BOMBAY, Dec. 22, India: B Reuter: The Indian army, staged a new show Of strength in Goa today and police reinforcements poured into the territory as the death toll in a wave of violence sweeping the popular seaside resort rose to six.
Police in Panjim, the capital, told Reuters by telephone that thousands of foreign tourists, who had planned to spend their Christmas holidays on Goa’s white, palm fringed beaches, were crowding the airport and railway stations trying to flee the tiny former Portuguese enclave.
There were no immediate reports of violence in the main tourist areas or of injuries to any of the estimated 70,000 foreign and Indian tourists, But many visitors were feared stranded in towns cut Off by road barricades thrown up by militant supporters of the local Konkani language.
Police said the troubles, hitherto confined to southern Goa, spread today as Konkani supporters be Ban erecting road barrican northern districts. In the south, rioters Seta bus station and two shops ablaze in the towns of Vasco and Margao.
The death toll doubled when three more bodies were recovered Rice paddies near the site of a gun battle last night between rival supporters of Konkani and Marathi, the language of neighbouring Maharashtra state,
Five people were killed and 22 people received bullet wounds in the clash
Police said 1,500 reinforcements were flown in by the Central Government and neighbouring Gujarat state to help the 2,000 strong local police. More police Reinforcements were expected from the states of Karnataka and Maharashtra,
The army, alerted after a pitched battle between rival supporters of the Konkani and Marathi languages last night, marched through a second Goa town in a show of strength designed to ward off further clashes,
Police said troops paraded today through Madagoa, an important commercial center 30 km (19 miles) south of Panjim, the capital, in a bid to defuse mounting tension. Last night, they staged a similar march in Margao,
It was the first time the Indian army had been called out in Goa since 1961 when it marched in to take over from the former Portuguese rulers.
Militant Konkani speakers, campaigning for immediate statehood for Goa with Konkani as its official language, have paralysed much of the territory with riots and road barricades in a bid to force an official response to their demands.
They fear that the prosperous enclave could be absorbed by neighbouring Maharashtra state. Many inhabitants of Goa’s interior speak the Maharashtra language Marathi, while Konkani is confined.to the Konkan coastal strip.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 26, 1986
