AMRITSAR, India: About 200 angry Sikhs attacked newly appointed guards in Golden Temple complex Wednesday after a “Martyrs! Day” rally, killing one guard with a sword-thrust in the back and wounding seven,
The Sikhs, armed with swords, knives, iron bars and bamboo staves, charged into the area immediately around the temple, the religion’s holiest shrine, They were led by Bimla Kaur Khalsa the widow of S. Beant Singhwho had assassinated Indira Gandhi,
They beat the newly recruited guards and shouted, “Long Live Khalistan” the name for the separate homeland Sikhs demand in Punjab state.
The slain guard collapsed in front of about a dozen journalists, a gaping sword would in his back, and his blood spilled onto the white marble walkway around the temple, Police said he was Avtar Singh, a 45-year-old former soldier,
Violence followed a “Martyrs! Day” rally two years after Indira Gandhi, then the Prime Minister, sent the army into the complex to suppress Sikh religion. She was killed by members of her personnel bodyguard on Oct. 31, 1984.
Police and paramilitary forces armed with assault guns entered the area immediately around the temple more than an hour after the rampage Wednesday; its leaders had already left the temple,
P.C, Dogra, Punjab’s deputy police Inspector-general, said the response was delayed because security forces could not enter the sacred area without government ‘approval.
His men withdrew in the late evening and silence fell over the sprawling 17th century white-marble complex of shrines, offices and hostels. There was no sign of the pilgrims who usually pray there late into the night.
Authorities said 79 people were arrested for questioning
About 5,000 people attended the rally commemorating the 6,000 Sikhs killed in the army raid on the shrine June 4-7, 1984. An estimated 1200 soldiers also died.
“Marty’s Day” was part of what Sikhs call “Genocide Week.” About 3,000 police and paramilitary officers were deployed in advance around the temple complex and along highways leading to it.
Several speakers at the rally called for the death of Punjab’s moderate chief minister, Su Singh Barnala, and the crowd shouted for Khalistan, which means “land of the pure” in Punjabi. Most of India’s 15 million Sikhs live in Punjab, where they are in the majority.
Kudlip Singh, leader of a religious school that has been a training ground for Sikh freedom fighters compared Barnala to Mrs. Gandhi and added; “Now it is Barnala’s tum but who will kill him remains to be seen.”
Barnala ordered a major raid on the temple April 30 to throw out Kar Sewa volunteers as Mrs. Gandhi had done in 1984.
Bimal Kaur Khalsa, who would lead the temple rampage later, was treated as an honored guest at the rally and declared; “June 4 is a black day in Sikh history.”
Article extracted from this publication >> May 30, 1986