'84 riots: AISSF asks SAD-BJP govt to declare Nov 1 bandh as 'official'

In a rather unusual demand, the Peer Mohammad group of the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) has sought the support of the SAD-BJP government for the Punjab bandh on November 1 to protest the delay in giving justice to those families whose near and dear ones were brutally massacred in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that gripped Delhi and various other cities following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

In a rather unusual demand, the Peer Mohammad group of the All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) has sought the support of the SAD-BJP government for the Punjab bandh on November 1 to protest the delay in giving justice to those families whose near and dear ones were brutally massacred in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that gripped Delhi and various other cities following the assassination of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

HT Image

"We seek the government support for the bandh and also demand that the state government recognise the 1984 riots as a genocide," said AISSF chief Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, while addressing mediapersons here on Wednesday.

During the bandh, which has the support of various other 'panthic' groups, the AISSF plans to bring to a halt all rail and road traffic passing through Punjab. The federation has also asked shopkeepers and owners of other business establishments to down their shutters. Educational institutions will also be targeted during the bandh.

The federation has also called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate steps to provide speedy justice to the riots-affected families. The organisation pointed out that even after 30 years, the main accused were still roaming scot-free.

" We will appreciate if Modi revives the SIT (Special Investigation Team) that former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had formed on the demand of the Sikhs," stated Peer Mohammad.

The AISSF chief also called upon the Prime Minister to order fresh probes in certain cases which involved senior Congress leaders of Delhi. Most of these cases had met a dead-end as these had not been probed properly by the Delhi police, he added.

Peer Mohammad also called for the need of entertaining fresh complaints as under the UPA-government many person's were afraid of approaching the police or the probe commissions that were setup from time-to-time.

"The PM should order the fast tracking of all '84 riot cases and for this special courts should be setup", stated the AISSF leader.