PUNE, India: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi led India today in mourning for the murdered army chief that planned the bloody 1984 military assault on the Sikhs holiest shrine, the Golden Temple of Amritsar.
The Killing of retired General Arun Vaidya prompted police to declare a red national alert, while local police conceded:
That a security lapse allowed gunmen on motorcycles to shoot Vaidya dead and wound his wife.
Vaidya’s funeral with full military honors was scheduled for 5 p.m., in Pune (Poona), a major military town 150 km (100 miles) east of Bombay.
In a statement, Gandhi called the murder a heinous crime and said Vaidya was a gallant and distinguished soldier who served India with devotion.
Gandhi ended a trip to Britain, Mexico and Czechoslovakia with an unscheduled stop in Moscow today when his Air India plane developed engine trouble.
He flew on to New Delhi in a borrowed Soviet airliner and went to his official residence. A plane was standing by to fly him to Pune if he decided to attend the funeral, ago, was shot dead when the gunmen pulled alongside his car and opened fire with automatic weapons.
The 60yearold general, one of India’s most decorated soldiers, had received letters threatening his life for his role in the Golden Temple Assault in which more than 6,000 people were killed.
The Times of India newspaper said security was tightened around Vaidya after a letter from pro-Khalistan elements. Khalistan, The Land of the Pure, is the separate homeland sought by Sikhs in the northern state of Punjab. Pune Police Commissioner B.J. Misar told a press conference that bodyguard accompanying Vaidya did not fire a shot because his feet got caught in the car’s rear seat.
The opposition Lok Dal party described the killing as the biggest failure of the Intelligence Agencies, Shops, schools and offices closed in Pune in protest at Vaidya’s murder, while both houses of the Indian parliament in New Delhi adjourned in memory of the General.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 15, 1986
