New York, US (November 17, 2013): Harry van Bommel Member of Parliament for the Socialist Party in The Netherlands issued a declaration supporting the pending “1984 Sikh Genocide” complaint before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
The “Bommel” declaration issued marking 29 years of 1984 genocidal attacks on Sikh community stated “It is of extreme importance that an investigation by the UN can finally get to the facts about the massacre, though it is scandalous that India, 29 years after the fact, has not been able to deliver these facts itself. Even worse is that the proven involvement of Indian authorities in the killings of many thousands innocent men, women and children has not lead to convictions of those responsible.”
1984 Yes It’s Genocide
It is a big shame and unacceptable that today victims of this horrible episode in the history of India still wait for justice to be done, added “Bommel” declaration.
On November 01, a complaint was filed with United Nations pursuant to resolution 5/1 urging the United Nations to investigate the systematic, intentional and deliberate killing of Sikhs carried out across India during the first week of November 1984 and to recognize these attacks as “Genocide”. The complaint was filed by Sikh groups including ‘Sikhs For Justice” (SFJ), All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF), Movement Against Atrocities & Repression (MAR) and Gurudwara representatives across Europe and North America.
The Sikh Genocide Complaint is likely to come up before the UN’s “Working Group on Communications” by August 2014. The Working Group meets twice a year to assess the admissibility and the merits of a complaint and to follow up on complaints that reveal a consistent pattern of gross and reliably attested violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. All admissible complaints and recommendations thereon are transmitted to the Working Group on Situations.
According to attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to SFJ, “The support by the Hon. Bommel MP of Dutch Socialist Party is a strong message to the Indian Government that international community recognizes twenty nine years of denial of justice and impunity to those who orchestrated genocidal attacks on Sikhs. Rights group will approach member countries of UN Working Group to urge them take up the complaint and hold hearing to allow the 1984 victims to present evidence related to Sikh Genocide”, added attorney Pannun.
Sikh human rights groups have developed consensus that the recent discoveries of mass killings of Sikhs in more than 100 cities throughout India proves that November 1984 is Genocide as defined in Article 2 of the UN Convention on Genocide. The gravity, scale, organized and intentional nature of these genocidal attacks was concealed by the Indian governments by portraying them as “Anti-Sikh Riots of Delhi”. The recently discovered evidence shows that more than 37000 claims for deaths and injuries were filed by the victims of November 1984, out of which more than 20,000 claims were by victims who were attacked outside Delhi.