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1984 anti-Sikh riots

 

 

DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY” IS DECIDED BY THE COURT AND US DEPARTMENT OF STATE CAN ONLY GIVE ITS RECOMMENDATION”

Sikhs For Justice
Human Rights Group announces to take the matter to the United Nations

New York (January 27, 2011)

According to Attorney Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, legal advisor to Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), the issue of “diplomatic immunity” is decided by the court and US Department of State can only give its recommendation. He further stated that the plaintiffs will resist and challenge any efforts by Indian Government to get diplomatic immunity for Kamal Nath. If diplomatic immunity is granted to Kamal Nath in Sikh Genocide case, plaintiffs avowed that they will challenge it in the highest court of the United States and will also lodge petitions and complaints before the United Nations Human Rights Commission with regard to India’s open practice of impunity.

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Kamal Nath summoned by US court in 1984 Sikh riots case  

Washington, Jan 23, 2011:

Indian Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath has been summoned by a New York court for a pre-trial conference Feb 9 for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The trial will proceed as the US State Department has declined to intervene in the case due to the seriousness of allegations of human rights violation against Kamal Nath, according to Gurpatwant S. Pannun, legal advisor for Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a US based human rights advocacy group.

After being summoned by the Southern district court of New York Dec 10, 2010, Kamal Nath had sought diplomatic immunity. His request for immunity has now been turned down by the State Department, Pannun said.

In April 2010, SFJ along with two individuals filed a law suit against Kamal Nath under Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) & Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) asking the court to order compensatory and punitive damages against the minister.

According to Pannun: "Alien Tort Claims Act of United State, the law under which trial against Kamal Nath will be held is specifically created to provide remedy and forum to victims of genocide to vindicate their complaints."

The trial against Kamal Nath "is one such opportunity through which SFJ plans to put on the record of the court evidence related to genocide of Sikhs and Kamal Nath's role in it," he said.

Plaintiffs have asked for a "jury trial" and will have the right to call upon survivors and experts on genocide as witnesses to prove that systematic killing of Sikhs in November 1984 was genocide as defined in Article 2 of the UN Convention on Genocide.

Responding to Kamal Nath's comment that "no case has been filed against him in India during past 26 years", Pannun said Nath's argument is absurd because if a case is not filed against a criminal, it does not mean that he has not committed the crimes.

SFJ and victims of November 1984 riots also plan to launch a campaign in India asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack Kamal Nath from his cabinet position for his alleged involvement in attack on Gurdawara Rakab Ganj Sahib in Delhi, Pannun said.

More than 3,000 people were killed in various clashes across north India during the riots that followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi Oct 31, 1984.

The trial will proceed as the US State Department has declined to intervene in the case due to the seriousness of allegations of human rights violation against Kamal Nath, according to Gurpatwant S. Pannun, legal advisor for Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a US based human rights advocacy group.

After being summoned by the Southern district court of New York Dec 10, 2010, Kamal Nath had sought diplomatic immunity. His request for immunity has now been turned down by the State Department, Pannun said.

In April 2010, SFJ along with two individuals filed a law suit against Kamal Nath under Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) & Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) asking the court to order compensatory and punitive damages against the minister.

According to Pannun: "Alien Tort Claims Act of United State, the law under which trial against Kamal Nath will be held is specifically created to provide remedy and forum to victims of genocide to vindicate their complaints."

The trial against Kamal Nath "is one such opportunity through which SFJ plans to put on the record of the court evidence related to genocide of Sikhs and Kamal Nath's role in it," he said.

Plaintiffs have asked for a "jury trial" and will have the right to call upon survivors and experts on genocide as witnesses to prove that systematic killing of Sikhs in November 1984 was genocide as defined in Article 2 of the UN Convention on Genocide.

Responding to Kamal Nath's comment that "no case has been filed against him in India during past 26 years", Pannun said Nath's argument is absurd because if a case is not filed against a criminal, it does not mean that he has not committed the crimes.

SFJ and victims of November 1984 riots also plan to launch a campaign in India asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack Kamal Nath from his cabinet position for his alleged involvement in attack on Gurdawara Rakab Ganj Sahib in Delhi, Pannun said.

