Apr
21
Election Politics Take Precedence over Human Rights
April 21, 2004 | Comments Off on Election Politics Take Precedence over Human Rights
Unfortunately, members of the Sikh Forum—working on issues relating to the 1984 pogroms against Sikhs—have publicly given support to candidates of the BJP, despite the BJP’s role in the perpetration of pogroms against Muslims in Gujarat in 2002:
Members of the Sikh Forum featured prominently alongside Mr Malhotra, indicating how close the 1984 anti-Sikh riots will be to the BJP’s agenda in South Delhi.
Sikh leaders, including those of the Akali Dal, fail to see the similarities between the roles of the Congress Party and BJP in the perpetration of pogroms against minorities. Avtaar Singh Hit, president of the Akali Dal (Badal) unit in Delhi, commented on the candidacy of Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler and RK Anand, closely associated with either perpetrating the 1984 carnage or protecting the perpetrators:
‘‘It only shows the Congress still thinks about the Sikh community the way they did in 1984. It is like giving them a medal for what they did then.”
But by supporting the BJP, the Sikh leaders are doing the same thing to the Muslim community from Gujarat.
In the meantime, Muslim voters have been turned away at polling stations:
[Mohammad Pathan’s] name had been struck off the list as he was missing, and, presumed dead. ‘‘I’m alive and kicking and I have my voter identity card too,’’ he said. ‘‘How can they tell me I’m dead?’’…
Some said a community seemed to have been targeted, for more than 250 of those turned away were Muslims.
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