- Sikhs For Justice accuses Singh of involvement in torture crimes and extra-judicial killings of Sikhs
- Sikhs to hold rally in front of White House
New York-based rights group Sikhs For Justice has secured summons from a federal court in Washington DC against Prime Minister (PM) Manmohan Singh for his alleged role in sanctioning big amounts as cash rewards for Punjab cops involved in counter-insurgency operations in early 1990s, as well as protecting those involved in the 1984 Sikhs massacre.
The move comes less than 20 days after securing summons from a US court against Congress President Sonia Gandhi for protecting perpetrators of the 1984 massacre of Sikhs.
The rights violation case ‘SFJ vs Manmohan Singh’ has been assigned to US District Judge James E. Boasberg.
The plaintiffs have 120 days to serve the summons and complaint to the PM who will be in Washington this week to meet US President Barack Obama.
The September 25 complaint filed before Washington DC District Court alleges that Manmohan Singh’s involvement in torture crimes and extra-judicial killings of Sikhs started in 1991 when he became finance minister.
Manmohan Singh approved and financed, as head of the finance ministry the infamous practice of ‘cash rewards’ to members of security forces for killing Sikhs through extra-judicial means, often in ‘staged and fake encounters’ to curb the Sikh rights’ movement in Punjab, the complaint alleged.
The 24 page complaint alleges that during his tenure as PM, (2004-present) Singh has actively shielded and protected the members of his political party who were involved in organising and carrying out genocidal attacks on Sikh population in November 1984 resulting in the death of more than 30, 000 members of the community.
Sikh groups will also hold ‘Justice Rally’ on September 27 in front of the White House during the Obama-Singh meeting. The rally is supported by Sikh organisations and management committees of Gurdwaras across the United States and Canada.
Meanwhile, Sikh-American community has urged Manmohan Singh to raise the issue of increasing attacks on the community members in the US with President Obama during their meeting today.
“This is the best time for Singh to raise the issues and concerns of the USA Sikh community during the meeting with President Obama,” said the North American Punjabi Association (NAPA).
Referring to a series of recent attacks on the Sikhs, NAPA said that it is unfortunate that attacks on Sikh Americans are growing every passing day.
