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As the sun rose on 7 June 1984, piles of dead bodies of Sikh women, children and men blanketed the Parikrama of Sri Darbar Sahib. Blood covered the walls and floors of Sikhs’ holiest of shrines. The water in the holy Sarovar had turned a deep shade of red. 
Injured pilgrims' cries of pain echoed across the Darbar Sahib complex. In complete violation of the Geneva Convention and the UN Charter, Red Cross volunteers were not allowed to enter the complex to provide medical aid to the injured civilians.
Sikh pilgrims who asked for water, having gone without it for days, were forced to drink water that was mixed with blood.
The scenes described in eye witness accounts were those of brutality, depravity and unimaginable horrors.
The scenes described in eye witness accounts were those of brutality, depravity and unimaginable horrors.
One doctor recollected that a young Sikh brought in by the Army for a postmortem was still breathing. The doctor asked the Army officer to take the youth to the operating room for immediate treatment. The Army officer took the young man away, shot him dead, brought the corpse
back and told the doctor "look here, he is dead." The doctor was shocked as he had heard the gunfire outside the mortuary.
Sikhs outside of the Darbar Sahib complex were not spared either. Sikh homes were searched and ransacked, anything of value was looted.
Sikhs outside of the Darbar Sahib complex were not spared either. Sikh homes were searched and ransacked, anything of value was looted.
Sikh women and girls were stripped and molested in the streets. The excuse used by soldiers in making women remove their clothing was that they were looking for telltale marks of bruising from rifle butts among ‘terrorist’ suspects.
To add insult to injury, while committing the most horrific of human rights violations and war crimes against innocent Sikh civilians, the Indian Army flagrantly consumed tobacco and alcohol within the Darbar Sahib complex. A notification of the Government of Punjab's Department
of Excise and Taxation allowed for the provision of 700,000-quart bottles of rum, 30,000-quart bottles of whiskey, 60,000-quart bottles of brandy and 160,000 bottles of beer all for 'consumption by the Armed Forces Personnel deployed in Operation Blue Star’.
Hindus were seen carrying buckets of beer to the main gates of Darbar Sahib where they jubilantly served it to soldiers. According to Kuldip Brar’s “Operation Blue Star: The True Story”, the same community “rushed out of their homes to offer sweets to the troops”after the attack.
At 12pm on 7 June 1984, the Indian Army set fire to the Sikh Reference Library containing over 20K literary works. Rare handwritten Saroops of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Hukamnamas and manuscripts bearing the signatures or marks of our Guru Sahibans were looted or destroyed.
This act of sacrilege and desecration proved beyond a doubt what many Sikhs already knew. June 1984 was never about ‘militants’ or ‘terrorists’. It was about destroying Sikhi and Sikhs, our history and our institutions. It was a pre-planned, calculated and deliberate genocide.
Further evidence of this was provided in the July 1984 Baatcheet, an official Army publication issued to soldiers.
It stated: “Any knowledge of Amritdharis, who are dangerous people & pledge to commit murders, arson & acts of terrorism, should immediately be brought to the
It stated: “Any knowledge of Amritdharis, who are dangerous people & pledge to commit murders, arson & acts of terrorism, should immediately be brought to the
notice of the authorities. These people may appear harmless from the outside but they are committed to terrorism. In the interest of us all, their identity & whereabouts must be disclosed.”
The purpose of Operation Blue Star had always been to attack Sikhi & the Sikh identity.
The purpose of Operation Blue Star had always been to attack Sikhi & the Sikh identity.
The true death toll of the Indian state’s 1984 invasion of Darbar Sahib remains unknown. To this day, the Indian state has never released a list of casualties. India made no effort to record the names and addresses of those slain or missing in the invasion.
The Indian state didn’t even allow families to perform last rites for the dead.
The Indian Army deliberately attempted to conceal the number of casualties; the wounded were evacuated to hospitals throughout India, & usually shown on the records as having been wounded in Ladakh.
The Indian Army deliberately attempted to conceal the number of casualties; the wounded were evacuated to hospitals throughout India, & usually shown on the records as having been wounded in Ladakh.
The number of dead and wounded eventually published reflected gross and deliberate underestimation; a mere 492 civilians killed, when it is known that ten thousand pairs of shoes remained unclaimed at Darbar Sahib after the attack.
After the curfew was finally lifted, mothers from across Punjab flocked to Darbar Sahib, hoping they might find the bodies of their missing children.
Martial law was never declared in Punjab. And yet, without martial law, the Army carried out summary executions.
Martial law was never declared in Punjab. And yet, without martial law, the Army carried out summary executions.
The Army issued "shoot to kill" orders but later rescinded them when KD Vasudeva; Punjab Chief Secretary and HS Randhawa; IG Intelligence, questioned the order. How many innocent Sikhs died as a result of these illegal war crimes remains a closely guarded Indian state secret.
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