30th Anniversary of Sikh Genocide, a survivor writes his story

Survivor of Sikh Genocides writes on 30^th Anniversary.
Published at:

• www.HolocaustandGenocides.com
• http://mikeghouseforIndia.blogspot.com and
• http://foundationforpluralism.blogspot.com  

Dallas, Texas, October 31, 2014.  It’s been 30 years since the Sikh Massacre took place in New Delhi; justice is still not served to the victims and their families. The fanatics among Hindus went on a rampage of killing 3000 Sikhs within a week, just because they were Sikhs and nothing but that. The Moderate Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others have condemned the acts of the fanatics.

As we have been learning about the mind set of criminals regardless of what religious garb they don, invariably they deny – some even say, why bring it up, there is no problem now. They are lying to themselves, the sparks of hatred are potent, and can catch the fire any time.

There is a criminal lurking in each one of us, we need to find him and destroy him before he eats us out from within. If we justify the rapes, murders, killing, massacres or genocides by believing "they asked for it" "they ignited it" or worse "they deserved it", then we have a serious problem and need to find a release.

What is needed is to face the problem squarely, acknowledging the wrong doing, and apologizing to the victims and finding mukti, the Jain Dharma offers a great phrase – Michami Dukadam, that is clean each other’s slates and start afresh.

Injustice is the mother of Adharma – i.e., everything that is wrong in the society stems from injustice, and Martin Luther King said, injustice to one is injustice to all at the end.

I hope one day, India will focus on cleaning up its dirty stains – there are many unfinished items on our plate that prick the nation from time to time. The hatred against the other is part of that mess.

Prime Minister Modi believes that when there is prosperity, most of the nagging things will go away, I hope they do. But I believe until we sit down face to face and acknowledge the evil in each one of us, and commit to go forward dumping the old baggage, we will be limping along. We need to reboot our souls, hearts and minds.

The following write up is from a Sikh Survivor of the 1984 Sikh Massacre.  It is a shame that many a families are still waiting for the whereabouts of their loved ones missing for over 30 years. The Indian Government has a responsibility to take this up, to bring relief to the victims of these massacres. I do hope Mr. Modi, as the Prime Minister of the nation, who claims to be a Hindu, acts like a Hindu and restores Dharma – the righteousness and justice to fellow beings.   

Pritpal Singh has spoken at our Holocaust and Genocides events and I am pleased to share his story with you, please feel free to share wherever you like.

The Foundation for Pluralism and the World Muslim Congress is commemorating Holocaust and Genocides for the last seven years, as a step towards reconciling with each other and learning about each others pain and suffering of each of us humans on this planet.

Wayne Slater of Dallas Morning News wrote, “Ghouse says he hopes attendees will walk out better appreciating the sufferings of others and seeing “the perpetrator in us” as a way of building trust across social and religious lines.

“I called on my friends with the idea of commemorating the event, and thus began this journey,” said Ghouse. “Education is the purpose; we have to learn, acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things that we humans have inflicted upon each other, and we have to understand that our safety hinges on the safety of all others around us.”

“There is a shameless cruelty in us, either we shy away or refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own or somehow it amounts to infidelity to our own cause,” he said. “We should be ashamed of ourselves in justifying the massacres by falsely propagating the myth that the victims deserved it, or asked for it.” It shows an absence of intelligence.

Our event is comprised of 3 segments; Holocaust is the anchor event every year, then Genocides and a Massacre. We have been able to address many Genocides around the Globe, as well as the Massacre of Bangladeshis in 1971, Sikhs in New Delhi in 1984 and Muslims in Gujarat in 2002.  

The criminals are still at large and need to be punished to restore peace of mind to the victims and their families. That is the least a head of the state can do for his countrymen and it is good for the psyche of the people.

