Though Sikhs have a martial history, I always seek peaceful resolution, so it really bothers me a lot when innocent bystanders end up as collateral damage casualties of war.
Media coverage in recent weeks focused on Bhai Balwant Singh Rajonana's role in the assassination of Beant Singh tends to neglect the 17 others that died with him in the blast that took his life and that of his killer Delawar Singh. Who were these 17 other people? Were they innocent by standers, or did they support the crimes being perpetrated on innocent Sikhs?
It is estimated that 9.000 Sikhs fell victim to a campaign under the leadership of Beant Singh which amounted to genocide. Completely innocent young Sikh males were routinely killed, or picked up, jailed and tortured to death. Countless Sikh females suffered the agonies and shame of rape. Such incidences either went unreported by police, or reports of "fake encounters" were falsified by police. Doctors, some fearing for their own lives if they did not cooperate, were coerced into filing false cause of death certificates.
Rajoana, a police officer himself, witnessed the atrocities taking place and took it upon himself to stop Beant Singh. Rajoana helped put an end to the mass scale murders of Sikhs. He is a hero to families who lost loved ones and to countless members of the Sikh Panth who have become united over the issue of his execution order. When Rajona's 17 year sentence came to an end, and he made no appeal to an order of execution, Sikhs around the world took up his cause. In an international effort to abolish the death penalty, Sikhs living out side of Punjab have rallied in a Panthic show of solidarity for Rajoana and are involving their respective governments and amnesty organizations in the peaceful protest, "Project Orange."
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