Indian toolkit to deal with minorities comprises extra-judicial killings, custodial torture, demolition of properties, desecration of worship places, gang rapes, forced burials and brutal crackdowns on unarmed civilians.
The involvement of Indian state institutions in such heinous crimes is more alarming. BJP, with her third term in power, has made minority persecution more intense and systematic. However, India was never a normal secular state prior to the BJP government as well.
Attack on Golden Temple
The month of June is known for two ironic acts of state-sponsored minority persecution- one each against the Sikhs and the Kashmiri Muslims in Amritsar and Srinagar respectively. In the first week of June 1984, Indian forces attacked the sacred Sikh Gurdwara, the “Golden Temple” with military-grade weapons during Operation Blue Star. Thousands of Sikh worshippers gathered on the anniversary of Guru Arjun Dev lost their lives.
On 11 June 1991, Indian troops mercilessly killed 32 innocent Kashmiri civilians in Chota Bazaar Srinagar in a fire raid. Victims of both incidents are still awaiting justice.
During Indira Gandhi’s reign over India in the early 1980s, massive crackdown on the Sikh community was launched across the Punjab on the pretext of the Khalistan movement.
Indian forces desecrated the Golden Temple and killed dissenting Sikh leadership. The brutal massacre of worshippers and the elimination of dissenting leader Jernail Singh Bhindranwale inside the Golden Temple triggered a strong wave of anger among the already marginalised Sikh community. The consequences were much more severe than the assessments. Nobody could have imagined that iconic Congress leader Indira Gandhi would pay the price of violent misadventure with her life.
Not only India but the whole world was shocked by the assassination of the sitting Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Unexpectedly, two of her personal Sikh bodyguards killed Indira Gandhi in retaliation to the desecration of the Golden Temple during Operation Blue Star. There was no looking back after this high-profile assassination as the violence against the Sikhs broke out with more force all across India. Widespread targeted violence from Hindu quarters subsequently compelled the Sikhs to migrate from their birthplaces. Thousands of Sikh victim families are now settled in the UK, the US and European countries. Victim Sikh families settled abroad are no longer interested in returning to their native lands as far as Punjab remains under Indian control. Sikhs are seeking freedom from the Indian occupying regime and conducting Khalistan Referendums across Europe.
Kashmir killings
Srinagar’s Chotta bazaar massacre took place on 11 June 1991. It is one of the most blatant acts of extra-judicial killings of the Kashmiris committed by Indian occupying forces.
During a fake security operation, CRPF troops went berserk and opened indiscriminate firing all the way from their camp to the densely populated downtown area of Chotta Bazaar. Troops barged into the shops, gathered people on the streets and killed them randomly. Four people were shot in a motor mechanics’ workshop and four others were shot outside a medical college. Some rickshaw drivers and bystanders were also shot by the troops.
The indiscriminate firing took the lives of 32 innocent civilians whereas 22 persons got critically injured. As a cover-up measure, a probe under Justice Mufti Jalaluddin was ordered. Advocate Jaleel Andrabi pursued the case vigorously, for which he was also killed by Indian forces. The inquiry went into oblivion with the transfer of Justice Mufti Jalaluddin.
Millions of Kashmiris and Sikhs are striving hard to get rid of a majoritarian Hindu state using the mask of secularism. Indian state-sponsored human rights violations (HRVs) and minority persecution merit international accountability.
