Radical Sikh groups seek UN probe into 1984 riots

Radical Sikh groups Friday sought a UN probe into the killing of thousands of Sikhs in various parts of India in November 1984 in the aftermath of the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards.

Scores of activists and supporters of radical Sikh groups Dal Khalsa and Akali Dal (Panch Pardhani) took out a protest march against the murders, and demanded a probe by the United Nations.

Leaders of the outfits said they had no faith in the system here, as the guilty had not been punished even 29 years after the anti-Sikh riots.

Dal Khalsa leader Kanwarpal Singh said the UN probe should be on the lines of the international organisation's probe into the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

"The organisations categorically stated that they had quoted the case of Bhutto to show that the probe by the international body is very much possible, although there is no similarity between the November killings and the murder of Bhutto," Singh said.

The groups said that Congress leaders accused of the riots were being shielded by successive Congress-led governments at the centre.