08-15-2005, 04:23 AM
Jaspreet,
Rajeev figure are on track not off. Some Bus and train incidence where Hindus were pull out of Bus only, It became sort of common occurence that govt started pilot armed jeep in front of buses in most affected area.
I have lost my relative in Muktshar bus incidence.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->First off, a few such incidents did happen. I don't recall the exact number. And yes, Hindus were separated out and killed. No denying that. On a scale that consists of only two notches, right and wrong, this overshot the wrong mark.
But this by no means was a regular occurrence. To say that "Sikhs pulled Hindus out of the buses and shot them some times 40-50 at time" gives the impression that this was a common occurrence and was the defining characteristic of that time and that all conclusions and impressions about those times must stem from these events. Perhaps only a person living out of India can utter such statements.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Arms Project identified dozens of reports of attacks on buses and trains carried out by militants. The following accounts are representative examples:
In December 1992, a state-run bus traveling to Chandigarh was ambushed by six militants, believed to be members of the Khalistan Liberation Front, <b>who ordered Hindu passengers to stand apart from the Sikhs</b>. The gunmen reportedly then raked the Hindus with hundreds of rounds of AK47 rifle fire, <b>killing sixteen and wounding nine. Five weeks earlier, twenty-five Hindu migrant laborers were killed in a similar bus attack</b>.
On November 4, 1992, militants placed road blocks and stopped vehicles on the <b>Gurdaspur-Tibri road near Amritsar. Seventeen persons identified as Hindu were shot</b>. According to a report published in the Punjab English daily, Tribune, the police claimed to have recovered a note on Bhindranwale Tiger Force (btf) letterhead stating that the killings were in retaliation for the killing of a btf leader.
In an October 1992 attack marking the fourth anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Sikh gunmen bombed an intercity bus near the border between Punjab and Kashmir, <b>killing eighteen civilians and seriously injuring twenty-eight</b>. The attack, along with two separate attacks against Hindu laborers, triggered anti-Sikh rioting.
At about 9:30 P.M. on June 15, 1991, <b>gunmen opened fire inside two passenger trains stopped outside Ludhiana, killing at least 75 passengers</b>. The attacks reportedly were coordinated, as both trains were stopped about a mile from the station by having their emergency cords pulled. Survivors stated that on one of the trains, Hindu passengers were identified before being shot. <b>On the second train, the firing was indiscriminate, and many Sikhs as well as Hindus were killed.</b> Although no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, they were believed to have been carried out by groups opposed to the elections scheduled for June 22.
<b>On July 7, 1987, Sikh separatists attacked two buses in northern Haryana state, killing thirty-four.</b> Most of the victims were Hindu. The militants used a car and a jeep to create a roadblock. On one bus, they singled out particular passengers, dragged them off, and shot them to death. Militants then boarded the second bus and opened fire, killing all the passengers. Chinese-made AK47s were used in both attacks. <b>The incidents occurred the day after militants opened fire on a bus in Punjab, killing forty passengers, and wounding twenty-seven. </b>The victims were all Hindus bound for a pilgrimage center in Uttar Pradesh.
In June 1987, <b>militants hauled seventy-two Hindus off two rural buses and shot them dead.</b>
President's Rule, direct rule from Delhi, was imposed on Punjab on 6 October, 1983, after <b>a bus was ambushed and six Hindu passengers murdered</b>.
Rajeev figure are on track not off. Some Bus and train incidence where Hindus were pull out of Bus only, It became sort of common occurence that govt started pilot armed jeep in front of buses in most affected area.
I have lost my relative in Muktshar bus incidence.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->First off, a few such incidents did happen. I don't recall the exact number. And yes, Hindus were separated out and killed. No denying that. On a scale that consists of only two notches, right and wrong, this overshot the wrong mark.
But this by no means was a regular occurrence. To say that "Sikhs pulled Hindus out of the buses and shot them some times 40-50 at time" gives the impression that this was a common occurrence and was the defining characteristic of that time and that all conclusions and impressions about those times must stem from these events. Perhaps only a person living out of India can utter such statements.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Arms Project identified dozens of reports of attacks on buses and trains carried out by militants. The following accounts are representative examples:
In December 1992, a state-run bus traveling to Chandigarh was ambushed by six militants, believed to be members of the Khalistan Liberation Front, <b>who ordered Hindu passengers to stand apart from the Sikhs</b>. The gunmen reportedly then raked the Hindus with hundreds of rounds of AK47 rifle fire, <b>killing sixteen and wounding nine. Five weeks earlier, twenty-five Hindu migrant laborers were killed in a similar bus attack</b>.
On November 4, 1992, militants placed road blocks and stopped vehicles on the <b>Gurdaspur-Tibri road near Amritsar. Seventeen persons identified as Hindu were shot</b>. According to a report published in the Punjab English daily, Tribune, the police claimed to have recovered a note on Bhindranwale Tiger Force (btf) letterhead stating that the killings were in retaliation for the killing of a btf leader.
In an October 1992 attack marking the fourth anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Sikh gunmen bombed an intercity bus near the border between Punjab and Kashmir, <b>killing eighteen civilians and seriously injuring twenty-eight</b>. The attack, along with two separate attacks against Hindu laborers, triggered anti-Sikh rioting.
At about 9:30 P.M. on June 15, 1991, <b>gunmen opened fire inside two passenger trains stopped outside Ludhiana, killing at least 75 passengers</b>. The attacks reportedly were coordinated, as both trains were stopped about a mile from the station by having their emergency cords pulled. Survivors stated that on one of the trains, Hindu passengers were identified before being shot. <b>On the second train, the firing was indiscriminate, and many Sikhs as well as Hindus were killed.</b> Although no group claimed responsibility for the attacks, they were believed to have been carried out by groups opposed to the elections scheduled for June 22.
<b>On July 7, 1987, Sikh separatists attacked two buses in northern Haryana state, killing thirty-four.</b> Most of the victims were Hindu. The militants used a car and a jeep to create a roadblock. On one bus, they singled out particular passengers, dragged them off, and shot them to death. Militants then boarded the second bus and opened fire, killing all the passengers. Chinese-made AK47s were used in both attacks. <b>The incidents occurred the day after militants opened fire on a bus in Punjab, killing forty passengers, and wounding twenty-seven. </b>The victims were all Hindus bound for a pilgrimage center in Uttar Pradesh.
In June 1987, <b>militants hauled seventy-two Hindus off two rural buses and shot them dead.</b>
President's Rule, direct rule from Delhi, was imposed on Punjab on 6 October, 1983, after <b>a bus was ambushed and six Hindu passengers murdered</b>.