More than three decades after Operation Blue Star of June 1984 and the anti-Sikh violence later that year, a young man is given the task of researching the violence. What he finds devastates him. Among the many oral testimonies, one crucial constituency has remained silent. Hundreds of Sikh women witnessed hell coming to life that year. These included women who were stranded inside the Golden Temple, who stood by their militant men, and those who were, at one time in their lives, militants themselves. They are rape survivors. They are among the murdered. They are the forgotten.
Sanam Sutirath Wazir’s research has taken him across north India to meet the women who lived to tell the tale, many of whom are still fighting invisible battles for justice. Based on interviews and extensive historical research, in The Kaurs of 1984, Wazir weaves together scattered stories of grief, betrayal and loss that finally brings Sikh women out of the shadows of contemporary Indian history.
 
About the Author
Sanam Sutirath Wazir, a committed advocate for human rightsfrom Jammu and Kashmir, is deeply engaged in documenting historical injusticesand large-scale violence through oral history. He has successfully mobilizedsupport from over half a million people across the world in advocating forjustice for the victims of anti-Sikh massacres. His works, including ‘An Era ofInjustice for the 1984 Sikh Massacre’, ‘The 1984 Sikh Massacre as Witnessed bya 15-year-old’ and ‘The Continuing Injustice of the 1984 Sikh Massacre’, arepublished by Amnesty International, etc.