NEW DELHI, Oct. 19, Reuter: Four people were shot dead in Punjab by gunmen at the weekend as India’s main Hindu opposition group charged Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi he had failed to restore peace to the northern state.
‘The Press Trust of India said the latest casualties were a supporter Of Punjab’s ruling moderate Sikh ‘Akali Dal Party, a school teacher, the son of a Hindu leader of Gandhi’s Congress (I) Party and a Hindu businessman.
‘The news agency said the first of the attacks took place on Friday night.
It said angry Congress supporters blocked traffic for several hours near the town of Patiala yesterday after party leader Pawan Kumar’s son was killed.
The latest deaths took the toll this month to 25. More than 520 people have died this year in violence related to a cam Punjab to set up a separate Sikh state
The rightwing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party said in a “charge sheet” issued after a meeting today that “the first and worst failure” of Gandhi’s government had been in Punjab.
It said a Punjab peace accord between Gandhi and Akali Dal leader Harchand Singh Longowal last year had been signed “in indecent haste, had inherent contradictions and could not be implemented”.
‘The accord has stalled over a key clause that says Chandigarh, the capital city shared by Punjab and neighbouring Hindu dominated Haryana state, will go solely to Punjab in exchange for the transfer of some territory to Haryana.
PTI said freedom fighters using a clandestine transmitter jammed Police radio networks in Punjab for the third time in two weeks yesterday. Police officials have 4 team of experts has failed so far to locate the transmitter.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 24, 1986
