Army shows flag in Punjab

Press, 5 December 1986, Page 10

Army shows flag in Punjab

NZPA-Reuter New Delhi Troops were ordered to stage shows of force in Punjab and parts of Delhi were under curfew yesterday amid fears of renewed violence after judges upheld death sentences on the three Sikh killers of the former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. Punjab officials called in the Army to help quell mounting. Sikh separatist violence in the north Indian state, where the killing of 24 Hindu bus passengers on Sunday triggered anti-Sikh rampages in Delhi and a

string of towns. Officials in the Punjab State capital, Chandigarh, said troops would stage “flag marches,” or shows of force, in several of the most troubled areas today, and help the police and paramilitary forces to keep order. The State Governor, S. S. Ray, in calling on the Army, proclaimed several areas of the state, including the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, as “disturbed,” giving officials the power to use the troops for six months.

State officials have granted the policy and paramilitary in-

creased powers of search and seizure, and the power to shoot extremists on sight and seize their property. Extremist and student leaders have been rounded up. The Govern-ment-run "All India Radio” said a further 200 people, including several prominent dissident political leaders, were arrested yesterday. The killing of the bus passengers was the worst single massacre of Hindus in the once-prosperous farming state where Sikh extremists have been battling for a separate homeland called “Khalistan,”

Land of the Pure. Nearly 650 people have been killed in Punjab this year. The police in Delhi said more than 1600 people were arrested during the disturbances which reached a climax on Wednesday with a general strike called by Rightwing Hindus that virtually closed down the sprawling city of seven million people. Parts of old Delhi stayed clamped under curfew yesterday after 7000 Hindus stoned the holiest Sikh shrine in the capital and were held at My by 100 sword-wielding

Sikhs on Wednesday. Delhi authorities have alerted the Army to stand by for riot duty but the police said the capital was calm yesterday and no incidents were reported.

Authorities were ready for more sectarian strife after the Delhi High Court upheld death sentences imposed on three Sikhs for the October, 1984, killing of Mrs Gandhi. The court set no date for the hanging of Satwant Singh, one of Mrs Gandhi’s bodyguards, and two accomplices. They have 90j33ays to appeal toAhe Sujfeme Court.