rajeev@sfsup.UUCP (S.Rajeev) (02/15/86)
From "The Economist", Feb. 8. Excerpts without permission. "HERE THEY GO AGAIN The promise of peace in Punjab has not been kept. Nearly as many people are being killed by terrorists now as in 1984 ... The peace agreement ... has not been carried out. The Sikh moderates seem weak and frightened in the face of the militants who have, once more, taken over the Golden Temple. Some ... say it is 1984 all over again. ... On January 26th, ... Punjab was to get Chandigarh ... In return, ... Haryana was to get some villages in Punjab. The commission set up to find some suitable Hindi-speaking villages on the border said it could not... Even moderate Sikhs now wonder if the central government ever intended to put the accord into practice. ... The militants have taken blunt... action ... [At] a meeting ... at the Golden Temple on Jan. 26th, [they] dismissed all the office-holders, raised the flag of "Khalistan",... and read out a list of "traitors" which included the president and the prime minister. It sounded like a hit list... The militants, who assassinated the previous head of the Akali Dal, Harchand Singh Longowal, are merciless towards those who condemn as "traitors". Most of the militants' officials are wanted by the police. ... Although most Sikhs voted for peace in the election last year, the militants still have ... supporters among the young. Part of the reason for this is economic... [As] increases in agricultural productivity have made the rich richer, many poorer farmers have been bought out by them. More tractors mean less need for labour ... An increase in looting and bank-robberies has depressed business... Punjabi commerce is, in any case, run largely by Hindus. This all adds up to a lot of jobless sons of Sikh small farmers -- and a big pool of recruits for the militants."