Mhinder Singh

[Punjabi with English subtitles]

Eyewitness to the June attack, Mhidner Singh was trapped inside the Darbar Saab (“Golden Temple”) during the firefight. He recounts how–on the signal of a whistle–soldiers began shooting at civilians who were rounded up, sitting, unarmed. He himself survived lying under dead bodies for hours. Those who survived did so by sheer chance, he says; there was no other recourse for anyone, of any age. He witnessed young people being stripped naked and killed. His companions and him took to sieving dirty water (mixed with sewage, bloody) to wet the mouths of children dying of thirst in the June heat. At this, soldiers yelled at them to stop saying “these children will also grow up to sting us!” He also shares his memory about how arms came into Darbar Saab, in full view and with full knowledge of the forces. Mhinder Singh himself was arrested after his ordeal in Darbar Saab, and was held as a Jodhpur detainee for 6 years, after which he was released, found not guilty of any crime