CHANDIGARH — the youth leader of the main Sikh political party in Punjab was shot dead on Saturday in an Ambush, police said.
Malkiat Singh, president of the youth wing of the unified Akali Dal, was attacked as he drove towards Ludhiana, a central Punjab town which has been a focus of separatist violence.
Six other people have been killed in the past 24 hours. Punjab Governor Siddhartha Shankar Ray issued figures showing the 1988 death toll in a violent Sikh campaign for a separate homeland in Punjab was more than 50 percent higher than in 1987 and four times the 1986 toll. Ray said 2,337 people, including 366 militants had been killed in Punjab in 1988. A further 230 were killed in neighboring Haryana state in related incidents. The toll was 1,544 deaths including 345 militants in 1987 and 598 deaths including 78 militants in 1986.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 6, 1989
