Battle rages between Sikhs, Indian Govt

Press, 13 June 1984, Page 11

Battle rages between Sikhs, Indian Govt

NZPA-Reuter New Delhi

Indian security forces killed 26 extremists and arrested 355 as rebel Sikh soldiers and civilians tried to force their way to the holy city of Amritsar, the Press Trust of India said yesterday. The news agency said a gun-battle raged between the two sides for several hours near the city of Jaunpur in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and the city had been put under curfew.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said he was unable to confirm the report.

At least 700 people died in fierce hand-to-hand fighting between Sikh extremists and security forces at Amritsar’s Golden Temple, the Sikhs’ holiest shrine, last Wednesday. The extremists had been held responsible by the Indian Government for six months of terrorist violence in Punjab state. Earlier the spokesman said Sikh troops deserted in two parts of the country on Monday. P.T.I. said 48 civilian and army vehicles carrying 500 Sikh soldiers set off from the Sikh regimental centre at Ramgarh, in the eastern state of Bihar.

The Defence Ministry said the other incident occurred

in the south-western state of Maharashtra, where Sikh civilians incited Sikh troops to join a similar revolt and drive to Amritsar. P.T.I. quoted a senior army official as saying two soldiers and a civilian were killed and 10 soldiers and a civilian injured in an exchange of fire which led to 60 soldiers involved being captured with nine army vehicles in Maharashtra and Gujarat. P.T.I. said three truckloads of deserting troops crossed from Maharashtra yesterday into Gujarat on their way to Punjab. It quoted official sources as saying the army and police were keeping track of the fugitives from the time they entered Gujarat. The agency added that a handful of Sikh troops also deserted in the eastern city of Calcutta but were later persuaded to return to barracks. State television said 90 soldiers were killed and 292 wounded during the storming of the temple. Informed police sources said 712 Sikhs were killed within the temple. A prominent Sikh historian and member of Parliament, Kushwant Singh, said nearly 1000 people, including women and children, died.

State television said arms recovered in the Golden Temple included an antitank rocket launcher, two medium machine-guns, 47 light machine-guns, 561 grenades, 72 sten guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

P.T.I. quoted official sources as saying no incidents were reported in or near the Golden Temple complex for 36 hours. In Gauhati, the capital of the north-eastern state of Assam, police arrested 345 people trying to mount an illegal march to protest at the Golden Temple attack, the agency said. A shoot-on-sight 24-hour

curfew was in force in Poonch in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, P.T.I. said.

It was imposed after widespread disturbances during which the town’s telephone and telegraph office was blown up and 10 bombs exploded without causing damage. Two prominent Sikhs resigned from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's ruling congress (I) Party on Monday, P.T.I. said. One was a Parliamentarian, Devinder Singh Garcha, who also resigned from the National Assembly. The other was a former deputy-Minister, Iqbal Singh.