May
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Pogrom Survivors Look to New Prime Minister for Justice
May 26, 2004 | Comments Off on Pogrom Survivors Look to New Prime Minister for Justice
Survivors of the 1984 pogroms against Sikhs, now living in the “Widows Colony”, are hoping that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will at least help their children:
“With him at the helm, I see a glimmer of hope,” [Satori] Kaur said outside her humble home in Tilak Vihar, a colony specially set up in New Delhi for relatives of those who perished in anti-Sikh riots in 1984…
Joginder Singh was 12 when the violence erupted. Today he scrapes by, making bamboo furniture. But the money he earns is not enough to pay for his children’s education.
“Everyone wants to educate their children. I don’t have the money to pay their fees,” Joginder Singh said. “Most of the kids around here roam the streets. I hope our new prime minister does something to help our cause.”
Colony head Mansha Singh appealed to the new prime minister for help.
“The main priority is employment. Our children should not have to pay for the past. They need to be given a future,” he said.
Gangs burned alive Ehsan Jafri and 39 others in an attack on the Gulbarg Society during the 2002 Gujarat pogroms against Muslims. Ehsan Jafri’s son, Tanvir, has also written to Prime Minister Singh for a CBI inquiry into the attack, and to shift the trial outside of Gujarat, as the Best Bakery case has been shifted:
“Congress leader Amarsinh Chaudhary had informed Modi about the goings-on in Gulbarg Society on that fateful day but nothing was done. Even Pande visited the society in Meghaninagar but did precious little. Questions over police inaction too need to be probed,” he [Tanvir] said.
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