SIKHS ARRESTED IN PUNJAB

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27669, 27 May 1955, Page 13

SIKHS ARRESTED IN PUNJAB

Call For Creation Of New State (Rec. 11 pjm.) ARMITSAR (Punjab), May 26. About 300 extremist Sikhs were arrested in Punjab yesterday during State-wide demonstrations urging the formation of a Punjabi-speaking State on India’s North-west Frontier. About 1000 extremists of the Akali Dal group courted arrest by defying the ban on the shouting of slogans calling for the new State. At Ludhiana, two police subinspectors and eight constables were injured by demonstrators. Police later broke up the crowd. During the last two weeks more than 1000 Akali volunteers, including the Tara Sing, 70-year-old Akali leader, have been arrested for defying the ban. The new state which the Akalis demand would be dominated by Sikhs and would consist of some parts of Punjab—Pepsu, the Union of Patiala, and East Punjab. The ban on the shouting of slogans was imposed to prevent clashes between the Akalis and the supporters of Maha Punjab (Greater Punjab). The Maha Punjab group, backed by the extremist Hindu Mahasabha and the Jan Singh parties calls for the formation of a state including the present Himachal Pradesh State, Punjab and Pepsu. This State would be dominated by Hindus.

An Indian Government commission. • investigating the reorganisation of States on a linguistic basis is expected to complete its report by the end of this year.