AMRITSAR, Punjab, India: Oct. 30, Reuter: A Sikh leader, Aroor Singh, escaped from custody when a police jeep was ambushed in the North Indian State of Punjab, police said on Friday.

They said the jeep carrying the Sikh leader overturned near Amritsar on Thursday night after bursting a tyre on sharp objects scattered on the road. Freedom fighters lying in wait helped him escape, police said.

Sources close to the freedom fighters questioned the police report however, saying they feared Singh had been killed in a staged encounter.

Until his arrest in February, Singh was a leader of the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLE), one of several Sikh groups fighting for an independent Sikh homeland, to be called “Khalistan”, the land of the pure,

Police sources said the KLF was the main Sikh force before Singh’s ‘capture but that it had since been less active as compared to groups such as the Khalistan Commando Force.

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  November 6, 1987