After over three decades of fighting for justice on behalf of the victims of the 1984 Sikh Riots on Indian soil, senior advocate Harvinder Singh Phoolka may take the struggle to various international fora related to human rights.
Sources in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) told The Hindu that both the United Nations (UN) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) could be among the avenues that the veteran advocate was preparing to broach the issue with in the coming days.
“He is playing the cards very close to his chest on the topic, but we have reason to believe that something very significant in terms of eliciting international intervention on the cause of the Sikh Riots is in the works,” said a source.
“This not only seems to be a significant possibility because Mr. Phoolka has already sought active participation from Indians settled in the US and in Canada during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UN but because he has provided various indications to that effect which, in his opinion, could have made the party’s leadership uncomfortable and constituted one of the major reasons for his decision to resign from the party,” the source added.
In the Open Letter declaring his resignation from political posts he occupied within the AAP, Mr. Phoolka appealed to “all Punjabis and Indians in America and Canada” to gather in large numbers “to convey a loud and clear message to the Indian Prime Minister and World Leaders and Members of UNO that we will not forget about the Genocide of November 1984, no matter how many years pass by, till the culprits are punished”.
Mr. Modi is scheduled to attend the UN Assembly in New York on September 25. “While the UN talks about justice to the victims of other genocides, they need to remember the injustice being meted out to us. Hence we appeal to all the organisations to put aside any internal disagreements for this common goal and purpose and gather outside the UN headquarters on 25th September 2015” he added in his appeal.
Meanwhile, responding to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) allegations that he had resigned from the posts that he held in the AAP due to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s “autocratic working”, Mr. Phoolka said he had actually resigned due to the “attitude of Modi Government and its apathy towards Justice for victims of 84 Carnage.”
“I am informed that BJP has stated that I resigned due to the attitude of Kejriwal, which is absolutely false. Modi Government has gone back from its promise to punish the guilty, rather has given clean chit to Jagdish Tytler and not filing that missing chargesheet against Sajjan Kumar,” he said. Adding that it had left “no option” than to explore “international options”, Mr. Phoolka said he had already given a call for holding a demonstration outside the UN Assembly on September 25 and would also “work out other ways of International intervention.”
BJP has stated that I resigned due to the attitude of Kejriwal, which is absolutely false. Modi Government has gone back on its promise to punish the guilty