Mike Ghouse

www.MikeGhouse.net

 

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1984:  My Struggle & Inspiration

According to famous Czech writer Milan Kundera, "the first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory.  Destroy its books, its culture, its history.  Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history.  Before long that nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was...  The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."  We are here today to continue that struggle.  Never had the citizens of independent India experienced state sponsored genocide against its own people.

  After the assassination of PM Indira Gandhi, for three days the well-organized mob with explicit instructions from the federal government went to loot, destroy, rape, eliminate every identifiable Sikh on India.  Iron rods, crow bars, kerosene, and firearms were provided to mobs.  Voter lists, ration lists, and school registration lists were used to identify & track Sikhs, Gurdwaras, and Sikh businesses. 

Slogans like "blood for blood" were shown repeatedly on state controlled TV.  Rumors were circulated about the violence against Hindus in Punjab to incite hatred against Sikhs in India.  Sikh soldiers were disarmed and confined to barracks while army was deliberately kept outside Delhi until 11/4.  All this occurred in the presence of police who ignored the violence or at times aided in it.  The police officers who deviated from this order were neutralized and records were manipulated to destroy paper trail and to protect criminals from prosecution.  For the Sikh victims, the police refused to record FIR (First Information Reports) or falsified them.

 According to NY times, there was complete censorship of the press.  The relief measures were inadequate.  VM Tarkunde, retired justice of the Indian Supreme Court, stated "Two lessons can be drawn from the experience of Delhi riots.  One is about the extent of criminalization of our politics and the other about the utter unreliability of our police force in critical situation."  According to government report the number of Sikhs killed in Delhi was 2733; HS Phoolka, Delhi high court lawyer, estimates 4000; Affidavits have been filed for 5015; Madhu Kishwar, editor of Manushi, estimates 10,000.  These   estimates are just in Delhi while the killings occurred throughout India.

 Rajiv Gandhi justified the Sikh murders, rapes, loot & arson by saying, "When a great tree falls, earth trembles."  The result of the violence against an easily identifiable minority was winning 414/533 seats in the parliament for Congress Party of India.  Even the opposition party, Sangh Parivar, stated the Sikhs invited the attacks. 

There have been 11 commissions & inquiries but no high level politician or law enforcement official has been convicted despite eye witness accounts and abundant of evidence.  On the other hand, the perpetrators were awarded cabinet positions, governorships, and party chief positions.  The lack of accountability against the organizers of the Genocide paved the way to the violence against Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. 

Pogroms will continue to occur in India unless the State acknowledges and records these violations in a transparent & honest manner, toward cleansing itself of the people and the institutions that perpetrate these crimes and addressing the survivors' rights to knowledge, justice, and reparation.

 I, as a survivor of the Sikh Genocide of 1984, wait for a day when the citizens of India will demand and display the very ideals of unity, justice, and healing as the citizens of America illustrated after the Wisconsin massacre in 2012.  So, my dear brothers & sisters, we cannot forget the killings of innocent people no matter where they occur.  Instead, we ought to remember, revive, and respond like our fathers & mothers did.  They sought Inspiration from within and channeled their energy toward discovering their role in pursuit of Justice.

Pritpal Singh 

Thank you; 6th Annual Holocaust and Genocide event

Dr. Harbans Lal and I want to thank each one of you for participating in the 6th Annual Holocaust and Genocides event on Sunday, January 27, 2013 at Unity Church in Dallas.

Dr. Amarjit Singh delivered a powerful key note address that caused us to seriously consider taking a few actions.   Mr. Hasan Mahmud shared about the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971, Dr. Petra Weldes talked about Stereotyping and its effects on the societies, Shah Alam Siddiqi brought up the genocides of the Urdu speaking Muslims in Bangladesh, and Kelly Obazee reflected on current massacres around the world.  Mike Ghouse talked about standing up for others and starts thinking about others suffering and move away from being me, me and me, and he shared the personal story of bringing a closure on Holocaust. Dr. Harbans Lal’s message about Sikhs, forgiveness and justice was powerful. 

