Anti-Sikh riots: 'Genocide' petition tabled in Australian Parliament

MELBOURNE: Twenty eight years after the anti-Sikh riots in India, a petition has been tabled in Australian Parliament seeking to recognise the 1984 violence as " genocide".

The petition was moved by federal MP Warren Enstch yesterday.

Tabling the petition, Enstch said that as long as the 1984 events "continue to be referred to as 'anti-Sikh riots' there can be no closure for the Sikh community."

The petition, with 4,453 signatures, urged the Australian Parliament to recognise the violence against Sikh community in November 1984 as "genocide."

It also called on the Australian government to urge Indian government to take "all reasonable measures" to bring those responsible for the 1984 violence to justice.

It was the first time that the issue had been raised in the Australian Parliament.

Australia's Sikh community had enlisted the help of Entsch to have this country recognise the violence.

Hundreds of Sikhs thronged the Australian capital Canberra yesterday to participate in the event where Enstch, the North Queensland MP, read the petition, according to a media statement issued by Sikhs for Justice group.