Thaindian News

Chandigarh, Oct 28 (IANS) The Khalsa Action Committee (KAC), a joint forum of radical Sikh groups, Thursday sought state wide support to its call for Punjab shut down Nov 3 to highlight the delay in justice for victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

KAC chairman Mohkam Singh said Thursday they had already written to the railway and transport authorities requesting them to suspend services Nov 3 to avoid any inconvenience to public due to the shutdown.

“If the authorities concerned still prefer to ply vehicles, they would be responsible for any untoward incident,” he added.

“Rail traffic will be blocked till 11.30 a.m (Nov 3). Government and private buses will not be allowed to ply till evening. We appeal to people not to travel on that day and make alternative arrangements to avoid inconvenience,” the KAC leader said.

They appealed to commercial and educational establishments on remain closed on that day.

They said that only essential and emergency services, including medical services, would be allowed to function during the shutdown.

Justifying the shutdown call, chief of radical Sikh organisation Dal Khalsa H.S. Dhami said it would be a tribute to those Sikhs who were massacred in the 1984 “Operation Bluestar”, the Indian Army operation at the Golden Temple complex to flush out heavily armed terrorists from the complex of the holiest of Sikh shrines.

It would also be a tribute to those killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and other places across India in the aftermath of the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two bodyguards, he said. The riots peaked around Nov 3, 1984.

Dhami said the protest was against the justice delayed and denied to the victims.