CHANDIGARH: In a good display of ability to strike at will, militants Sunday set on fire 31 bank branches in rural areas simultaneously over 200 sq. km in four districts of Punjab.
The well-planned coordinated strike came close on the heels of a recently imposed code on banks which had listed 14 directives with Sept as its deadline. This is the second major coordinated strike against govt installations, , the first being the burning of over three dozen railway stations in April 1984.
Reports received here said that militants split into several groups, four in Faridkot district and one in Jalandhar district. In all cases the militants stormed entry into the banks, collected the records and furniture and set them ablaze, the police said. There were no reports of lockers and vaults being robbed.
Police sources said that at least 200 militants must have been involved in the coordinated strike which exposes the state Govt’s repeated claims that security arrangements in the state had been beefed up.
DELAYED NEWS: The security forces which are supposed to patrol the rural areas in the night learnt of the incidents only this morning the police headquarters here did not have completed information till almost 1 p.m. ironically, while information of Sunday night’s incident was still tricking in, the governor, discussing law and order.
The Panthic committee (Sohan Singh) and its four allied militant organizations had issued a code in the first week of August. Among other things, they had directed banks in the state to stop monetary transactions outside the state, not to follow orders of the “pawns” of the “Delhi darbar™, detrimental to the interests of the land of Khalistan, to use Punjabi in all official work and to give 90% reservations to Sikhs
Although Sunday night’s incident has led to panic in bank circles here, no official comment on the incident was forthcoming.
The 14 village bank branches set ablaze in Ludhiana district are Punjab National Bank branches at Mallan and Dhandran: UCO Bank branches at Komi, Jhurka, Lairon and Suriapur, Punjab and Sindh Bank branches at Chakkar, Lita and Nathowal; cooperative bank branches at Kamalpur and Lodhiwal, Oriental Bank of Commerce branch at Lodhi and an Overseas Bank branch at Thearke.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 25, 1991
