Operation Woodrose
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.
Terrorists and terrorism is wrong and their is no place for terrorism in the world this day and age.but anti terror laws should be about stopping terrorists not ethnic cleansing minorities like India is doing .Sikhs are being ethnic cleans under the name of anti terror laws of Hindu India.These law are specially designed to attack the Sikh identity and force Hinduism into the Sikh Nation.Its is very clear see the policy of the RSS Hindutva behind these operations.
During military attack on the Golden Temple Complex, code named, "Operation Blue Star" at least five thousand innocent Sikhs who had gathered there for observation of the martyrdom day of Guru Arjun, were massacred by the Indian Army. Feeling not content with this ghastly bloodshed the Indian government, side by side with Operation Blue Star, launched on the Sikhs another attack known as Operation Woodrose. The main purpose of this Operation was to mop up all 20000 Amritdhari Sikhs, especially the young boys, from all villages of Punjab. During this mopping up operation the Army indiscriminately picked up all Sikh boys and other Sikhs who had supported flowing beards and adorned Gatra, a small dagger, one of the five symbols prescribed by Guru Gobind Singh; It is preposterous that the Army branded in their official publication "Bat Cheet" all Amritdhari (Baptised)Sikhs as extremists and the Indian government led by Indira Gan-dhi had endorsed this grave disinformation spread by the blinded Army. Instead of asking the Army to keep their hands off the innocent Amritdhari Sikhs, the Indian government framed draconian laws to facilitate the Army to carry out indiscriminate arrests of the Sikhs, young and old, alike. The state of Punjab and Chandigarh were declared as disturbed areas and to accord it legal sanctity the Punjab Chandigarh Disturbed Areas Act was passed by the government. Not only that, to enable the Army to round up any Sikh they wished to without impunity the government passed another Act called the Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh) Act. To provide sharp teeth to the courts, the Terrorists Affected Areas (Special Courts) Act was also passed to deal sternly with the arrested Sikhs. And to arm the police and the paramilitary forces with unbridled powers the Criminal Procedure Code was amended. The civil administration was virtually subordinated to the military authorities. Thus Punjab was virtually converted into a Military Occupied Area as is done in the case of captured area of an enemy country.
The Army revengefully let loose a rein of terror in every nook and corner of all villages of Punjab. Like hunting hounds they rounded up thousands of Sikhs especially the youths, detained them in military camps, tortured them brutally, and in many cases shot them dead. Many were crippled and maimed permanently. The reckless oppression forced hundreds of those Sikh youths, at whom the Army could not lay hands, to flee their villages.The mothers, sisters and wives of those Sikhs who went under ground for fear of arbitrary arrests, were arrested, detained in the military camps. Tortured and in many cases molested in order to force their fleeing relatives to surrender. There was none to hear their wails and woes: their was none to give them healing touch. Only wild wolves were let loose to howl and growl at them. The fanatic Hindus slyly smiled and gleefully rejoiced at the pitiable plight of the Sikhs in Punjab.
