India trying to erase evidence of 25,000 Sikhs’ massacre: Al Jazeera report
New Delhi: The leading international media organization, Al Jazeera, in a report has said that India is trying to erase the black history of violence against Sikhs and the events of 1984 by banning the film ‘Sutlej’.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the report said that the Indian government has been ignoring the incidents of violence against Sikhs for a long time.
The screening of the film ‘Sutlej’ was stopped for three years and about 130 scenes were demanded to be deleted. The film is based on the life, investigation, custodial torture and the story of his murder in 1995 of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalda.
According to the report, the film, initially titled ‘Punjab 95’, was stopped by the Indian Censor Board for three years and about 130 changes were demanded in it. The makers released it on Zee Five on July 3 but it was removed after just 48 hours citing security concerns.
The report said that Jaswant Singh Khalra had alleged, based on cremation records, that thousands of bodies of missing persons were secretly cremated without informing their families. Despite repeated threats, Khalra was arrested from outside his house on September 6, 1995, after which no trace of him was found.
The report said that as a result of the legal struggle of Jaswant Singh Khalra’s wife Paramjit Kaur, the CBI investigated the case and five policemen were sentenced to life imprisonment.
During the Khalistan movement in Punjab, Indian forces were involved in torture, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and custodial deaths, and the film “Sutlej” reopened the historical wounds of Punjab.
Al Jazeera’s report said that despite the government ban, Gurdwaras and The film is being screened in community halls.
Analysts say that suppressing the investigation into the secret funerals of 25,000 people is tantamount to damaging the collective memory of the victims.
Experts say that India is trying to erase aspects of the systematic violence against Sikhs from history, which is not possible.