I urge people of all faiths, excluding none to start being a part of others for a better tomorrow, and each one of us, reading this, and those involved in this need to work on it.

Mike Ghouse

Frequently asked questions about Holocaust and Genocides

url- http://holocaustandgenocides.blogspot.com/2013/01/frequently-asked-questions-about.html


 I am writing this essay as a built-in-response to address the belligerent questions that come, and they are coming from all directions, not just the ones mentioned as examples.

We are volunteers and are 100% inclusive, however, we request you to help us out. Kindly list all the genocides of the 20th Century, please remember, if you miss one, someone or the other will accuse you of ignoring “their” genocide.


By nature many of us are disgustingly selfish, nothing but our own interest matters to us. Do you recall standing in a food buffet line at a friend’s wedding reception? Someone said that the food may be short, but yet, the guy in front of you piled up his plate, or maybe you did it too, knowing well that there a lot of people behind you in the line and some will not get the food.


Standing in line to wait for your turn is one of the most human things to do. You accept equal rights of others, and others needs as much as yours. We have a list of about 50 genocides, and each year we will focus on a few, as no one will sit through the day to understand each one of them, most likely you will find yourselves guilty of not listening or paying attention to other’s tragedy but your own.Slap yourselves, if you do not think others's plight is not as important as your own.

No matter how thorough you are, you are going to miss some. Unless we have a fully funded organization where employees work full time, then we can expect a complete list and do a three day conference to address every issue. Please do not assume that we are excluding any human atrocities.

For example someone accused that “you are writing about the holocaust of Jews, you forgot what Stalin did?”  My instant response would be, “did you forget the genocides of Gays?”  In your note, you also forgot about the genocides of Native Americans, African Americans over the Atlantic… the list is a long one.  Can I accuse you, that did you did not care about the others?

Please read on to understand the selfishness embedded in us, if we can stand up for others, for strangers, and then there is a greater self nurtured within us, making us a better human with peace inside us. We have to stand up for women's right and the rights of minorities as a part of fixing the future. Each one of us has to do our share of good to the world around us, for our own good at the end.

I have made an attempt to answer as many questions as I can for this site. No human suffering should ever be denied, as it amounts to denying our own humanity. Fellow humans must develop a culture of pondering about human atrocities everywhere, as Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”


 If I am guilty of anything, it would be not focusing on the Gujarat Genocide, however, I also would have felt a sense of guilt, if I had focused on what affects me and my community first. I believe in standing up for others, at the end we all should stand up for justice and the rights of others.  A few of my Hindu friends have come forward to take up the Gujarat Genocide and I am glad they did. That is the spirit of standing up for others

Please consider the following situations;

A MINUTE: 


If you have one single minute available, you can probably recite 30 Genocide names - and if you want to add the place to the name, you can do about 20, and if you want to name the parties involved in it, you can do utmost 10/minute, with normal intelligible delivery. Does that mean you did not care about the others?

ONE HOUR


If you have one hour, you cannot do justice to more than three or four Genocides. Should the other 46 think you don’t care about them?

YEAR

We observed silent prayers and asked every one present to reflect upon the genocides and massacres that they were aware of, at least run them through their mind during the silence and honor each one of the Genocides and Holocaust. I hope collectively we do not miss any.

MUSLIMS


Way back in 2006, I was in a public meeting; one of the Muslims shouts at me in the public, “Why are you commemorating Holocaust of Jews, why don’t you commemorate the Holocaust of Palestinians?” I countered, all of this should be done, why don’t you do it? He was belligerent; he was one of the loose mouths and not a doer. I have reminded those guys a few times, not only they did not mean it, but they really do not care about it, as I had invited them to join in when we were addressing about Gaza.

Another Muslim knocked God out of his throne, and chose to declare, “If you don’t talk about Palestinians, you are not a Muslim.”

