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www.GOALias.blogspot.com160 Politics in India since Independence“There is alsoevidence to show that on31-10-84 either meetingswere held or persons whocould organise attackswere contacted andwere given instructionsto kill Sikhs and loottheir houses and shops.The attacks were madein a systematic mannerand without much fearof the police, almostsuggesting that they wereassured that they wouldnot be harmed whilecommitting those acts oreven after.“Justice NanavatiCommission of Inquiry,Report, Vol. I, 2005for almost a week. More than twothousand Sikhs were killed in thenational capital, the area worstaffected by this violence. Hundredsof Sikhs were killed in other parts ofthe country, especially in places likeKanpur, Bokaro and Chas. Many Sikhfamilies lost their male members andthus suffered great emotional andheavy financial loss. What hurt theSikhs most was that the governmenttook a long time in restoring normalcyand that the perpetrators of this violencewere not effectively punished. Twentyyears later, speaking in the Parliamentin 2005, Prime Minister ManmohanSingh expressed regret over thesekillings and apologised to the nation forthe anti-Sikh violence.Women looking at a wall paintingdepicting Indira Gandhi’s assassination.Credit : Raghu Rai