NEW DELHI, India: Crowds of Hindus stabbed Sikhs, damaged their vehicles and burnt their shops in retaliation to the attack that left 11 people dead in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar today, the Press Trust of India said.

The news agency said a Sikh police officer was hit by an acid filled light bulb and four Sikhs ‘were stabbed during the violence in Amritsar, about 250 miles west of New Delhi in the predominantly Sikh state of Punjab.

The strike was called by two militant Hindu organizations to protest a Wednesday’s attack in which gunmen killed 10 Hindus and one Sikh at an Amritsar market. It was one of the bloodiest attacks this year.

Crowds of Hindus, enraged by the Killing, marched through several areas of the city, stoning shops and vehicles, the Press Trust said. Some of the protesters attempted to set fire to shops, damaging the doors.

Four people were stabbed and incidents of arson and looting also were reported Thursday night, the ‘news agency said. Police and paramilitary forces stepped up patrols, it said.

The domestic news agency said two shops were damaged today by arsonists in the Punjab city of Jullundur, 220 miles West of New Delhi.

The violence came one day after opposition parties in the Punjab state Assembly issued statements calling on the state’s moderate Sikh government to deploy army troops in Amritsar district and other areas stricken by violence. More than 60 people have died, most of them Hindus, in continued violence since April 30, when hundreds of police and para military commandos stormed the Golden Temple of Amritsar, the ‘Sikh’s holiest place, to throw out freedom fighters who had declared an independent Sikh nation.

Seven persons were killed and ‘more than 370 Sikhs were arrested in the operation that ended a three-month control of Kar Sewa in the shrine by Damdami Taksal volunteers.

The assault sparked a major crisis in the Punjab government, ‘which was reduced to a minority when more than one-third of the ruling Akali Dal party lawmaker’s broke in protest against the operation which they described as sacrilege.

Article extracted from this publication >> May 30, 1986