CHANDIGARH: Belying the Governments loud claims of the police having an upper hand over the militants Punjab ultras struck in a big way gunning down 25 farm laborers from Bihar on Oct.30

The incident took place at three tube wells two in village Silon Kalan and one in village Do Burji all in the Ludhiana revenue district.

Though the police was informed about the Silon Kalan incident by the villagers within Friday night the security forces learned of the Do Burjt incident in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Since there were no eyewitnesses and the two survivors are under heavy sedation at CMC Ludhiana firsthand account of the incident could not be known But according to the police all the incidents took place between 77:30 p.m. on Friday night.

Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh accompanied by the state Educational Minister Harnam Das Johar visited Silon Kalan and Do Burji and spoke to the people.

Police said the laborers all belonging to the Mandal community were preparing dinner when the militants struck. They were employed as farm hands for the paddy harvesting season.

It is learned that there were two militants both armed with AK47 rifles. They first went to Silon Kalan and asked the Bihari laborers sleeping at the tube-well of Bagga Singh to get inside the room adjoining the tube-well. They were shot dead inside the room. Then the same militants went to the farm of Gurdlal Singh located about 500 yards away and killed eight persons raising the toll in this village to 17.

After the coldblooded murder it seems the ultras went to the village Do Burji about three km away from Silon Kalan They shot dead another eight laborers at the farm of Deora Singh here.

The two injured laborers belong to village Silon Kalan.

The Ludhiana range DIG Chander Shekhar said that the group behind the killing had been identified but he would not disclose this at present.

There is panic among the migrant laborers in the Punjab. Several have decided to return to Bihar or Uttar Pradesh. The government claims to have intensified the patrolling the dead were given a mass funeral in the fields.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 13, 1992