AMRITSAR, India Authorities imposed shoot at sight orders and a curfew to halt Sikh Hindu rioting in one industrial town Sunday after at least seven people died in renewed violence in Punjab state, police said.

Two rioters, a Sikh and a Hindu, were shot to death by police, who fired several rounds to disperse rampaging mobs in the town Of Batala, Punjab Chief Minister Sunjit Singh Barnala said, About 20 people were reported wounded in the shootings and. interfaith clashes.

Police said Hindus and Sikhs repeatedly clashed with swords, spears, rocks and guns, Several shops and homes reportedly were set on fire.

The other five victims died in attacks by gunmen elsewhere in the northern Indian state. Among them was Abhinash Chander, a leader of the militant Hindu Shiv Sena, or God’s Army.

In the previous two days, seven ‘other people had died in violent slayings

Barnala, the top elected state official and president of the moderate Sikh Akali Dal party, ordered police to take “stern measures against all troublemakers.”

Rival community members fought pitched street battles in Batala, 25 miles north of this Sikh holy city and 285 miles northwest. of New Delhi.

Rioters threw grenades at a Police station in the Punjab city of Batala Sunday, and Hindus and Sikhs fought with guns and knives in street battles that left at least four people dead and 16 wounded, news reports said.

The unrest capped a violence filled weekend in the northern Indian state that saw at least three people murdered by gunmen. The Press Trust of India, quoting Police Chief J.P. Virdi, said a ‘mob besieged a police station during the rioting in Batala, 230 miles northwest of New Delhi, and threw six grenades at the building, Virdi was unable to say whether the explosions caused any casualties or damaged the station, the news agency said. He told the Press Trust that two police jeeps and six shops were set on fire by the mob, Tt was not immediately learned ‘whether the station’s attackers were Sikhs or Hindus. ‘The attack on the police station came as Hindus and Sikhs armed with guns, knives and swords fought pitched battles in the street of Batala, Punjab’s major industrial center.

Police and paramilitary troops fired at the mobs and into the air to break up the battles. At least four people were killed and 16 injured in the clashes or by police and paramilitary forces gunfire, the Press Trust sad.

Seven of the injured were wounded seriously, five with bullet wounds and two with multiple stab wounds.

A curfew, the second in less than a month was clamped on the city, which had been tense following clashes between Hindu and Sikh mobs on Saturday night sparked by the beatings of two shopkeepers, the Press Trust said.

Additional paramilitary forces were sent to the city to help enforce the curfew. The situation was described as being under control, the Press Trust said.

Meanwhile trouble has spread to Jullundur City where Hindus and Sikhs clashed in the streets. Curfew has also been imposed in the Jullundur City area.

Article extracted from this publication >> March 21, 1986