June 1984 - Dance of death; Deepak Salwan

 

May 31st 1984, Amritsar – we were huddled together over a tub filled with cold water and lots of mangoes in it. After a scorching hot day, eating those chilled mangoes were such a delight. Dad was listening to the 9 PM news bulletin and the news reader was ever beautiful and graceful Salma Sultan. The mood of our family and every other family became tense when she read .. “ अभी अभी समाचार मिला है के पंजाब को मिलिट्री के हवाले कर दिया गया है और पूरे पंजाब में कर्फ्यू लग गया है” ( Just got the news that Military has been given the control of Punjab and a curfew has been declared for the entire state). 

In the next few weeks, the events which ensued, would write a dark chapter in the history book of Punjab. This was not the first time, Punjab was drenched in blood but this time, the events ripped through its heart – The Golden temple, Amritsar! The very fabric of “Punjabiyat”, weaved with the threads of basic tenet given by first Guru, Baba Nanak – “ਅਵਲ ਅੱਲਾਹ ਨੂਰ ਉਪਾਇਆ, ਕੁਦਰਤ ਦੇ ਸਬ ਬੰਦੇ II ਇਕ ਨੂਰ ਤੇ ਸਬ ਜੱਗ ਉਪਜਿਆ, ਕੌਣ ਭਲੇ ਕੌਣ ਮੰਦੇ II” (The light has come from one almighty, all mankind belong to the nature; it is from one light we are born, no one is good and no one is bad) will be shredded to the ribbons.

1^st June 1984 - as 12 years old, completely oblivious to the fact that our lives, like many others, were in danger, I was happy that that curfew gave us extended summer vacations. That happiness came to an abrupt end on the night of Jun 3rd . Like I always did during summers, I was hauling cots ( we slept on the terrace during summers)  to the terrace when I noticed dad loading his handgun. Everybody in the neighborhood was on their respective terraces, wide awake. The night was still, uncannily quiet. And then it happened; the rat-a-tat of a machine gun sound ripped through the silence of the night. Operation Blue star had begun! Continuous sound of bullets and grenade explosions were to become our new normal for next few days. 

Next morning, me and my brother were busy playing while parents were taking stock of the kitchen rations. For next few weeks, with no respite in the curfew, food and basic necessities were hard to come. Day ended with we kids counting the bullet sounds, which continued through out the day. There was word on the street that Hindu houses were marked, and a large group of Sikhs from villages would come out in the night for slaughter. That night, everything which could kill or maim, including our handgun and a sword, was collected in our house. We saw a lot of bricks stacked up on the terrace. Me and my brother were told that if somebody comes to harm us, we were to throw bricks on them. By this time, both me and my brother, all of 10, realised that something is seriously wrong. Somewhere around midnight, amongst the on-going firing exchange in the Golden Temple, fear gripped everyone when someone started shouting ..  ਆ ਗਏ, ਆ ਗਏ (they’ve come, they’ve come). My brother went into shock and froze with fear; unable to move, he started reciting prayers while lying down. The shouting died down when neighbours fired few rounds in the air. This was a routine for next nine days – counting bullet / grenade sounds in the morning and being alert in the night.

 By 10^th June 1984, the firing in the temple stopped. Curfew, which would otherwise continue for next few weeks, was given a regular respite of few hours for everybody to pick up essentials and food. We had a sigh of relief after getting to know that our relatives and friends were all right. Amritsar looked like a garrison town with Military personnel in every nook and corner. There was a standing shoot-at-sight order with even a hint of doubt about somebody . All roads leading to the city were sealed with tanks and machine guns mounted armoured vehicles.

7th June 1984 - “What is this stench?”, I remember asking Dad. The smell was getting stronger and stronger and was to linger on in the area for next few days. It was the stench of the aftermath of the Operation Bluestar. Dead bodies! The tractor trollies, full of rotting dead bodies in summer heat, were being brought to the postmortem center of the nearby hospital and the tractors kept coming for next three days; every municipal sanitary worker along with red cross worker was put to the job of hauling dead bodies. Some elders say that it reminded them of the partition days. It was a mind-numbing task for all the workers.

In those nine days, hundreds died for their respective cause – both military and the  "defenders" of faith. Sikhs, a martial race, has proven it’s stealth in the historical and modern wars. General Kuldeep Singh “Bulbul” Brar, in-charge of the Operation and Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, head of the resistance – both hailing from the same village, “Rode” in Faridkot district, remained steadfast in their fight against each other. Gen. Brar knew that this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park because of the man responsible for the fortification of the Golden Temple was Maj. Gen. Shahbeg Singh! Gen Shahbeg Singh, a 1971 war hero, expert in guerilla warfare, played a crucial role in the war ( both Gen Shahbeg and Gen Brar served together) and went behind enemy lines to train “Mukti Bahini”, the Bangladeshi local militia. Gen Shahbeg Singh was court martialled few days before his retirement for petty reasons – that was the moment when he turned against the state and joined Bhindrawale. His skills in guerrilla warfare proved deadly for the Indian army when they had to eventually take permission to take tanks inside the temple complex to end it all within 72 hours of rage. Not only men but a piece of history died too during the Operation; historical parts of the temple complex, relics dating back to the beginning of Sikhism were the collateral damage.

It took time, it took going through pain and then a long healing process; a resilient Punjabi spirit eventually returned to normalcy like it did for centuries. June 11^th, the sound of Gurbani once again reverberated through the bullet ridden walls of the temple. This land of poets, Sufis, Gurus and Vedas have seen both love and blood in equal amount. The holy city of Amritsar has seen many attacks on Golden temple in it’s history. Be it an attack by Zakiriya Khan or the Abdalis in 1700s; Sikhs always liberated the temple and avenged whoever attacked or ordered the attack on the complex. October 1984 – Mrs Indira Gandhi was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguards.

Year 1984 saw some extra ordinary events in India; Rakesh Sharma going into space, Operation Meghdoot ( Taking over Siachen Glacier by Indian Army), Operation blue star , assassination of a prime minister followed by state sponsored Delhi massacre of Sikhs( humanity was put to shame during those riots) and Bhopal gas tragedy. 

As a kid, I just drifted though those times without truly experiencing the pain and fear. Now, whenever I think of those events, it sends shudders down my spine and I pray that stars should never align the way they did for India in 1984.