NEW DELHI, May 4, Punjab’s top security Official said police may enter the Golden Temple in Amritsar because of clashes with freedom fighters controlling the holiest shrine of the Sikh faith, the Press Trust of India of India (PTI) said on Wednesday.
Julio Ribeiro, advisor to the north Indian state’s Governor, said however, the government had no plans as yet to clear out the freedom fighters controlling the sprawling temple complex. Ribeiro, former Punjab Police
Chief, spoke to reporters in the Punjab district headquarters town Jullundur as security forces in Amritsar built fortified emplacements to cover the approaches to the temple.
Police outside the Golden Temple last week exchanged fire with freedom fighters inside.
Ribeiro told reporters, PTI said, that police “might have to enter the complex to bring out some bodies of militants killed by the new government sponsored “Mafia”,
But he emphasized that the responsibility for maintaining order in the Golden Temple lay with the Sikh community and its high priests.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 13, 1988
