Any comments on this Wikipedia post below?
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1984 anti-Sikh riots
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“A Sikh family in front of their dwelling after a rampaging mob attacked their property”
The 1984 anti-Sikh pogroms were triggered by the assassination of Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, by two of her Sikh bodyguards. The assassination itself was in retaliation for Operation Bluestar, in which the Indian Army attacked Sikh militants hiding in the Harmandir Sahib, the holiest Sikh shrine.
Over the next four days, as many as 3100 Sikhs were killed in retaliatory attacks.
The most affected regions were neighborhoods in Delhi.
Many ordinary Indians of different religious dispositions made significant efforts to hide and help Sikh families. There are allegations that the massacre was organized.
On November 1, 1984, large mobs descended on eastern and central Delhi. Sultanpuri, Mangolpuri, Trilokpuri, and other Trans-Yamuna areas of Delhi were the worst affected.
The mobs carried iron rods, knives, clubs, and combustible material, including kerosene. They used voters’ lists, allegedly provided, by the politicians themselves[citation needed], to identify houses and business establishments owned by Sikhs.
The mobs swarmed into Sikh neighborhoods, arbitrarily killing any Sikh men they could find. Their shops and houses were ransacked and burned. In other incidents, armed mobs stopped buses and trains, in and around Delhi, pulling out Sikh passengers to be lynched or doused with kerosene and burnt.
The argument has been made that these events should not be called riots, but be described as a pogrom or a crime against humanity.
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Irrelevant.
What was the role of the Hindu-fundamentalist RSS in saving the Sikhs during the riots?
Research, and post here.
Meanwhile:
16 shot dead by NLFT in Tripura
http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/jan/13trip.htm
In their first major strike in four months, the National Liberation Front of Tripura militants on Sunday gunned down 16 people, including a seven-year-old girl and two women, at a market in West Tripura district.
Superintendent of Police (operations) Dhurjati Gautam said 12 people died on the spot and 13 were injured when two groups of NLFT ultras, clad in olive green uniforms, encircled the Singicherra Bazar and opened indiscriminate fire.
The bazaar was buzzing with Makar Sankranti shoppers.
Two persons died when they were being taken to the hospital and two more succumbed to their injuries while being treated.
Of the 16 dead 12 have been identified: Shreema Nath Sharma (7), Abu Nath Sharma (36), Megh Shabar (30), Balai Shabar (32), Mantu Paul (40), Malati Paul (45), Binod Paul (52), Nagendra Paul (65), Manindra Nandi (40), Paritoh Das (30), Babul Goswami (32) and Swapan Kotal Das (42).
DIG Range A K Shukla rushed to the spot with a large contingent of Tripura State Rifles and launched a massive search operation in the area.
The ruling CPI-M condemned the incident and called a dawn to dusk bandh on January 15 in Khowai subdivision in protest against the massacre.
PTI
NLFT
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/nlft.htm
National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT)
The National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) was formed in December 1989 for the purpose of seceding from India in order to create an independent Christian fundamentalist state of Tripura. The group was banned under the Unlawful Activies Prevention Act of 1967.
The headquarters of NLFT is located in the Khagrachari district of Bangladesh, about 40-45 km southeast of Simanapur.
In Tripura a systematic surrender of arms by a faction of NLFT insurgents and NLFT fringe groups is due to the increased security pressure and to infighting within NLFT insurgent ranks. Since 2000 a few hundred militants have surrendered in small groups to the security forces, handing in their weapons. The NLFT leadership engaged in peace talks with Mizoram Chief Zoramthanga in April 2001, however the NLFT has not promised acceptance of any future peace process.
The NLFT has set up a number of camps in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), in the Sylhet, Maulavi Bazar, Habiganj and Comilla regions. NLFT also has ties with Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence Agency (ISI).
From Wiki:
Protection of Sikhs during anti-Sikh riots 1984:
Khushwant Singh credits members of the Hindu-fundamentalist RSS with helping and protecting Sikhs who were being targeted by members of the Congress(I) political party during the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots. Singh who otherwise has been critical of the RSS and believes that it is a “ communal organization and dangerous to the country’s secular fabric” has said:
“The RSS has played a honorable role in maintaining Hindu-Sikh unity before and after the murder of Indira Gandhi in Delhi and in other places”
“It was the Congress(I) leaders who instigated mobs in 1984 and got more than 3000 people killed. I must give due credit to RSS and the BJP for showing courage and protecting helpless Sikhs during those difficult days.”
Reference:
K. Singh, Publik Asia, 16-11-1989.