Word: akali
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Gandhi moved decisively to quell the crisis, pressuring Punjab Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala to arrest an estimated 200 Sikh political leaders and extremist figures in predawn sweeps. Chief among them: Prakash Singh Badal, leader of a breakaway faction of the Akali Dal party, which rules Punjab state, and Gurcharan Singh Tohra, the powerful head of the state committee that manages Sikh temples. Tohra, who has been accused of appeasing terrorists, was detained after he announced he would abolish the special security force that since last summer has prevented the use of the Golden Temple as a haven for terrorists...
...week, he was shot and badly wounded by four men in another vehicle. Police, who later arrested four Canadian Sikhs, were treating the case as an international incident. The reason: Sidhu, 56, is the planning minister of the Indian state of Punjab and a party member of the moderate Akali Dal, which is trying to root out Sikh terrorism...
When the votes were counted, the Akali Dal, a moderate Sikh party, had taken almost two-thirds of the state assembly seats, giving it a mandate to carry out a July accord with the central government to resolve long-standing Sikh grievances. No one expects, however, that the terrorists will fade away. "Each member of the new legislative assembly is now a target," said one key official. Still, the election provided strong evidence that the vast majority of Punjabis prefer the politics of the ballot to those of the bullet...
...peace has fallen to the bullets of assassins," he said. The next day Longowal was cremated in his native village with full state honors. The funeral procession included mourners from every faith and high government officials. Conspicuously absent were members of the radical faction of the Akali Dal. The extremists had denounced Longowal as a "traitor" for signing the accord, which will give more economic and political power to Sikhs in the state. But many extremists say they will settle for nothing less than an independent Sikh nation...
...violence. On the same day that he was shot, gunmen in Punjab killed a local Hindu leader of the ruling Congress (I) Party. The next day, terrorists shot and wounded a government official in the state. The prospects for peace in Punjab now hinge on whether moderates in the Akali Dal will close ranks against the extremists. Many Sikhs are weary of the violence that has disrupted their lives and would welcome as Longowal's successor someone who can bring them the peace that their fallen leader's political skills had promised...