1984
Thirty Years Later, Indian Army Officer Finds Courage to Give Eyewitness Account of 1984 Massacre
Col. (Retd) BHUPINDER MALHI
We, a group of young Indian Army Officers of the Armoured Corps, were on board the
Jhelum Express train to attend the Young Officers Course at Armoured Corps
Centre and School (ACCS) at Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, and happened to witness the
anti-Sikh massacres at very close quarters.
I boarded the Jhelum
Express at Ambala Cantt early morning on 01 Nov 1984 along with a few
other course-mates. By the time our train reached outer Delhi near the
Sabji Mandi area, we could see that Delhi was burning. Lots of trucks
were on fire and smoke could be seen rising from buildings.
When
the train reached the New Delhi Railway Station, we got down to enquire
about the situation. We spotted many Sikhs lying injured on the
platform and no one was willing to provide any first aid or help. We
tried to help a few of the injured but our train was immediately moved
out of the station.
The train was forcibly stopped near the
Nizammudin Railway Station by an unruly mob. They started pulling out
Sikhs from the train and there was chaos all around. We all quickly put
on our uniforms and got down to help the Sikhs. We could not help most,
though we managed to save a few.
Some Sikhs had been set on fire; cycle
rubber tyres were placed around them.
Some of us tried calling
the police using the railways phone but there was no response. We also
tried calling the Army headquarters' Duty Officer but could not reach
them. We spotted an injured Sikh who was thrown on the railway track;
two of us rushed to help him, but by the time we reached him, an
approaching train over-ran him and we saw his body cut into pieces. We
collected his body parts in a bed sheet and brought it to the railway
platform to be handed over to police.
The train moved a bit and
was again stopped near the Okhla slums. Another group of mob entered our
Air Conditioned 2-tier compartment by breaking the window glass as there are no iron
grills in AC compartments. The mob systematically started searching the
compartment and pulling Sikhs out of the train. We tried to reason with the murderers and managed to save a few fellow Sikhs.
Unfortunately we could not
save all. Capt Gill of the 89 Armoured Regiment was stabbed at a distance
of a foot from me. We requested the mob to spare his life as he was a
soldier but the murderers argued that the person who killed Mrs Indira
Gandhi was also a soldier.
We handed over Captain Gill's body to
Army authorities at the Mathura railway station at night. Another Sikh
officer named Sahota from GREF (General Reserve Engineer Force) was made
to hide under the berth in our compartment. He was spotted by the mob
and was killed there itself after he was hit by iron rods.
We
were lucky to save my course mate Harinder (86 Armoured Regiment) who
was being pulled out of the train but some of us held on to him and
managed to free him from the clutches of death.
Another
newly-wedded young officer from Artillery who was travelling with his
wife was saved by shaving his beard and cutting his hair.
We
repeatedly requested railways authorities for help but no one was
willing to oblige. On the contrary, one TTE was seen indicating to the
mob about the location of Sikhs hiding in the compartments.
Two
officers Yadav (75 Armoured Regiment) and AP Singh (9 Horse) managed to
get hold of a 12 bore rifle which was being carried by a soldier
proceeding on leave. They fired a few rounds at the mob and the mob
retreated. They were awarded subsequently for this bravery.
[Courtesy: NDTV]
February 4, 2014
Conversation about this article
1: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), February 04, 2014, 3:35 PM.
I hate India. Absolutely hate that hole of a country. I cannot even bring myself to write a proper comment to this story. When you think you have read a horrible recollection of a scene from the 1984 pogrom, an even more grizzly story surfaces. It disgusts me to my stomach that a third world nation parades itself around as a democracy when there are totalitarian regimes which have better track records on human rights than India. The absolute disregard which the Hindu population of India has towards its minorities is sickening. What's more disturbing is how Hindus think that Sikhs should just forget that 1984 ever happened. I guess when you come from a community which has lived in squalor and humiliation for a thousand years, it's easy to assume that the natural thing to do after such a horrible event is to forget and move on. Could you imagine how much worse it would be if Sikhs were not educated, did not have a sense of community and did not have such strong and influential roots in countries outside of India? Look at the Muslims of India, they have accepted the slogan of "be butchered and move on", massacres such as Godra and Muffafarnagar are brought up as political hot topics but never by the community itself. It has been 30 years since 1984 has happened and yet the Sikhs have not forgotten and refuse to let the Hindus forget as well. If there is anything good which has come out of 1984 it is the fact that there is something peculiarly different about the Sikhs when compared to other Indian communities. We have not allowed the horrible Hindu culture to heavily weigh down on our shoulders, we walk tall regardless of their boorish and brutish sub-humanity.
2: Kaala (Punjab), February 08, 2014, 11:00 AM.
I admire this soldier! But buddy, you are only 30 years late! Where were you hiding all these years?