CHANDIGARH, India: ‘Gunmen killed a prominent politician in their latest attack, police said on Thursday.

They said three gunmen killed Mohinder Singh Sarupwali, a former member of the Punjab State Assembly, as he sat in his courtyard on Wednesday night in a village near the town of Batala.

Police said they did not know why Sarupwali was assassinated. He was in his early fifties.

Sarupwali was a member of the United Akali Dal Party, which was pushed aside a year ago along with all other state parties when New Delhi imposed direct rule on Punjab in a bid to curb mounting Sikh separatism.

The Press Trust of India said a teenage boy and two men were shot dead in Jullundur district in separate incidents on Thursday.

More than 1,450 people have been killed in violence in Punjab so far this year compared to 1,230 in the whole of 1987.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 15, 1988