CHANDIGARH Sept. 29: Reuter: Gunmen shot dead three Hindus in a major attack today the first anniversary of Punjab provinces moderate Sikh government police said.

Four people were wounded including a Sikh.

A senior police official told Reuters two gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire with automatic weapons at early morning strollers at Basti Guza on the outskirts of the industrial city of Jullundur.

He quoted witnesses as saying people fled in panic as the gunmen weapons blazing rode through the crowded suburb.

The attack took place on the first anniversary in office of Punjab’s moderate Sikh Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala.

It was the first major attack since July 25 when 14 bus passengers were killed near the town of Muktsar.

That was the last attack on a mass target but 24 people have been killed so far this month in isolated violence as the campaign continues for a separate Sikh state.

Barnalas Akali Dal Party was swept into office one year ago by a victory in state elections that were held two months after a peace accord was signed by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and moderate Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowal. Longowal was assassinated on August 20 last year.

Barnala who was criticized for his failure to curb the Sikh campaign for an independent Sikh nation called Khalistan launched a major crackdown against the freedom fighters. The offensive by Punjab police backed by paramilitary troops has failed to curb the campaign as over 500 people have died in violence this year.

Punjab Police Chief Julio Ribeiro bas said police had killed or captured nearly 1000 Sikh freedom fighters this year.

Barnala a former lawyer has been under siege from within his party over the police crackdown.

His supporters were reduced to a minority in the Punjab State Assembly after several rebels broke away in protest over his decision to send police into the Sikhs holiest shrine the Golden Temple in Amritsar on April 30 to root out Sikh leaders who had proclaimed the creation of Khalistan.

The peace accord which aimed at ending three years of bloodshed In Sikh majority Punjab is in tatters over the collapse of a key land swap clause.

Negotiations failed thrice this year to bring about a compromise on the clause which said Chandigarh the joint capital of Punjab and neighboring Hindu dominated Haryana state would go solely to Punjab in exchange for the transfer of some territory to Haryana.

Barnala who took office after nearly two years of direct rule by New Delhi is also confronted with rising violence between the Sikhs and militant Hindu groups and the migration of panic stricken Hindus to neighboring states.

“Perhaps Mr. Barnalas main achievement of his one year in power is that he has managed to survive literally and politically” Rahul Singh an editor of the mass circulation Indian Express wrote today.

It has been a long tough year for Punjab” he said. A minority government still rules the state which Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress is supporting and exploiting.

Article extracted from this publication >> October 3, 1986