Chandigarh: All India Sikh Students Federation has given a call for a general strike in all the schools and colleges of the State on December 3 4 to protest against the continued apathy of the government over the que stion of release of Sikh young men and rehabilitation of those Sikhs who had left their army units in protest against the Army attack on the Golden Temple. The decision for the strike was announced by S. Harinder Singh Kahlon, Acting President of AISSF. He warned that AISSF will not rest till “all the detained Sikhs and army deserters are released.” He said that Barnala government was functioning as the puppet of Rajiv Gandhi.
He charged that ‘Sikh young
men were increasingly tortured and hunted by the police.’ It may be recalled that Punjab government had closed all the colleges on November 14 to offset AISSF’s call for a general strike. On that date students reportedly came out in large numbers and blocked traffic at number of places. On Jalandhar Amritsar road traffic remained suspended for number of hours. The practice of blocking traffic is still containing using at various places in the state.
During the last ten days, there have been frequent strikes in the Colleges of Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar. Police had to resort to Lathi charge to dispose the agitating students. Sikh Students were arrested in
Ludhiana after a clash with the police.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 29, 1985
