Summary

Operation Woodrose was the second part of Operation Bluestar. The real meaning of this attack on Sikhs was not to wipe out "militants" but to wipe out Sikhism, and especially Amritdhari's (a baptized Sikh). The way in which the operation was conducted is as follows: The Indian army would go to villages and pull out the Sikhs, then publicly humiliate Sikhs and then kill most males or detain them. Women were dishonoured in many fashions. The army particluarly targeted the Sikh youth and on some occasions were embaressed when just a handful of Sikhs would repel the army. However on the whole this was not the case as the army had numbers and superior arms. The result was the death of thousands of Sikhs. This event is particularly unknown about because of the censorship of the congress party. Before Operation Woodrose started, Indian PM Indira Gandhi had the following published in magazines:

"Any knowledge of the Amritdhari who are dangerous people and pledged to commit murders, arson and acts of terrorism should immediately be brought to the notice of the authorities. These people might appear harmless from outside but they are basically commited to terrorism. In the interest of all of us their identity and whereabouts must always be disclosed."

One famous Sikh story of how they gained revenge against corrupt army men is the story of Indian Army General Gobind Ram. For more about this story visit: http://www.neverforget84.com

The Operation

Operation Woodrose was similar to Operation Bluestar except now that the Gurdwaras were in Army control hunting down any Amritdhari (baptised) Sikhs in the countryside throughout Punjab became the sole objective. The Army stated in it’s ‘baat cheet’ or talking points, that any baptised Sikh was effectively a terrorist. It blamed Guru Gobind Singh for militancy among Sikhs and to all intents & purposes waged war on him personally. This was the third time in history that a decree of this kind of mass annihilation of Sikhs was declared; the first two being by Emperor Bahadur Shah (1707-12) and Emperor Farukh Siyar (1713-19).

During both Woodrose & Bluestar any Sikh wearing a turban was dishonoured and summarily shot at point blank range with their hands tied behind their backs using their turban-cloth. Any youth aged between 15 and 35 were particularly targeted for eradication.

The Army worked very closely with members of the Congress Party, BJP and CPM activists to ensure every village and town was combed for baptised Sikhs. Those that were not shot were indicted for being members of opposition Sikh political parties. The mopping up operations truly involved the infliction of terror upon a community that had until now been unquestionably patriotic.

Even by conservative estimates the numbers of Sikh youth taken into custody during the first 4 to 6 weeks of Operation Woodrose amounted to 100,000. Even the most the patriotic nationalist Sikhs accepted there was no choice left to somehow find a way of defending itself against the ever growing use of the Army, para-military forces and state-sponsored terrorism...

For more information visit http://www.sikhlionz.com but beware that the images are of a disturbing and uncensored content.