Word: sikhs
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...hour curfew in most of the northwestern state of Punjab. Several hundred Bhindranwale loyalists who had managed to escape the siege of the temple continued to wage hit-and-run attacks against troops in Amritsar. They also looted shops, set fires and killed civilians. An additional 100 Sikh extremists surfaced in Rajasthan, a state near the Pakistani border, where they called upon Sikh members of the army to rebel. Some of them did defect, while other Sikhs apparently donned army uniforms in an attempt to infiltrate and disrupt the front-line troops that shield India against potential attacks from...
...most fanatical leader of Sikh extremists, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, 37, who had provoked the violence, lay among the dead. Just weeks before, he had vowed to defend to the death his supporters' demands for increased religious and political autonomy. "Let them come," he had said. "We will give them battle. If die we must, then we will take many of them with...
...decision could add to the turmoil of a nation already torn by violence. Some Indian commentators voiced fears for the future of the world's largest democracy. "What happened inside the Golden Temple is a turning point in India's modern history," said the eminent Sikh Historian Khushwant Singh. But Mrs. Gandhi apparently felt she had no choice but to attack. Bhindranwale and his followers had stockpiled guns, rifles, antitank missiles, rocket launchers, hand grenades and mortars inside the temple, in grim contrast to the shrine's jewel-like chambers and cupolas. The defenders' stiff resistance...
Agitation by both moderate and extremist Sikh factions over the past two years had brought violence in Punjab to alarming levels. In the past months alone, more than 300 people had died in Sikh-inspired violence. At the same time, tensions from last month's rioting among Hindus and Muslims in Bombay had built to such a degree that politicians began questioning Mrs. Gandhi's control over the country. There was speculation that further instability could cause her governing Congress (I) Party to suffer a serious setback in the national elections scheduled to be held by next January...
...Sikh outrage at the assault on the temple echoed throughout India and around the world. Ignoring curfew laws, hundreds of Sikhs rioted in Punjab; they also caused havoc in a number of Indian cities. In New Delhi angry Sikhs demanded Bhindranwale's body for cremation and vowed to keep his legend alive. "If one Bhindranwale dies," Sikhs at a New Delhi demonstration shouted, "a thousand are born." Two militants brandishing swords at tacked the Indian consulate in Vancouver, Canada, leaving it a shambles. Security was increased around Indian missions in the U.S., Canada, Britain, West Germany, The Netherlands...