1984 Anti Sikh massacres were.deliberate and premeditated .

Despite having a large presence of Army Units in Delhi (including the Red Fort ) , Army was not called out for 3 days.Units which came from Meerut were sent back.

Compare this with the terrorist attack on Parliament in 2001, Special Forces of the Indian Army reached the Parliament House ,in helicopters , in less than 10 minutes.

Later , top honest Police Officers observed that during the riots frantic calls were received by the Police Control Room ( PCR Tel No 100 ). These were referred to concerned Thanas . What happened in the Thanas - all records were missing.

=------------

 

Bravery of Fellow Stephanian

Going back to the terrible Anti Sikh riots of 1984 which as an Indian have shamed me among others. I wish to recall the heroism of my friend and college mate who played a very daring and brave role in saving the victims.

Virendra Saksena IRS ( now a very senior officer )- in St. Stephen's College from 1974-1977 ( R/o Allnutt South Extension , my neighbour ) was in Delhi at that time.

Virendra risked his life in saving innocent lives .

Some how I feel that his bravery ,patriotism and fight against injustice may end up unrecognized ( I think very few out side his close friends are aware of it ).

So , I have taken the liberty of putting it in Stephanian domain. ---- On our request Virendra Saksena's writes ---Gosh I am a little surprised that the past has been recalled by my dear friends Ashwini and Kishore.

Back in October 1984 many of us who were in ISH were preparing for the Civil Services examination. The Khalsa College stood across the road and some of us happened to know the son of the then Principal of the Khalsa College. At that point of time when Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated, the Principal of Khalsa College was a part of the Indian delegation to UN/USA, to convince the international community that there was no discrimination against Sikhs in India. In the wake of the assassination and the ensuing violence a lot of Sikh families had taken refuge in the staff quarters of the Khalsa College. The Indian students of ISH felt that they could not be a silent spectator to the violence that was taking place in Delhi. It was generally felt that it was a watershed moment that beckoned each one of us to take a stand. This included around 20 of us – Rajiv Bora, Pratap Paikray, and Anil Saxena are some of the names I recall. So even though the Civil Services Exam was to start in a weeks time, we decided to spend the nights in the campus of the Khalsa College to express our solidarity with the Sikh families and to help them in whatever way possible if a mob tried to harm them. Initially there was some suspicion about our bonafides as some of the families who had sought refuge in the college were worried that we could be Trojans for the rioters. To convince them few of us decided to offer one of us as a hostage at all points of time, well inside the place, while the rest stood guard outside. The Principal’s family was deeply embarrassed about this but we assured them that we appreciated the concerns of the group present in the college. The 2-3 nights spent in the college were very scary. Across the ganda nala we could see fires burning in the Kingsway Camp settlements accompanied by frenzied yells and we expected a mob to show up any moment at the gates of the college. Fortunately, nothing happened. At last the army stepped in and when we saw the soldiers marching on the road between ISH and Khalsa College, we all breathed a sigh of relief.