November 1, 1984 Massacre
Officials Kept Waiting for Orders New revelations continue to emerge about the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre. A new book has disclosed that senior police and administrative officials at the time made efforts to protect Sikhs from rioters, but higher-ranking officers remained silent. They neither provided support nor issued any directives to the police to stop the violence. Journalist and author Sanjay Suri, in his book 1984: The Anti-Sikh Violence and After, reveals how police officials failed to take necessary action to prevent the massacre. Maxwell Pereira, the then Additional Deputy Commissioner, had ordered firing at rioters outside Sis Ganj Gurdwara on November 1, 1984. One person was killed in the incident, and the rioters fled, saving the historic gurdwara. However, what followed left Mr. Pereira shaken. He recounted, "After the incident, I immediately informed the control room about the firing and the death of one pe...