There is a lot more ignorance out there.  Perhaps, other than Dallas Palestinians, no one else has done as much work for the Palestinian cause, as I have. Check out years of work in different forums, but certainly at this site www.IsraelPalestineDialouge.com

JEWS


I have known the community closely through strong interactions, through conflicts, rather than superficial salaams and Shaloms. 25 hours of Radio programming in understanding Judaism (done on all religions too) was done during 2003-2004 here in Dallas, two workshops were conducted as well (2 for each faith over 2 years), and I write about the essence of major Jewish (and others too) festivals - so that we all can understand each other. I am not sure if any other Muslim has done this much work. We have to stand up for each other and every one. Check it out www.StandingupforOthers.com

A few years ago a Jewish speaker canceled his speech at the event in the last minute, because we were addressing the Gaza Massacre as one of the seven items; he considered it anti-Israel and did not participate. However, my Jewish friends attended the event, and called him back to let him know that it was not about Israel, but the human suffering and the brutal inhumanity in all of us.   He did not want to face the truth, that someone from his tradition is capable of murdering and annihilating people.

No one should be ashamed of what fellow humans from your group do, what you should be ashamed of is your own attitude towards another human being regardless of who it is.

I was severely criticized and asked to remove the phrase “A Muslim initiative” by a few Jewish friends, instead of cheering the effort; they were bent on not giving credit to Muslims for extending the hand of understanding. Please remember, it was not the Jews, it is few individuals who wore the label Jews. Indeed, I have a whole book to write about Jewish Muslim relationship.

INDIAN MUSLIMS

They are no different than any one, like most people; they love to shoot criticism without verifying anything. A friend writes another friend’s quote, “The question was why Mike forgot 2002 Gujarat Holocaust & Genocide that was lot bigger and wider than 1984 Sikh Holocaust & Genocide.”  Mike did not forget, nor will he ever forget any Genocide.  In April 2002, rallies were held for Gujarat in down town Dallas, when Shabnam Hashmi came to Dallas, she was hosted to show the documentaries of that genocide.  I urge fellow Muslims to do something rather than talk.  I stood up in a major meeting to include observing silence for Gujarat, and there is a lot more work done. If the event is dear to the people, they should express their love and commemorate it. We will do our share; each event is taking its turn. I have severely criticized Narendra Modi, and have become a hated person for a handful of Dallas Indians.


HINDUS

Several of my friends have jumped on me for not including the plight of Kashmiri Pundits, they, like all others are so obsessed with their own, that others don’t matter to them. We have mentioned this at least 3 out of five years, those who criticize don’t come to the event, unless it is “about them”, but loosely run their mouths. We need to stand up for everyone, and certainly stand up for others before you do for your own.

DISGUSTING SELFISHNESS

I have dealt with most communities in Dallas from Atheists to Zoroastrian and every one in between. I must confess that in every community, through our silence we are disgustingly selfish. We are so obsessed with our own that we don’t see others pain, it is me, me and me. My event is more important than others… my pain is deeper than others…

There is a shameless cruelty in our societies, either we shy away or refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own, and or it amounts to infidelity to our own cause. Shame on us that we justifying massacres by pretending and propagating that the victims deserved it or asked for it, they had it coming, or we simply turn the face the other way.

STANDING UP FOR OTHERS:

Standing up for others is the right thing to do, every human goes through a period of invincibility to vulnerability, if we don't stand up for those who are vulnerable, then who will stand up for us when we are vulnerable? www.Standingupforothers.com The world becomes a better place when we all stand up for each one.

Indians and Pakistanis, Hindus and Muslims are worked up


A few Pakistanis think that talking about 1971 Bangladesh Genocide is a conspiracy to defame Pakistan, whereas a few Indians do the same; they think talking about Sikh Genocides amounts to defaming India. This was the essence of a few emails about the event we are holding; the 6th Annual reflection on Holocaust and Genocides, on Sunday, January 27, 2013. Details of the event are at: www.HolocaustandGenocides.com

it is always a few who have the passion to propagate conspiracies, while a few buy their gossip without questioning, most of them reject it. However, I thank those who made the inquiry to clarify, rather than manufacture conspiracy theories and live in misery.

