NEW DELHI, Dec.3: The moderate Sikh leaders who govern Punjab, under pressure to step up the drive against Sikh freedom fighters agreed tonight to seek help from the army in quelling disturbances and tracking down suspects in several districts in the state.
‘Among these would be the power to detain, question, search and shoot suspects. The army deployed, would also be given these emergency powers.
The measures were announced three days after gunmen killed 22 passengers on a bus in northern Punjab, The killings led to rioting, a general strike and clashes with the police in New Delhi and other parts of northern India.
The Punjab decision marked a reversal, since the Chief Minister of the state, Surjit Singh Barnala, had previously said the army would not be needed. But he has come under mounting pressure to act from his nominal ally, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
New Delhi Is Quieter
The announcement came as the clashes that flared in New Delhi this week subsided today. But officials said they would continue to enforce curfews and maintain heavy police presence in some parts of the capital.
The police commissioner’s office said a total of 1,614 people were arrested during a one day general strike in the capital on Tuesday.
According to Indian news agencies the Punjab police continued to arrest scores of young people as suspected freedom fighters. The total number arrested in Punjab in the last two days has reached 200, according to the Press Trust of India. The agency also said five people, including a policeman, were killed by gunmen indifferent parts of the state today. The report could not be verified.
Many analysts believe that although freedom fighters are blamed for many of these killings. They are actually carried out by ordinary criminals.
Assassination Sentence Upheld
In other developments, lawyers: for three Sikh men sentenced to death for the assassination of Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi prepared to make appeals to the Supreme Court after their sentences were upheld by the Delhi High Court today.
The appeal is supposed to take place in the next three months. The convicted men may also appeal to have their sentences commuted by the President of India, Zail Singh, who is also a Sikh.
There was little public reaction here or in Punjab to the Delhi High Court’s decision, despite fears by some that Sikhs would be enflamed.
The Delhi High Court’s 644page decision followed court sessions over four months. The original conviction was handed down by a Special Sessions judge in January.
In upholding the conviction, the Delhi court took the unusual step of noting that the crime had been motivated by the “highest and noblest impulses” loyalty to one’s religion.
This was a reference to the evidence, that the three men conspired to take revenge for Mrs. Gandhi’s action earlier in 1984 in ending the army into the Sikh religion’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple at Amritsar. Nearly 1,000 people were killed in the attack.
Witnesses to the assassination said the shooting had been carried out by two Sikh security guards, Satwant Singh, and Beant Singh. Beant Singh was shot dead after he surrendered to the security staff
Satwant Singh was tried along with Balbir Singh, an officer in Mr. Gandhi’s security force and Kehar Singh, a Government employee. The last two were convicted of Conspiring in the murder.
None of the defending are related, Sikhs generally use the name Singh.
In upholding the decision, the three judge court said the crime would have to be punished with if it were not to be a “fatal blow to democracy”.
“No state can afford to permit religious sentiments to be carried ‘Out to the extent of attacking the head of the Government”, the court said.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 12, 1986
