I.POLICE WINK AS ASSASSINS STALK SIKHS (13y Richard S. Ehrlich)
Amritsar, India.- A secretive pro-government death squad is cruising the holy city of Amritsar poised to assassinate Sikh rebels demanding an independent State in Punjab.
Members of the squad claim Indian police support their killings, supply them with ammunition and have issued them identification.
Police deny such squads exist. Rut squad members carrying their weapons, have been seen chatting with officers at police stations.
One of their leaders, Santokh Singh Kala, is a burly, intimidating Sikh who clutches a U.S.-made Thompson submachine gun and carries a pistol between his bullet-belt and belly.
He says his victims were Sikh extremists who were using violence to turn the strategic northwest State of Punjab into an independent nation, to be called Khalistan or “Land of the Pure”.
“I also formerly demanded Khalistan and was jailed
for three years, but now I kill them to take revenge because my friends were killed by them,” the counter-terrorist said.
“I have been gunning down some of the leading Khalistan militants,” the black-bearded Kala boasted. He wore dark sunglasses and a cap and was accompanied by three other members of his squad.
“There are 20 to 25 of us in Amritsar district alone. I don’t know how many of us there, are in all of Punjab.”
“I know 90 percent of the Khalistan militants”, he said in a one-hour interview with two foreign correspondents in Amritsar, the holiest city of the Sikh religion. “I’ve got a network and they keep informing me.”
Kala and his squad displayed their sense of involunerability by openly showing their weapons as they strolled into the crowded lobby and elevator of the Amritsar International hotel for the interview.
“We patrol in my car. As soon as I see someone I know is a Khalistani, 1 shoot them,” he said. He drives a white Indian-built Maruti-Suzuki car.
“I have orders that if I catch them, OK; otherwise kill them. If it is worth interrogating them, I catch them. Otherwise I kill.”
He said he has killed 40 men since November 1986, but did not specify if he was referring to victims he slew while he was a member of the Khalistan rebels or since switching sides 10 months ago.
The Indian government says fundamentalist members of the Sikh religion are using “terrorism” in their drive to create an independent Khalistan. It says the extremists have killed more than 1,200 people in the past year.
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is desperately trying to find a way to crush the separatists and control Punjab.
The death squad leader displayed what he said was his “permit”, issued by the Central Reserve Police Force,
one of India’s national paramilitary police forces. The agency has deployed thousands of armed men throughout Punjab State to support overstretched local police.
The handwriting on the piece of paper certified that “the bearer of this letter, S. Santokh Singh Kala, is operating under the 25th Battalion of the CRPF in Amritsar city with arms and ammunition.”
The paper was stamped in purple ink, “Commandant, 25th Battalion, CRPF,” and bore a signature.
“I got my weapons from my Khalistan days”, he said proudly holding up the submachine gun which was so worn that much of its grey steel showed through its black coloring.
“The police give us ammunition. I take my bullets from the police. Whatever help we need from the police, they give it.”
The counter-terrorist said his most recent assassination was of “Lieutenant-General Swaranjit Singh of the Bhindranwale Tiger Force, four months ago in Amritsar.” The Bhindranwale Tiger Force is one of several Sikh insurgent groups fighting for Punjab’s independence.
Analysts estimate that 800 to 1,000 armed Sikhs are fighting for independence.
They say the separatists’ cause is supported by only a tiny minority of India’s 16 million Sikhs. The Khalistan rebels have demanded a poll be taken to prove they enjoy widespread support.
The rebels know Kala, 29, and are hunting for him. “Two months ago, I went to the market and three men with AK-47s attacked me,” he said. “I escaped.”
“There is a reward of 500,000 rupees (almost $40,000)
and gold for whoever kills me. I have challenged the
Khalistani forces to get me.
“I will keep taking revenge as long as I live.”
– The Washington Times April 5, 1988
