NEWS RELEASE
From the office of the Green MEPs
June 3rd, 2004
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NO 10 FACES CALLS FOR INQUIRY
INTO INDIAN MURDERS
EURO-MP CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION ON 20TH ANNIVERSARY
OF 'GENOCIDE'
Event: MEP Jean Lambert joins victims and survivors to hand
in petitions
Place: No 10, Downing Street, off Whitehall, London
Time:
Friday, June 4th, 2004, 2.30pm
GREEN Party MEP Jean Lambert is to join
a delegation of victims and survivors of a wave of violence against Indian Sikhs
in 1984 demanding an inquiry into whether the thousands of deaths constituted
Genocide - and who bears responsibility for the atrocities.
Mrs Lambert
will join members of the 1984 Genocide Coalition in handing a 10,000 petitions
demanding an inquiry into a to Tony Blair, EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris
Patten, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan tomorrow (Friday, June 4th).
She
will join Sikhs from across the UK on Sunday (June 6th) when she will speak at
London's Hyde Park during a remembrance rally to mark the 20th anniversary of
the events of June 1984. The MEP, who represents London and is a member
of the Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee and cross-party anti-racism group,
earlier launched a Written Declaration in the European Parliament urging MEPs
to back calls for a UN inquiry or truth and reconciliation committee to be established. |  |
 | Mrs
Lambert said: "Following a military raid on the Sikh's holiest site, the
Golden Temple in Amritsar, and the subsequent assassination of Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984, a wave of violence left hundreds
of thousands dead in the Punjab and major Indian cities. |
"The
atrocities have been well documented by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch
and others. Sikhs themselves describe the slaughter as 'their genocide' - but
a full UN investigation has never taken place."
Mrs Lambert continued:
"It is vital that an investigation is conducted into whether the massacre
of Indian Sikhs in 1984 constitutes genocide in international law. Many of those
affected and their families have sought refuge in England - and we must ensure
truth and justice prevails."
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. The
written declaration can be found at:
http://www.europarl.eu.int/Declaration/document/2004/P5_DCL(2004)0032/P5_DCL
(2004)0032_EN.doc
2. File pictures of Jean Lambert at Hounslow Sikh
Gurwara are available on request
3. For further information on the events
of June 1984 see www.1984genocide.org
For more information please contact Ben or Katy on 020 7407 6280, 07973823358
or press@greenmeps.org.uk