Sikhs Reject Prime Minister’s Apology

August 13, 2005

Source: Bahrain Tribune

http://www.bahraintribune.com/ArticleDetail.asp?CategoryId=3&ArticleId=79441

On August 13, 2005 the Bahrain Tribune reported, "Victims of India’s 1984 anti-Sikh riots rejected yesterday apologies from Premier Manmohan Singh and vowed to intensify demands for the prosecution of politicians blamed for the massacre that claimed 4,000 lives. On Thursday, Singh, the country’s first Sikh prime minister, apologised in parliament for the riots after a commission inquiry report said some Congress party leaders may have helped incite the riots. 'What took place in 1984 is a negation of what is enshrined in our (secular) constitution and on behalf of government, people of this country, I bow my head in shame for what has happened,' Singh told MPs. But Sikhs said yesterday they were unimpressed by the apology tendered by the Congress prime minister whose party was in power at the time of the riots and which Sikhs blame for the bloodshed... [A] Sikh widow questioned the value of an apology given after 21 years. 'They dragged my husband and my three brothers and even as they begged for their lives, the mob set them on fire, beat them with rods and killed them,' said Kaushalya Kaur. 'Apologies after 21 years? It’s so meaningless.'"