I, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) J.S. Aurora S/o S. Deewan Singh aged 84 yrs. R/o C-30, Friends Colony East, New Delhi-65, do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as under:- 

1.         On 31^st Oct.`84, I had heard about the assassination of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India and later on I received a phone call from one of my friends S. Patwant Singh, who requested me to come to his residence for a meeting.  He also disclosed that he is also inviting S. Gurbachan Singh, Ex-Ambassador, Air Chief Marshall (Retd.) S. Arjan Singh, Ex-Chief of Air Staff and Brig. (Retd.) Sukhjit Singh to meet in the afternoon.

2.                  At about 3:30 P.M., I reached at the residence of S. Patwant Singh where I also met the above named invitees. We had a meeting and after deeply deliberating on the tragic and sad development and keeping in view the socio-political situation, a joint statement was issued on behalf of all of us thereby condemning the attempt on the life of the Prime Minister of India.

3.                  At about 6:30 PM, I alongwith Air Chief Marshall (Retd.) Arjan Singh, S. Gurbachan Singh and Brig. (Retd.) Sukhjit Singh left the house of S. Patwant Singh but immediately thereafter we saw on our way mobs attacking the Sikhs and damaging their properties and thereafter within 15 – 20 minutes we returned to the residence of S. Patwant Singh.

4.                  We again discussed the emerging situation and we could make out that a highly volatile situation was fast developing, which if not controlled and timely action not taken, it could flair up beyond all proportions and  which could cause immense harm  to the Sikhs and their families.  We, accordingly, decided to take appropriate measures in our effort to tackle the above situation and as a first step, we agreed to call upon the President Giani Zail Singh.

5.                  Accordingly a delegation comprising of Air Chief Marshall (Retd.) Arjan Singh, Brig. (Retd.) Sukhjit Singh, S. Gurbachan Singh and myself called upon the President of India on 1^st Nov.`84, and in our meeting with him, which lasted for about one hour, we expressed our concern on the large scale violence and looting which had erupted consequent to the killing of Prime Minister , Mrs. Indira Gandhi and requesting him to use his good offices to stop the bloodshed and destruction of the properties.

6.                  To our such appeal, the President said, “ I do not have powers to intervene.”  We all were amazed to hear the said remark coming out of a man none other than the President of India, who was even otherwise morally and constitutionally bound to protect the lives and properties of the innocent citizens of India from the marauding and ramping mobs.  On our insistence to the President to speak to the Prime Minister of India, he replied that he would speak to him later.  When we all seriously objected to his such casual attitude to a grim situation prevailing in the country, he then agreed and assured us that he would talk to the Prime Minister in a short while. 

7.                  We had also requested him to use the electronic media to stop the mob frenzy and save innocent Sikhs and their properties but he never did so.

8.                  On our inquires from the President whether the Army was being called in to restore law & order and normalcy, he said, “ I am not in contact with the Home Minister Shri P.V. Narsimha Rao” and at the same time he requested me to speak to him on the phone.

9.                   I telephoned the Home Minister from Rashtrapati Bhawan but was told that he was not available.  Somewhat frustrated we returned to the residence of S. Patwant Singh at Amrita Sher Gill Road.   

10.              Later on when we tried to fix a meeting with him, we were told that he was busy in some other meeting at his residence. 

11.              Thereafter Sardar Patwant Singh, Shri I.K. Gujral and myself decided to barge into the house of the Home Minister Shri P.V. Narsimha Rao without appointment.  Accordingly we reached there at about 3 P.M. and we were surprised to see that there was no meeting in progress and absolute calm was prevailing at his house and situation looked very normal and did not reflect that half the city was in flames and murders were taking place over wide spread area.  On our request, the Home Minister came out and obviously no meeting was going on.  That upon our  query whether army was being called the Home Minister replied, “It will be here in the evening”.  When I further asked him, “How is it being deployed” he retorted “ The Area Commander will meet the L.G. for this purpose.” On this, I suggested him that a joint control room be set up to co ordinate the police and the army as was done in 1947 at the Viceroy’s house to monitor the situation and he should also monitor all events on an hourly basis to which the Home Minister very casually replied that, “ We will see when the Army arrives.”

12.              We noticed that the approach of the Home Minister was very casual and he did not seem to be concerned at all about the Sikhs being butchered in the streets, large scale anarchy and bloodshed. 

13.              The arrangements including the setting up of the joint control room are normally completed before the deployment of the Army.  We had also noticed that the Army Chief i.e. G.O.C. of the Delhi Area was in town but the Home Minister did not make any attempt or effort either to contact him or to call him to draw a plan for controlling the violent situation prevailing in the city.  The Home Minister was grossly negligent in his approach to the events in the city which clearly reflected his connivance with perpetrators of the heinous crimes being committed against the Sikhs and their families with impunity.

14.              On 1^st Nov.`84, I alongwith my wife spent the night at the residence of Shri I.K. Gujral.

15.              On 2^nd Nov.`84, I alongwith Brig. (Retd.) Sukhjit Singh, met the Area Commander of Delhi at Delhi Cantonment and enquired from him of the setting up of a joint control room as was suggested by us to the Home Minister but were told that no such control room had been set up.  We also noticed that the Lt. Governor of Delhi and G.O.C. of Delhi Area were acting and operating independently from their respective offices with no coordination.  That surprisingly and rather shockingly the G.O.C. of Delhi Area was more concerned about making arrangements for  receiving foreign dignitaries.

16.              After about one week, I alongwith some people met the Lt. Governor of Delhi and requested him to take action against the guilty persons who were responsible for killing of thousands of innocent Sikhs all over the city and looting and burning of their properties valued at more than thousands of crores of rupees.  We were shocked when L.G. mentioned that the police could not control the violence because for 48 hours they were totally stunned as two of their own policemen had committed the heinous crime of murdering the Prime Minister of India.

17.              All our efforts with the President of India, the Home Minister of India and other high officials seeking their help to take appropriate action against the guilty persons / rioters as per law did not yield any result. 

18.              From our meeting with the functionaries who were responsible for maintaining the law & order, it appeared that they were not at all concerned about the killings of Sikhs and their approach was so casual as if nothing was happening. From the attitude of these functionaries, who were at the helm of the affairs, it was apparent  that Government of the day was not interested at all in protecting the lives and property of the innocent Sikhs.