Harinder Pal Singh Bali

This Kashmiri Sikh grew up in Baramulla, near Srinagar, which is where he was in 1984. Harinder Pal Singh Bali recounts the violence experienced at the hands of local police, in reaction to peaceful protests against 1984 attacks in Punjab; he remembers a trigger happy Superintendent of Police shooting dead two young Sikh men walking in protest. He shares his impression of the trauma felt by the community due to the pre-planned attack, “[The government] found that Amrit in Sikhism is what keeps them intact, and [Sikhs] can fight any oppression with it…so they thought, let’s take [Sikhs] away from this Amrit.” He talks to his children about 1984 because “The more we run away from it, the more we’ll be hurt.” He is optimistic that the oppression can be countered with united campaigns, and truth will, as always, prevail at the end.