More than 3,000 people were killed in various clashes across north India during the riots that followed the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi Oct 31, 1984. ......IANS/NRIpress.com

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NYC NRI Sikhs protest against Mr. Kamal Nath’s visit to USA

New York, NY, April 8, 2010
Gurpatwant S Pannun
Attorney at Law

  • Thursday, April 8th, (in front of the McGraw Hill Building) where Kamal Nath will be attending a gathering of the U.S. India Business Council.

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Also See Video: NBC COVERAGE:
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US COURT ISSUES SUMMON - UNION MINISTER, KAMAL NATH
FOR NATH’S ROLE IN NOVEMBER 1984 SIKH GENOCIDE


New York, NY, April 6, 2010
Gurpatwant S Pannun
Attorney at Law

The lawsuit has been docketed (10 CV 2940 ) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and has been assigned to Honorable Judge Sweet. The District Court has issued summons and Minister Nath must respond within 21 days.

  • KAMAL NATH, CURRENTLY IN THE U.S. IS ORDERED TO RESPOND BY APRIL 28, 2010 IN U.S. COURT
  • Protestors of Nath’s U.S. Visit gather on 6th Avenue and 49th Street from 7-10 a.m. Thursday, April 8th
  • (in front of the McGraw Hill Building) where Kamal Nath will be attending a gathering of the U.S. India Business Council.

According to Pannu, Kamal Nath has already been served SUMMON while he was doing a press conference this evening, he has to respond within 21 days failing which the court will give a default judgment on the matter.

According to local media, Kamal Nath said:

  • I don't know the validity. It was for the first time that I saw it
  • I really have no clue about it. I don't have a basis and I don't know the authenticity
  • He would have to study the matter further. I will have to see what the piece of paper is all about
  • He had never been charged in any court and questioned why these allegations were being raised more than two decades after the tragedy and that too in a foreign land. Nobody has ever charged me in India.
  • If the United States charges me 25 years later for something that has happened in India, well it just reflects on the authenticity. Suddenly in 2010 I get involved
  • There was nobody who stood up and said that he was a victim or that I was in any way connected. So I'm surprised and appalled

Jasbir Singh and Mahinder Singh has been filed the case. Sikhs for Justice, New York organisation is helping two individuals. Jasbir lost 24 members of his family and Mahinder lost his father.

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Canadian MPs join NRI sikh protest against Mr. Kamal Nath’s visit to Canada

  • Liberal MPPs for the Brampton area have been on the receiving end of many angry emails from Sikhs
  • Sikhs accused the Conservative government of hypocrisy for allowing Kamal Nath into Canada on a speaking tour

Toronto/Ottawa, March 27, 2010
Satinder Sharma

NRI Sikh community in Canada gathered at Parliament Hill to protest Kamal Nath, the Indian Minister of Road Transport and Highways who met Canadian International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan, Transport Minister John Baird, and corporate leaders to give further push to economic ties between the two countries.

Sikh community was raising their grievance that in November 1984, following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in New Delhi; Kamal Nath was leading a mob who was surrounding the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib Delhi, India wherein Sikhs, along with their families, were taking refuge. An old Sikh left the Gurdwara and went to the mob to request some water. Instead of giving water, Kamal Nath urged the mob to burn the old man. After this incident the son of the old person came out of the Gurdwara and begged to take back the body of his father. Instead of giving the body, he was also boiled in the boiling oil until death.

The carnage did not stop there. Kamal Nath further ordered the mob to attack on the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib who in result killed more than 3000 innocent Sikhs, taking refuge there


MPs Sukh Dhaliwal (Newton-North Delta), Jack Harris (St. John's East), Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster), Andrew Kania (Brampton West) and Robert Oliphant (Don Valley West) joined the protest and expressed solidarity opposing the reception arranged by the India High Commission. ......(Photos by Sikhs for justice)

Sikhs For Justice, Ontario Gurudwara Committee, Ontario Gurudwara and Sikh Council, United Front of Sikhs and Management Committees of Montreal Gurudwaras Lasalle, DDO, Pac Extension and the Canadian Sikh community were greeted warmly by several Canadian members of parliament, who chose not to attend the reception for Kamal Nath.

