AMRITSAR, India More than 10,000 Sikh radicals chanted slogans for an independent nation Sunday and vowed at an antigovernment rally in the Golden Temple to renew their struggle for freedom in Punjab.
Two Sikh freedom fighters were killed and four captured, meanwhile, and two Hindus were killed by gunmen, state police reported ‘Sunday, Baisakhi Day, is the most important Sikh festival. On this day in 1699 the 10th Sikh guru converted the religion into a martial faith and decreed that Sikhs ‘must be warriors or face slavery.
The chief minister of Punjab state, Surjit Singh Barnala, told a mass Baisalchi Day rally that killers did not have any religion. He said Sikhs could sacrifice their lives against oppression but could never kill an innocent person.
At least 43 people have been killed in violent attacks in Punjab so far this month, More than 100 were killed last month in HinduSikh clashes and police gunfire against Sikh youths.
Police and paramilitary troops ringed the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine, as the antigovernment rally went on inside.
The rally, described by organizers as a Sarbat Khalsa, grand religious assembly in the tradition of Sikh gurus, resolved to renew the autonomy struggle of slain Silth preacher Sant Jamnail Singh Bhindranwale.
The organizers said the Indian government laid the foundations of Khalistan, or an independent Sikh state, by ordering the army assault on the Golden Temple. Bhindranwale was among 6,000 people killed in the June 1984 attack, made to crush a peaceful Sikh movement for justice and equality.
“Today’s religious congregation directs al organizations to follow Bhindranwale call that Sikhs should break their shackles of slavery and become their own rulers. The struggle initiated by Bhindranwale should be renewed, “the organizers said in a gurmata, or guru’s edict.
Police patrolled highway’s leading to Amritsar and stopped trucks and tractor-drawn carriages brining Sikhs to the rally. Police said they had instructions not to permit large vehicles to travel to the Golden Temple.
The rally was addressed by four prominent leaders accused of being advocates of violence by the new Punjab state police chief, Julius F. Rebeiro. Gurbachan Singh Manochail S. Gurdev Singh & S. Dhanna Singh was “proclaimed offenders,” or fugitives carrying cash rewards for their capture dead or alive.
Speakers at the rally called for a powerful Sikh movement to force the government to end what they called human rights abuses in Punjab. They demanded an amnesty for Sikh army mutineers and release of hundreds of Sikh youths Jailed under controversial anti-terrorist and preventive detention laws,
The organizers also resolved to launch a joint movement with Moslems, Christians, “untouchables” and other minority groups in India for an end to explanation by castes, like Brahmins and Banjas.
The festival and rally follows a police crackdown in Punjab state that resulted in the arrests of more than 800 Sikh youths, At least 41 people have been killed in hit-and run attacks in the past two weeks.
Intense feuding by rival Sikh factions had spurred fears of a clash between the groups inside the temple complex, but no trouble was reported, Sikh leaders said there would be no trouble because they did not want to give police an excuse to enter the shrine
Article extracted from this publication >> April 18, 1986
