CHANDIGARH, India: May 31, Reuter: A crowded market in Punjab was bombed on Tuesday, killing at least five people after a religious row erupted over the sacking of Sikh faith’s five high priests, Indian police said.
Police in the state capital of Chandigarh said five people were killed and 28 people injured when a time bomb concealed in a bag went off at 6:15 a.m. in Gurdaspur town!
Police started searching the city ‘of 80,000 people for more bombs following the blast. They said there was conclusive proof that the bomb was planted by militants fighting for an independent Sikh nation in northern India.
A note left at the spot said the blast was carried out by the Khalistan Liberation Force police said.
The bomb was similar to those that killed eight people earlier this month in Pathankot town of the same district and was the latest in a series of bombings aimed at frightening Hindus into leaving the Sikh dominated state.
The blast took place a day after a powerful committee which administers Sikh temples in most of north India defied the militants by dismissing the five High Priests of the faith.
The militants had picked the priests earlier this year and had ordered the committee to ratify the appointments.
The dismissals brought a mixed reaction from the Sikh leadership.
The All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) condemned the sackings and questioned the committee’s right to take that action without seeking the approval of the entire community at a Sarbat Khalsa, or congregation of the pure.
The AISSF said in a statement in Chandigarh that the Commute’s action defamed the High Priests and said it planned to call a Sarhat Khalsa soon.
But Amrinder Singh, a leader of the hardliner United Akali Dal, welcomed the action. He said the High Priests had lowered the prestige of the Sikhs’ holiest shrine, the Golden Temple, by allowing arms into the complex housing it in Amritsar city. ~
The Committee has named Jasbir Singh Khalsa, who was arrested with three other High Priests on May 11 for attempting to break through a siege laid by security forces on the Golden Temple Complex to flush out militants.
The 10day siege was lifted on May 18 with the surrender of 150 militants, who had taken control of the Complex from the temple management committee earlier in the year.
Last week, a Presidential decree issued in Delhi outlawed the storing of arms in temples and imposed tough jail sentences on managers and employees of institutions which violated the decree.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 3, 1988