It’s a human thing, a fraction of a percent of each group of people, tend to think in those terms, be it Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist or other. It is the same story with Americans, Italians, Chinese, Arabs or Mexicans as it is with Indians and Pakistanis.

Those few may be followers of Rush Limbaugh, to whom a good Republican is one who says bad things about Democrats, and a bad Republican is one who praises Obama - said around John Huntsman exit from candidacy when he refused to balk at Obama, and when Chris Christie praised Obama at the Sandy disaster.


The same mindset believes that questioning George Bush for all the disaster his wars caused overseas and the consequent messing up of America is unpatriotic. Indeed, questioning the government is the most patriotic thing to do.


Let me assure you, this event is not about condemning a nation or a group of people, it is about understanding the human suffering and the beastly attitudes among us.


A few years ago a Jewish speaker canceled his speech, because we were addressing the Gaza Massacre as one of the seven items; he considered it anti-Israel and did not participate and some did not. However, my Jewish friends attended the event, and called him back to let him know that it is not about Israel, but the human suffering and the brutal inhumanity in all of us. The speaker became friendly after he learned about it. However, he did not want to face the truth, that someone from his tradition is capable of murdering and annihilating people.


A few Muslims had the audacity to call me names in public, one said, if you don’t talk about Palestine, you are not a Muslim. A few Hindus said "shame on you for not talking about the plight of Hindus in Kashmir "…  and these men did not even attend, but kept talking, without verification.  Given the time, two hours per event, we can address only about 5, and not all the genocides.

The Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides is a comprehensive event about humanity, with no exclusions, also remember in one breath you can say only so many words, and in one hour you can say only so many words.


“There is a shameless cruelty in our societies,  we either shy away or refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own, and or it amounts to infidelity to our own cause.” Some of us are so selfish and stuck in our own pain that we do not see others pain, we want others just to think and talk about us.

Consider this:

        Condemning drone attacks does not amount to shaming America,
        Condemning Sikh genocides does not amount to shaming India,
        Condemning Bangladeshi genocide does not amount to shaming Pakistan.
        Condemning the ugliness at Abu-Graib prison does not amount to shaming America
        Condemning Shia and Ahmadiyya killings does not amount to shaming Pakistan
        Condemning the Massacre of Muslims in Gujarat does not amount to shaming Gujarat
        Condemning Aurangzeb or Ghazni does not amount to shaming Indian Muslims


Condemning is an expression against a disgusting act, of which we are all a part of, some by doing the wrong, and some by remaining silent and some by turning a blind eye.

As an Indian, I am embarrassed about what fellow Indians have heaped on each other, and as an American I am embarassed about the destruction we have caused in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq overseas, and in our recent past  of the slavery and treatment of Native Americans.

My father gave a sane advise during the Jabalpur (India) communal clashes, don’t blame the acts of the idiots on a community, religion or a nation. Get the bad guys, do the justice, faith in the society gets restored…blaming intangibles is as effective as the dogs barking at the wrong tree in a desert.

We have to learn to differentiate between abuse of human rights and patriotism. Patriotism is not justifying the wrongs, but speaking about it, and preventing the wrongs from happening again.

Here is the part of the press release

Every year we have reflected on our failings, massacres, Genocides and Holocaust, this year, we will focus on the Sikh Genocide of 1984, a Sikh speaker will deliver the key note address on the topic. Mr. Hasan Mahmud will share about the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971, Dr. Petra Weldes will talk about the effects of Stereotyping on the societies, and Kelly Obazee will reflect on current massacres around the world. Mike Ghouse will speak about the need to take stand against oppression of others, and Holocaust continues to be our anchor event.

Unless one attends the event, they will live in eternal conspiracies.

Full Press Release: http://holocaustandgenocides.blogspot.com/2013/01/6th-annual-holocaust-and-genocides-sikh_18.html