India's Punjab state tense after killing of Sikh leader available (Roundup)

May 26, 2009, 13:13 GMT

   New Delhi - India's northern state of Punjab, which has seen violent protests over the killing of a Sikh leader in Vienna, was tense Tuesday while fresh violence was reported from neighbouring Haryana.

   Police in Punjab's capital, Chandigarh, said the death toll in the violence had risen to three after a protestor was killed Monday night by a councillor of the ruling Akali Dal party who opened fire when he was attacked in Jalandhar city.

   The towns of Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and Phagwara remained under curfew, and the army was patrolling the streets to prevent further violence.

   Protestors have been clashing with police since late Sunday and set ablaze train coaches, buses and cars after an attack on two top leaders of the Dera Sach Khand sect in a Sikh temple in the Austrian capital.

   The head of the sect, Niranjan Dass, died of gunshot wounds. His deputy, Rama Nand Dass, was recovering in hospital after emergency surgery.

   Fresh protests were reported Tuesday from the Muktsar district of Punjab and the Yamunanagar district of neighbouring Haryana, which has a large Sikh population, the PTI news agency reported.

   The police had to fire several rounds of ammunition in the air to disperse a violent group in Jagadhri town in Yamunanagar.

   The protestors damaged a government building and a state-run school and set fire to several vehicles.

   At least 30 people have been injured in the violence that saw supporters of the sect defying the curfew and attacking scores of vehicles in central Punjab, where the sect has a large following.

   The situation was described as calm but tense Tuesday.

   At least 40 long-distance trains scheduled to run through Punjab were cancelled, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

   Most roadblocks set up by protestors have, however, been removed, and traffic on major highways was being monitored by police.

   Leaders across the political spectrum strongly condemned the attack on the dera leaders at an all-party meeting called by Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal to discuss the volatile situation.

   The meeting in Chandigarh passed a unanimous resolution seeking stringent punishment for those responsible for the crime.

   In separate message, Badal and Dera leaders appealed to people to maintain the peace.

   Badal's Akali Dal represents mainstream Sikhs who largely belong to the land-owning Jat caste.

   Sikh historians said deras, or sects, like Sach Khand arose from a feeling of discrimination among Dalit converts to Sikhism.

   The Dera Sach Khand sect mostly has followers among the Dalit, or low-caste, Sikhs.

   There are several such sects across Punjab and Haryana with many Dalit Sikh followers.

   Mainstream Sikhs often consider those sects as deviating from the true Sikh religion and practices. Their differences have often resulted in violence. There have been clashes between Sikhs and another sect, the Dera Saccha Sauda, in recent years.

   The Sikh religion developed in the early 16th century as a reaction to the rigid strictures of Hinduism.

   Sikhs constitute less than 2 per cent of India's 1.1 billion people, of which 80.5 per cent are Hindus.

   Most Sikhs in India live in Punjab, which has a Sikh-majority population.