Sikh massacre: SGPC rejects Haryana government’s probe
By IANSTuesday, February 22, 2011
CHANDIGARH - The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the mini-parliament of Sikh religion, Tuesday rejected the Haryana government’s move to seek a report from a divisional commissioner into an alleged massacre of Sikhs in Rewari district during riots in 1984.
Avatar Singh Makkar, SGPC president, told IANS that they have rejected the ongoing inquiry by a divisional commissioner.
Makkar, who was accompanied by family members of victims from Bathinda and Ludhiana districts of Punjab, visited Hondh-Chillar village in Rewari district, some 350 km from here.
“The SGPC rejects the inquiry by a divisional commissioner. This is a very serious issue and we demand a judicial probe by a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” Makkar told IANS.
“It was a planned attack in broad daylight, right under the nose of the government. We demand registration of FIR (first information report) and immediate action against the culprits. We want the government to return the land of the victims as their family members fled after the incident,” said Makkar, who met victims’ families in Bathinda district Monday.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda Tuesday expressed full faith in a probe by Gurgaon divisional commissioner.
Members of the Sikh community also met Hooda and submitted a memorandum, detailing their demands.
“I strongly condemn the heinous act of mass killing of the Sikhs during the riots in 1984 at Hondh-Chillar village in Rewari district. The inquiry is on and we would make sure that guilty people are strictly punished. I am expecting the preliminary inquiry report from the divisional commissioner in the next two-three days,” said Hooda, while talking to reporters.
“A delegation of Sikhs met me in the morning and they have submitted a memorandum to me,” he said.
Sikh organisations in neighbouring Punjab and other places have sought a thorough investigation into allegations that several Sikhs were targeted and killed by mobs in Hondh-Chillar village Nov 2, 1984 during the anti-Sikh riots in the aftermath of the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards in New Delhi.
The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab Saturday announced the setting up of a seven-member fact-finding committee.
