Violence in India's Punjab state after killing of Sikh sect leader

May 25, 2009, 7:29 GMT

   New Delhi - The Indian army was deployed in northern Punjab state's Jalandhar city and an indefinite curfew declared Monday to stem violent protests that blocked rail and road traffic following the killing of a Sikh guru in Vienna.

   Armed with swords and sticks, supporters of the slain 57-year-old Sant Rama Nand from the Dera Sach Khand sect poured into the streets, torching vehicles to block road traffic since Sunday night.

   The sect that adheres to the Ravidass Sabha movement mostly has followers among the Dalit or low-caste Sikhs.

   'Curfew in the entire Jalandhar district and its adjoining area has been extended for an indefinite period and the army has been deployed to control the violence,' senior district police official AS Pannu told reporters.

   Although no one was injured in the clashes, scores of vehicles and a bank ATM machine were set ablaze and government buildings damaged in Jalandhar, more than 150 kilometres north-west of state capital Chandigarh.

   On Monday, mobs set railway coaches on fire and blocked highways in the region, the IANS news agency reported.

   Protestors also attacked a police station and torched vehicles parked inside the compound.

   Police fired into the air to disperse stone-throwing mobs in some areas, the PTI news agency reported.

   Violence and protests also spread to other cities in Punjab including the industrial city of Ludhiana and Amritsar, where the Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine is located.

   The state authorities increased security around religious institutions and busy areas to contain the protests.

   On Sunday, two key leaders of the sect, Niranjan Dass and Rama Nand, were among those injured in a fight between rival factions at a Sikh temple in the Austrian capital.

   Rama Nand succumbed to his injuries overnight. Niranjan Dass was in stable condition after emergency surgery.

   Police believe the conflict was based on doctrinal differences between the mainstream Sikh community and the Dera Sach Khand, which is considered as a heterodox faction.

   There are several Deras or sects across the northern states of Punjab and Haryana.

   Mainstream Sikhs often consider those sects as deviating from the true Sikh religion and practices.

   The differences have often resulted in violence in the past. Clashes between Sikhs and another sect, the Dera Saccha Sauda, left several injured over the last two years.

   Sikhs constitute less than 2 per cent of India's 1.1 billion people, nearly 80 per cent of whom are Hindus.