Protestors stall Amritsar Shatabdi near Ludhiana ; India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The Swaran Shatabdi from Amritsar to Delhi was stopped near Ludhiana by 1984 riot victims on Friday morning. The protestors have blocked rail tracks at many places. The protests have been held in many places since last weekend, which marked 25 years of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the anti-Sikh riots that followed. "We have launched this train-roko movement, demanding death sentence for the Congress leaders who were involved in the 1894 Sikh riots, in which we lost around 10,000 of our families. We appeal to the Prime Minister to award them death sentence and until they are given death sentence, we will continue our agitation," said Surjeet Singh, a protester. Earlier, a delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal led by Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal met Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) here, urging its intervention in the prolonged 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases. Talking to reporters, Badal said that the Congress-led government has failed to bring to justice those responsible for attacks on Sikhs after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Over 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the riots in various cities following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by the Sikh guards on Oct 31, 1984.