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The Golden Temple at Amritsar, one of the holiest sites in the Sikh religion

February 15, 1992

Fear haunts Punjab election campaign

By David Alexander
AMRITSAR, India (UPI) -- Political activist Narinder Sharma rallied support for the Congress (I) Party over a loudspeaker Saturday while touring the city's bustling Hall Bazaar commercial district seated in the back of a truck surrounded by 10 rifle-toting police bodyguards.

"My family didn't want me to do this," said Sharma, 24, a tailor by profession. "They said, 'There are so many other things you can do to earn money. Why are you putting your life in danger?' But I am a party worker and I decided to do it."

The concerns of Sharma's family were not unwarranted. The parliamentary and state assembly elections in strife-torn northwestern Punjab state are taking place in an atmosphere of fear and coersion, with Sikh militants and moderate Sikh political parties calling for a boycott of the vote.

Sikh extremists shot dead 28 candidates during the previous election campaign, which was canceled one day before voters were to go to the polls last summer. Two candidates and nine campaign workers have been slain during the current race, and 45 party activists have been wounded.

With only four days to go before Wednesday's balloting, police say Sikh militants are stepping up their efforts to intimidate voters and candidates. A bomb exploded Saturday night at the home of a political candidate in Ludhiana, killing a policeman and wounding 21 other people. Two bombs directed at political targets exploded in the state Friday night, wounding 33 people.

Police showed reporters a batch of weapons captured from militants in an ambush early Saturday. The arms included 11 Russian-made hand grenades and four other explosive devices, all of which police said were to be used to attack police or political targets.

"The idea was to attack candidates, campaign workers, police patrols and that is why the large stock of arms," said Superintendent of Police Sidharath Chhatopadhya. "Their emphasis in the coming few days is going to be explosives. The alertness of the security forces and the public is going to be important."

Authorities have deployed some 350,000 soldiers, police and paramilitary troops throughout the state in an effort to ensure a peaceful vote Wednesday and prevent the kind of violence that marred the election campaign last summer.

They also are harassing the major Sikh political parties that have called for a boycott of the balloting. About 500 party activists have been jailed to prevent anti-election rallies, including leading politicians such as Simranjit Singh Mann, a former Parliament member who heads the Akali Dal (Mann) party.

Despite efforts by the central government to assure voters of a peaceful election, turnout is expected to be moderate in the central city districts where Hindus live and almost nil in the lush farming countryside, where Sikhs are in the majority and militants have their strongholds.

"People are more afraid of the terrorists," said Dr. Sant Singh, an opthomologist who lives in the country and says he may not be able to vote. "The police cannot give people a guarantee the militants won't get them after they vote. It is not possible for the police to protect them."

At Sultanwind village on the outskirts of Amritsar, several men sat and chatted outside a shop as water buffalos and tractors pulled carts laden with ripe farm produce up and down the town's muddy main street on the way to and from the market.

"This area is ruled by the militants. People will abide by their dictates," said Parduman Singh, 25, the shopkeeper.

"The number of people who will vote you can count on your fingers," added Sohn Singh, 75. "The security forces come here and pick up the youths and then there is no more word about them. So people are fed up with this government and don't want to participate in the elections."

The opposition to elections by much of the Sikh community is bad news for the government of Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, which was hoping to find a way out of the 8-year-old conflict in Punjab by restoring local rule in the state.

New Delhi has ruled Punjab directly under a measure known as president's rule since 1987, when it dismissed the government of a moderate Sikh political party for allegedly not doing enough to bring about an end to militant violence.

Sikh militants have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent theocratic nation known as Khalistan, meaning "Land of the Pure," in Punjab. The movement appears to have only marginal support among Sikhs, and many who pass themselves off as militants are solely engaged in crime for profit.

With about 15,000 people slain since the Khalistan movement began and each year's death toll steadily increasing, the people in Punjab are ready for an end to the problem. Unfortunately, the elections appear unlikely to bring about a solution.

"People are not concerned with who forms the new government," said Dr. Sant Singh, the opthomologist. "They are only concerned with peace. People want peace, nothing else."

And will a new government bring peace?

"I doubt it," he said.