AMRITSAR, India: Sikh Patriots and Sarkari Sikhs exchanged gunfire Sunday in the heart of the Golden Temple complex. Three people were injured and more than 600 pilgrims fled Screaming in panic, police and witnesses said.
The two sides were battling over who would demolish and rebuild the sacred Akal Takht Seat of Sikhism’s temporal power in this holy city.
The Akal Takht building was virtually destroyed when the Indian Army attacked the Golden Temple complex in June 1984, It was rebuilt under government sponsorship, but the Sikhs were not satisfied and each group wants to reconstruct it themselves.
About 70 gunmen fired at each other for half an hour in the afternoon with rifles and double barreled shotguns in the white marble compound before the Akal Takht, seat of Sikhism’s temporal power in this holy city in Sikh dominated Punjab state.
The severity of the gunshot injuries was not immediately known and the three injured were rushed to a hospital, police said.
Police later entered the Golden Temple complex, Sikhism’s equivalent of Roman Catholicism’s Vatican. No further violence was reported in the deserted compound.
Eyewitnesses and police said about 50 armed workers of the Akali Dal, the states moderate governing party, battled with about 20 members of the Sikhs Student Federation.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 24, 1986
