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A crowd of around 200 Sikhs gathered on Parliament Hill Saturday to commemorate the 1984 attack on Sikhdom’s holiest temple by the Indian government and demand a referendum held that could see the establishment of a Sikh state in the Punjab state in northern India.
The crowd arrived on the West lawn of Parliament Hill around 1 p.m.
Several busses shuttled in most of the Sikh’s with many coming from as far away as Brampton. Those in attendance carried signs stating “Long Live Khalistan,” the name for the proposed Sikh state, with others calling for a referendum for Sikh independence in 2020.
“Only sovereignty can resolve the situation in Punjab,” said Sukhminder Singh Hansra president of Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar Canada (SADA Canada) in a statement.
He called the 1984 attacks by former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s forces as something that will never be forgotten by his people.
“The Sikh diaspora that was fortunate enough to escape will never forget those who were systematically killed by Indian soldiers and organized mobs. We’ll always weep for the loved ones who were brutally murdered.”
In June of 1984, Gandhi ordered a military assault on the Sikh religion’s holiest of places, Darbar Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar, Punjab.
The attack killed thousands of civilians. In October, Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh members of her security detail.
Her assassination triggered killings around the country, particularly in India’s capital city, New Delhi. Over three days, more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed according to official death counts, however many within the Sikh community believe the number of actual deaths to be far higher.
Given the secular nature of the issue, very few people have been charged in relation to the killing. To this day, the Indian state has not admitted any fault in the incident.
The attack on the Golden Temple and the violence that followed is blamed for sporadic incidents of terrorism that have occurred over the years as some members of the Sikh community were allegedly seeking revenge. The most notable of those attacks is believed to be the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in June 1985 which claimed the lives of 329 people.
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The crowd arrived on the West lawn of Parliament Hill around 1 p.m.
Several busses shuttled in most of the Sikh’s with many coming from as far away as Brampton. Those in attendance carried signs stating “Long Live Khalistan,” the name for the proposed Sikh state, with others calling for a referendum for Sikh independence in 2020.
“Only sovereignty can resolve the situation in Punjab,” said Sukhminder Singh Hansra president of Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar Canada (SADA Canada) in a statement.
He called the 1984 attacks by former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s forces as something that will never be forgotten by his people.
“The Sikh diaspora that was fortunate enough to escape will never forget those who were systematically killed by Indian soldiers and organized mobs. We’ll always weep for the loved ones who were brutally murdered.”
In June of 1984, Gandhi ordered a military assault on the Sikh religion’s holiest of places, Darbar Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar, Punjab.
The attack killed thousands of civilians. In October, Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh members of her security detail.
Her assassination triggered killings around the country, particularly in India’s capital city, New Delhi. Over three days, more than 3,000 Sikhs were killed according to official death counts, however many within the Sikh community believe the number of actual deaths to be far higher.
Given the secular nature of the issue, very few people have been charged in relation to the killing. To this day, the Indian state has not admitted any fault in the incident.
The attack on the Golden Temple and the violence that followed is blamed for sporadic incidents of terrorism that have occurred over the years as some members of the Sikh community were allegedly seeking revenge. The most notable of those attacks is believed to be the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in June 1985 which claimed the lives of 329 people.
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