NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ordered eight Sikh political leaders released from jail including one imprisoned last June following the army’s assault on the Sikh’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple.
Indian Home Minister S.B. Chavan told a news conference the government had released eight Sikh political leaders arrested last June under India’s National Security Act.
Despite the releases, Chavan said, “the government would like to make it clear that it will deal with any terrorist activity with a heavy hand.”
He said the government will confiscate property held by non-residents of Indian origin indulging in various seditious, terrorist, and ant threatens or disrupts the sovereignty, territorial integrity and the unity of India.”
It was the first major announcement on Gandhi’s plans for dealing with Sikh unrest which he identified as his domestic priority after taking office upon the Oct 31 assassination of his mother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, by two of her Sikh bodyguards.
Gandhi ordered the release of Harchand Singh Longowal, president of the Sikh’s powerful Akali party, jailed last June after the army attacked the Golden Temple in: Amritsar.
The government said the assault was necessary to oust militant Sikhs who were arming themselves in the shrine as part of their efforts for autonomy in the northern state of Punjab.
Article extracted from this publication >> March 16, 1990
