New Book on Oral Testimonies of Women from Delhi 1984 Sikh Genocide

A new book on oral testimonies of women who survived the 1984 anti-Sikh genocide in Delhi is releasing soon. The Kaurs of 1984: The Untold, Unheard Stories of Sikh Women is based on extensive research by Jammu & Kashmir-based author Sanam Sutirath Wazir and published by HarperCollins India. Wazir was formerly Campaign head of Amnesty International's Justice for the anti-Sikh massacre of 1984 campaign. Wazir has spent nine years studying Panjab and the anti-Sikh massacre. In 2015, he released his first report on the violence against Sikhs, titled Continued Injustice for the 1984 Sikh Massacre. An excerpt from the book: ‘Where were the Kaurs of 1984 while this carnage was taking place? My conversations with the survivors of the massacres reveal a grim timeline. Between 31 October 1984 and 2 November 1984, Sikh women across Delhi were either hiding or running around the national capital with their children, looking for safety. Those who were caught by the mob were either abducted or raped. Among the women I spoke to, those who had witnessed Partition told me that in their eyes, 1984 was no different from 1947 in the kind of gendered violence that broke out across the capital. Women were at the heart of crimes of revenge and communalism in 1947, and they were at the heart of similar crimes in 1984 as well. Their own families brutalized them too, by forcing them to stay silent in order to safeguard the chastity and purity of the family, thinking who would marry these girls if the truth became known.’