From: pankaj@bass.bu.edu (Pankaj Tyagi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: re:Khalistan
Date: 22 Nov 92 02:05:49 GMT
Reply-To: pankaj@bass.bu.edu (Pankaj Tyagi)
Followup-To: soc.culture.indian
Organization: Boston University

In article <1ejg3oINNfjf@charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu>
vivek@ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu) writes in reply to  article
<1992Nov20.114229.3761@lut.ac.uk> by G.S.Samra@lut.ac.uk (GS Samra)  

>>
>>The Sikh fighters were in the Akal Takhat building. There were no
>>(at any time) Sikh fighters in the Golden Temple itself. The Akal
>>Takhat was destroyed (reduced to rubble) completely by the Indian
>>army and is currently being  
>
>You are completely wrong here. The Terrorists were hiding not only in
>the Akal Takht, which of course is built for war, but also inside the
>sanctum sanctorum, which is the Darshana Deori. Also they were in the
>Guru Ramdas Serai,  which are all  very much inside the Golden Temple 
>Complex.
>The Akal Takht too was not destroyed,  albeit it did suffer hits from
>both the terrorists as well as the army's bullets.
>

	I doubt that Akal takhat was built for war as you claim,
because if my memory serves me right, I remember seeing Akal Takhat
way back in 1976 and it was just a normal old building like any other
part of the Golden temple complex. I faintly remembered that most of
the Akal Takhat was out of bounds for normal visitors like my family.
Furthermore I remember that no terrorists were ever found inside the
temple itself. Akal takhat was not the hardest hit building in the
operation but it was a water tank ( the name eludes me at the moment )
which housed the Sikh fighters with heavymachine gun and rocket
launchers. Also I must add that the Indian Army did not use any mortar
in that operation due to unsuitability of the weapon, as told to me by
a friend of my father's who was involved in the operation. It is also,
to my knowledge, pure baloney that Indian soldiers entered Golden
Temple complex, were bare-foot. There was a wholesale massacre of
Indian soldiers on the parkrima, the marble path around pond. There
were bunkers everywhere around the prakrima with lots of terrorists
firing out from thse bunkers. In those rooms all around the prakrima,
the severest fighting took place. Initially the security forces faced
a lot of casuality in their room by room cleaning operation with
majority of soldiers being shot in the leg so the tactics were changed
and a tank was commisioned in to break the marble stairs of the
enterance so the APC ( armoured personnel carriers ) could be moved
in. These APC were a big flop also because they had rubber tires that
could be easily blown over. At a later stage a few light tank and
tractorized fighting vehical were forced into action which when they
moved around the prakrima destroyed the marble lined prakrima. But by
the time they were pressed into action most of the bunkers were
already ccleared out, so the black cat moved in again going room to
room to flush out the remaining terrorists. While this was going on
the Akal takhat was still heavily barricaded and offered most
resistance. The only small artillary used in this action was 30 mm
cannons on top of APCs and heavy machineguns from the tank.

	Only other incidence of use of artilary was in dislodging the
terrorists from the water tank. Rooftops of houses nearby were used to
littrally shell the tank into oblivion. But the Golden Temple Complex
it self was not shelled.

	In my opinion the Indian Army was just trying to get the job
done. I dont know if the Sikh fighters had offered more resistance
would they have resorted to heavy shelling, because they had evacuated
everybody within miles of the Temple and had artillary units on
standby. All I can add here is that it would have been much better if
the army did not have to go in in the first place.

>>rebuilt by the Sikhs. At no time from 1982-1984 did any of the Sikhs enter
>>the Golden Temple itself with guns.If you know anything about about the
>>Punjab situation you would know this. Even the Indian Giovernment has at
>>no times claimed that there were armed Sikhs in the Golden Temple itself.
>>But despite that there were 373 bullet and mortar marks on the Golden Temple
>>due to the Indina Army action.
>
>Again wrong information. For atleast 2 years preceding the army entry
>into the temple a steady buildup of arms and havens for the terrorist
>elements was taking place,  and due to the extreme sensitivity of the 
>nature of the place the Indian Government had to exercise too much of
>caution. When the operation was completed the video tapes of the full
>complex showed the places where the terrorists had taken shelter, and 
>where they had hidden their arms and ammunition. During the operation
>Black Thunder, the situation was even more worse.  The terrorists had
>desecrated the place so much, that even the prasad vessels were used,
>by them to ease themselves. It onlu goes to prove that the terrorists
>had no regard for either the sanctity of the place nor any care about
>the sensibilities of the people.
>

	Of course there is no doubt that the terrorists had
comprimised the sanctitiy of the place by their presence, but remember
it was the Akal takhat that was (and still is) the seat of power for
Akalis and also has a lot of clout in the Sikh world. Remember how
Jail Singh was declared 'tankhaiya' and he had to come down to Golden
Temple and clean peoples shoes. Akal takhat is like the Vatican, with
meeting place for leaders of Akali Dal, SGPC, and senior leaders of
AISSF. It is a place with a very volatile mix of religion and
politics. I know many sikhs are not happy about how the things are
handled by Akal Takhat but when it comes under scrutiny by non-sikhs
in the rest of India they always had the tendency to support their
leaders. 

	I my opinion sending of army into the Golden Temple was a big
mistake. It has not accomplished its goal, as daily news of massacre
will testify to it. It was another stupid action by Indira Gandhi who
along her ambitious career and rule had already had a few. Flouting of
law of the land ( as in the Allahabad case ), trampling peoples right
(Emergency) and complete insensitivity and arrogant decisions ( as in
the case of operation Black Thunder ). She has single handedly, in her
single minded ambition to remain at the helm of the country and enjoy
power and previleges of being the de-facto royalty of India, inflicted
deep wounds in the psyche of India. As I look back now I just don't
know what is the good thing I'd like to remember her by.

	Current administration is atleast not repeating the same
mistakes of Indira Gandhi's administration. But I believe there are
certain scars that Indian union has inflicted on sikhs that can not be
forgotten easily. Entering the Golden Temple by Army was one of them.
And not bringing the culprits of 1984 roits to trial is another one.
The govt. might be able to restore some faith in the sikh populace by
redressing up the latter as the  scars inflicted by the first one can
only be healed by time. We really need to make a gesture of commitment
to the sikhs. Indian govt. must come off its high horse and issue this
problem not at an administrative level but also at a personal level.
We have to get along.


>Regards,
>Vivek.
>-- 
>vivek@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu (Vivek R. Prabhu),
>Research Assistant, Systems Engineering Lab., Dept. Of Computer Science, 
>School Of Engineering, Computer Science And Technology,
>California State University, Chico, California.


Thanks for getting bore,

	Pankaj Tyagi
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