, with 4,104 homes torched. More than 18,000 were injured and 50,000 displaced and homes continued to burn in many villages. Another report said that around 11,000 people are still living in refugee camps.

SM Mushrif, the author of "Who Killed Karkare?" and former police chief of Maharashtra state, has raised some very serious questions about the role of the Indian intelligence in the increasing violence committed by Hindutva outfits against India's minorities, and how India's Intelligence Bureau diverts attention from it by falsely accusing Indian Muslims and Pakistan's ISI, as was done in Malegaon and Samjutha Express blasts.

Mushrif alleges the involvement of both Police Chief Raghuvanshi and Col. Purohit with Abhinav Bharat in Maharashtra, whose hand was evident in a series of blasts across the country. It has old connections with men like Veer Damodar Savarkar (whose relative Himani Savarkar leads the Abhinav Bharat movement), Dr Munje, who led the Hindu Mahasabha, and other Hindutva luminaries. It is at the Bhonsala Military Academy run by these groups that Purohit trained police officers, including Raghuvanshi. Mushrif asks a pertinent question: Will Raghuvanshi pursue the investigation against Purohit, his guru? A plausible answer is, perhaps no. Already charges have been dropped by a special court under MCOCA against 11 accused, including Purohit, on the grounds of insufficient evidence produced in the court by the prosecution.

The violent Hindutva extremists represent a very serious threat to India's secular democracy, peace and stability. It is important for Prime Manmohan Singh's government to take seriously the warnings from patriotic Indians like S.M. Mushrif, Pankaj Mishra, Yoginder Sikand and others. Delhi needs to act by ordering a high-powered and comprehensive investigation into the allegations of the involvement of Intelligence Bureau and other Indian state officials in persecution of minorities in India.

every country has a past good or bad, india is not a perfect country but we learn from our mistakes and will always make it a better country than our past....today India is much better country than what it was 20,30 or 50 yrs ago and it will always be on the path to perfection....

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

From Riaz Haq to Riyadh Haque ?

Nice try . He knew he had to change his name after all the loss of credibility he had to face after all the crap he used to spew all across the internet .

But with the way he is going right now , he is going to have to change this one too pretty soon.

Loss of credibility?

Just ask any of the Chinese/Pakistani/Bangladeshi members here, and you will see that Riaz Haq is still held in high regard.

"Losing credibility with Indians" is not really the same thing as "losing credibility" in general. Especially not on this forum.

 

[Imam Bukhari]

It has been almost ten years since the 2002 Gujarat riots in India in which at least 2,000 Muslims were killed by Hindu mobs.

Riyadh Bhai,

I keep suggesting to you that we are not in a position to moralize to others. We live inside a very delicate glass house, we must not indiscriminately throw these stones all over the place.

Again, I don't seem to follow this; perhaps you can help me understand this issue as well.

1) If Hindu-India was horrifically oppressing Muslims in 2002, why did they elect Abdul Kalam, a Muslim, as their President that same year? Why is it not illegal for a non-hindu to become President in their Hindu-India as it is illegal for a non-muslim to become President in our Islamic-Pakistan?
2) After the alleged burning of a train by a Muslim mob, some crazy Mullahs in Gujarat began giving fiery speeches saying "yeh to bas shuruwat hay, hum in hinduwon ko sabak sikhayen gay"; this led to angry mobs of Right-wing goons going on a rampage against Muslims in Ahmadabad.
3) After more than a decade, Muslims still remember that massacre in which hundreds of innocent Muslims were killed. In fact, even the militants who attacked the Taj Hotel in 2008 seemed to cite it as justification for indiscriminately killing-- for some strange reason-- Jews, Christians, Westerners, Koreans, Japanese and foreigners amongst a few Indian Hindus and Muslims.

Again, while this is also tragic, it is not an uncommon sequence of events amidst all the communal riots in world history.

But how do you explain the 2009 Anti-Christian massacre in Gojra?
When Gojra became Godhra | The Pakistani Spectator

Did some vengeful Christians go and burn a train carrying other Pakistanis? Did some Christian Pastors or Deacons give fiery speeches threatening continued violence against the majority of other Pakistanis? Did the Christians gloat over any act of violence against other Pakistanis? Did the Christians resort to (or threaten) any kind of violence whatsoever?

No. That does not seem to be the case. As far as can be ascertained, the Christians were just going about their lives peacefully and were just as patriotic as any other Pakistani community. In fact, the Christians, just like the Ahmadis, specifically preach the forgoing of vengence and exalt non-violence as a pillar of their faith.

So what was the background of the events leading up to the 2009 Anti-Christian Massacres?

Do the few minorities remaining in Pakistan still remember it? What about the minorities who have fled Pakistan to escape the increasing Islamization of the State and are now being given refuge in England/Canada/Australia? Do they still remember the 2009 massacre?

Would you please do some in-depth research and write a post about this also?

 

[pk_baloch]

Riyadh Bhai,

You are at it once again. As I have repeatedly said, we must look inside our own gireban. We must not throw stones when we live inside a glass house.

As for this issue, there is something that I don't seem to follow here. Perhaps you can help me understand it.

1) If Hindu-India was horrifically oppressing Sikhs in 1984, why were their PM Indira's personal bodyguards Sikh?
2) After the killing of Indira by the same trusted Sikh bodyguards, some Sikhs in New Delhi allegedly began distributing sweets and saying "hum nay tumharay PM ko mar diya"; this led to angry mobs of Congress goons going on a rampage against Sikhs.
3) After more than a quarter of a century, Sikhs still remember that massacre in which 3000 innocent sikhs were killed.

This is tragic, but not an uncommon sequence of events amidst all the numerous communal riots in world history.

But how do we explain the strange 1953 Anti-Ahmadiya massacres in Lahore?

Did some Ahmadis kill the PM of Pakistan in 1953? Did some Ahmadis betray any position of great trust and try to destablize Pakistan by carrying out assasinations? Were the Ahmadis asking for a separate Ahmadi State? Did some Ahmadis gloat over the killing of any Pakistani and distribute sweets in Lahore? Did the Ahmadis resort of any kind of violence whatsoever? Was there any deliberate act of provocation of any kind from the Ahmadis?

No. That does not seem to be the case. As far as can be ascertained, the Ahmadis were just going about their lives peacefully and were just as patriotic as any other Pakistani community. In fact, the Ahmadis specifically preach the forgoing of vengence and exalt non-violence as a pillar of their faith.

So then what was the background of the events leading up the 1953 Anti-Ahmadiya Massacres?

Do the few Ahmadis remaining in Pakistan still remember it? What about the Ahmadis who fled Pakistan to escape the anti-ahmadi laws and were given refuge in England? Do they still remember the 1953 massacre? Do they still remember the 1974 (Bhutto) & 1984 (Zia) anti-Ahmadi laws?

Would you please do some in-depth research and write a post about this?

btw i have doubt on u and ur flag why u always criticize on pakistanis only .....r u really pakistani ??from ur first post im noticing u ........

 

[pk_baloch]

imam bhukhri is not pakistani.....false flag!!!