Badal lauds centre's move for compensation to 1984 riot victims

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Thursday lauded the Narendra Modi-led central government for announcing relief for victims of the anti-Sikh riots.

"This is a concrete and meaningful step towards relief for the victims of the 1984 massacre of innocents by goons, killers and arsonists and looters of the Congress and the then Congress-sponsored government in the country," he said here.

The central government Thursday announced that 3,325 victims of the riots will be given compensation amount of Rs.500,000 each.

The victims, who were targeted as two Sikh bodyguards of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had assassinated her in New Delhi, had been seeking relief and rehabilitation for the past 30 years.

Badal hoped that "punishment to the criminals, killers, looter and arsonists and their sponsors, protectors and patrons in the Congress would be the logical next step in securing full justice for thousands of innocents who suffered at their hands".

He said that the Akali Dal and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had been fighting for such relief to the hapless victims of the gruesome massacre.

"By showing extreme sensitivity to the demands repeatedly raised by us, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown how deeply he felt the pain of the Sikh community," Badal said.

"We have been demanding the setting up of omnibus commission of inquiry headed a Supreme Court judge to go unto the entire gamut of conspiracy behind the execution of this bloody massacre. We have also been demanding that the cases that have been closed should be re-opened and thoroughly pursued in the courts.

"There are cases where no complaints were entertained and no cases were allowed to be registered. These complaints should now be activated and action be taken on them by registering cases against the guilty," Badal said.