CANDIGARK, India, Dec. 5, Reuter: Police arrested five militant Sikh leaders in Chandigarh, capital of Punjab State, on Saturday to prevent a protest in Delhi planned to press ‘demands for political concessions,
A police spokesman said the five included Prakash Singh Badal, a former Punjab Chief Minister who was freed from detention on ‘Wednesday, and four members of the Punjab State Assembly.
They were arrested under preventive laws because their plan to Stage a sit-in front of Parliament in Delhi was a threat to peace, the spokesman said.
But sources in the main Sikh ‘opposition party, the Akali Dal, said the protest would still be carried out as 150 supporters had already reached Delhi.
On Friday, police stopped an earlier protest bid when they kept 2,000 Sikhs from marching to the Indian capital to demand a political settlement in Punjab,
The police detained about 400 protestors, including Badal, during Friday’s attempt to march from the pilgrimage town of Fatehgarh Sahib to Delhi, 230 km (140 miles) to the South.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 11, 1987
