NEW DELHI, India: Six Sikhs were killed Saturday in a Hindu terrorist attack on the Sikh holy-shrines, homes and shops. When besieged Sikhs came out to defend their lives and properties, Delhi police shot down three Sikhs. No Hindu terrorist was stopped from destroying Sikh properties by the police nor was any Hindu injured. The Hindu mobs resorted to violence over the massacre of 16 Hindus in Punjab state, and the government ordered 4 curfew and army patrols in Capital neighborhoods after Sikhs in Delhi took outs words to defend themselves.
Scattered violence and protest strikes were reported in other areas of India in the wake of Fridays massacre in which four gunmen singled out Hindu passengers on a state-owned bus in Punjab and shot them one-by-one, killing 16 and wounding five.
Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was monitoring the situation closely and instructed that stern steps be taken to curb violence, news reports said
New Delhi police said three Sikhs were killed Saturday when officers fired weapons to halt at least six street clashes between sword and stick-wielding mobs of Sikhs and Hindus in the western New Delhi neighborhoods of Tikal Nagar and Moti Nagar. The fourth also was killed in a street battle but the cause of death was not immediately determined Forty-five people were injured
In the police gunfire and street fighting that erupted after the demonstrations, police said. They said 70 were arrested on rioting and arson charges.
“The situation in Delhi is very tense and emotions are running high,” New Delhi Police Commissioner Ved Marwah told a news conference.
More than 600 police and paramilitary troops were deployed Saturday in the two neighborhoods after a curfew was imposed. They were ordered to shoot violators on sight.
In addition, trucks carrying scores of army troops in camouflage combat gear moved through the nearly deserted streets on “flag marches” shows of force aimed at deterring further unrest in the two neighborhoods.
It was the first time that army troops have appeared in force in the capital since anti-Sikh riots that erupted after the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated in Oct. 1984
“We have asked the army to stand by” in case of new disturbances, a senior police official said,
New Delhi police said the violence erupted in Tilak Nagar about 9:30 a.m., after the militant Hindi. Shiy Sena organization held a Protesters Police and witnesses said Hindu demonstrators swept through the streets, stopping buses and deflating their tires. The unrest spread to, Moti Nagar, with mobs setting fire to Sikh-owned vehicles, shops and homes and torching and looting a Sikh temple.
Police said they had arrested about 600 people since the rioting began Saturday. More than 31 buildings, mostly. Sikh-owned, were set ablaze and Hindu mobs attacked three Sikh shrines.
Three of the deaths in the capital Saturday occurred when police fired to disperse Sikhs protesting against rampaging Hindu arsonists and killers and the others resulted from Hindu-Sikh fighting,
The Press Trust said people concealed on roofs threw. Stones and opened fire on rioters below.
Officials in the Punjab capital of Chandigarh said statewide reports Saturday indicated near total response to a strike called by a number of political parties, including the ruling moderate Sikh Akali Dal, to protest the massacre, Strikes also were partially observed in the neighboring Haryana and Himachal States.
A curfew was slapped on most of the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, after three Sikhs were wounded in stabbings Friday night and Saturday, Officials said about 150 people also were arrested to head off protests.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 1, 1986
