Shaheen Bagh protesters condem attack on Sikhs in Pak, say will fight for justice to all

Jan 4, 2019

New Delhi: Braving Delhi’s coldest December of decades, Shaheen Bagh protesters against CAA-NRC, mostly women, were on Saturday as much resolved to carry on their fight as on the first day over 20 days ago when brutal police attack on Jamia University students sparked countrywide outrage and protest.

One of the topics of today’s speeches by the participants at the women’s dharna site was the attack on Sikhs at Nankana Saheb in Pakistan, which they condemned and expressed their full solidarity with the victims. They said such a violence was unacceptable and the Pakistan Government should take stringent action against the culprits.

”We have come here for a fight of our survival. Why should we suddenly be called to give proof of our citizenship of India. It is injustice. And we are against all those are victim of injustice. The attack on Sikhs is shameful,” said a 70-year-old woman living in Shaheen Bagh.

Another woman a decade younder than her said,” you can see here these women, a large number of whom have never gone out of the four walls of their houses for anyother cause.Nobody has any right to raise any question on our being Indian.”

Men at the Shaheen Bagh dharna site remain at the peripheri and the centre stage is occupied by women, who sitting on the thinly carpeted flour listen with full attention to what the different speakers who come daily say on the Constitution and the state of the nation’s polity and their rights in a democractic country.

Meanwhile, the protest at the gate number 7 of Jamia Millia continued on the 23rd day on Saturday, with several student leaders and other rights activists joining them.

The opposition against the controversial Citizen Amendment Act, which was cleared by Parliament last month,  spread like a wild fire after the Delhi Police cracked down on the demonstrators on December 15, a day after the national capital witnessed a massive protest at Jantar Mantar against the Act

Police broke into the Jamia university campus after the protesters turned violent in Delhi’s New Friends Colony where they burnt three buses. The university administration said none of its students were invloved in the violence, and police entry was without permission. Police beat up several students, including females, and damaged university property besides detaining dozens of students while they were studying in the library. A day earlier, it had lathi-charged peaceful Jamia university procession against CAA-NRC.

The Police crackdown on Jamia students sparked a strong reaction with a massive mid-night protest staged outside the Delhi Police headquarters. The next day as the news about the police action at Jamia spread, students of Aligarh Muslim University, Banaras Hindu University, and Delhi University came out in their support followed by students from other universities and IITs across the country.

The anti-CAA protest were also held in several countries outside India

–India News Stream