Sikh soldiers mutiny in protest against assault

Press, 11 June 1984, Page 10

Sikh soldiers mutiny in protest against assault

NZPA-AP New Delhi A hundred Sikh soldiers had mutinied and abandoned their base to protest against the Indian Army’s assault on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, reliable sources said at the weekend. After the mutiny on Friday morning 10 deserters had been killed in a fight with pursuing troops as they crossed the border from Rajasthan into Punjab state, the sources said. They said that the Sikhs had mutinied at their camp in the Ganga Nagar area of Rajasthan and had crossed into Punjab’s Bhatinda district. The sources, who are Indians close to the military, spoke on condition that they not be identified any further. The Associated Press made several attempts to verify their information, but was not able to reach Government spokesmen. Government officials earlier said that Sikh extremists had fatally' shot two soldiers in Amritsar and killed seven other people in three separate attacks in Punjab on Saturday. Curfews were extended

until today in most Punjabi cities as troops expanded their search for Sikh extremists and arms caches after a two-day battle at the Sikh’s holiest shrine, which the Government said was a haven for terrorists. Sikh extremists have been agitating for two years to win political and religious concessions in Punjab, the only state where they are a religious majority. The desertion had reflected some of the widespread resentment and anger among Sikh soldiers over the Army’s invasion of the Golden Temple, the sources said. About 3000 people lived on the temple grounds. Many of them heeded the Army’s warnings to leave the sprawling, fortified temple before the fighting began. An estimated 300 militants, led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, were believed to have remained, to face the 3000 soldiers who besieged the temple with tanks, rockets, and machineguns. Police sources said that about 500 people had been killed in the assault on

Wednesday. Major-General R. S. Brar, who commanded the assault, said on State television that 55 soldiers were killed and about 320 wounded. Between 300 and 400 extremists were killed and more than 1500 captured, he said. General Brar said that there was a definite indication of foreign complicity in the Sikh crisis. Two Pakistanis had been among the extremists killed inside the Golden Temple, he said. The military sources said that the seventeenth-century temple had been badly damaged in the assault, its white marble walls pocked with bullet marks. The dome covered with 24-carat gold leaf was untouched, they said. All licensed gun-holders in Punjab had been ordered to deposit their arms with the police immediately, the Press Trust of India reported. Groups of Sikhs have called for the resignation of the Indian President, Mr Zail Singh, the first Sikh to held the office since the country won its independence in 1947.