Over 10,000 Sikhs from Toronto and suburbs gathered today in front of King Edward Hotel, 37 King St. East, Toronto, Ontario to protest against the arrival of Kamal Nath, an Indian cabinet minister in Toronto. The protest continued for approximately 3 hours. It started at 5.30 pm and ended at 8.30 pm.

“Unless they make amends quickly, the Liberals will definitely lose this community’s votes,” said Harbans Jandali, president of Ontario Sikh and Gurdwara Council. “This is a sensitive issue for the Sikhs.” Jandali, along with almost 500 other Sikh demonstrators, was outside the King Edward Hotel in downtown Toronto where Kamal Nath, minister of road transport and highways in India, addressed the Canada-India Business Council. Demonstrators, occupying sidewalks in front of the hotel Tuesday, screamed: “Go back, Kamal Nath” and “Kamal Nath: Killer of Sikhs.”… Raveena Aulakh and Rob Ferguson Staff of Toronto Star wrote.

But a spokeswoman for McGuinty insisted government officials did not go out of their way to keep the meeting with Nath a secret.

After news broke of the Indian minister Nath’s meeting with Dalton McGuinty, Ontario Premier , McGuinty said:

  • If there are issues of this kind, obviously we look to the federal government for guidance· He is due to meet Nath soon for the fifth time and believes in "constructive engagement," adding the federal government "welcomed" the MP
  • Kamal Nath, along with senior Indian business leaders, spoke to the Canada-India Business Council and potential investors on Tuesday evening's $200-a-plate

NDP Jack Layton said:

  • Our concern that a "divisive and controversial" politician had been invited to Canada and urged caucus members to boycott Nath events.
  • They are especially hurt by the presence in Canada of a man who allegedly organized anti-Sikh pogroms·
  • The Immigration Act allows the government to bar individuals who have been involved human-rights abuses, and it's this section the Sikhs say Ottawa should have applied to the Indian politician.

Liberal MP Andrew Kania, from Brampton West who represent the strong Sikh community said:

  • He wrote Immigration Minister Jason Kenney demanding an "immediate explanation" for allowing Nath in while scuttling a visit by Palestinian MP and peace activist Mustafa Barghouti and Galloway.
  • Why the difference in treatment between the three foreign Members of Parliament
  • Kamal Nath was the only one that the Conservative government decided to help


Gurpatwant Pannu, a lawyer for Sikhs for Justice said:

  • Canada has violated constitutional law by allowing Nath entry into Canada even though he is accused of human rights violations.
  • The constitution bars anyone involved in human-rights abuses, even if they have not been formally charged or convicted.
  • He said he will challenge his admission in the federal court on Wednesday. “He (Nath) is here now but we want to make sure that he never comes to Canada again.”

 

Kamal Nath has refuted claims that he led any mob and said:

  • He told a commission in India in 2000 that he arrived at the scene of a riot in New Delhi after learning of escalating violence but he claims to have left when police arrived. The commission indicted Nath but could not determine whether he was involved.
  • On Tuesday, he told the Star: “I have never been indicted by any commission of inquiry, nor have I been charged in a police station or before a court of law for any offence relating to violence against the members of the Sikh community.”
  • He said some years ago, “a complaint made by a person of dubious motivation was, nevertheless, examined by the Nanavati Commission, which found it baseless. The commission held that there was no evidence whatsoever that I had, in any manner, instigated any mob or was ever involved in any attack on any gurdwara.”
  • He has consistently condemned violence that erupted after Gandhi’s assassination.
    “I am surprised and appalled by this protest because I have been coming here for 20 years and nobody ever complained,” said Nath.
    Sikhs acknowledge that but say his visits have been deliberately kept under wraps because they rankle the community.

 

 

 

 

Click Video


Sikh Community In Toronto Protest Kamal Nath's Visit to Canada

Minister Kamal Nath is accused of human rights violations for being a leader in India’s 1984 genocide of 3,000 Sikhs and the displacement of over 300,000 Sikhs.  On November 1st 1984 Kamal Nath was a member of Parliament and was witnessed leading an armed mob in which many of Sikh were burnt alive during an attack on a Sikh temple in New Delhi, according to NRI media

 

READ MORE: Click : 1984