Riots flare in India after Sikh sect leader killed in Austrian temple

• Mobs attacks police stations, buses and banks in Punjab region
• India's Sikh prime minister 'deeply distressed' by disturbances

Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 May 2009 17.10 BST

India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, appealed for calm , as riots prompted by the fatal shooting of a sect leader at a Sikh temple in Austria spread to several northern Indian cities.

Hundreds of people defied a curfew and army patrols, attacking police stations and torching the car of a senior officer and several trains. In two places, police opened fire on mobs, wounding at least four people, according to officials.

The violence centered on the city of Jalandhar, a stronghold of the Dera Sach Khand, a Sikh sect comprising mainly Dalits (formerly known as "Untouchables"). One person was killed when troops opened fire on a mob attacking a police station in Lambran village, according the state's top elected official, Parkash Singh Badal.

The violence followed the news that a leader of the Dera Sach Khand was killed, and another preacher wounded, in Vienna last night, when several Sikh men armed with knives and a handgun attacked the two during a visit to a temple. At least 15 other people were wounded, Austrian police confirmed.

Witnesses said the attackers were fundamentalist Sikhs from a higher caste, who accused one or both of the preachers of being disrespectful of the Sikh holy book – the Guru Grant Sahib.

While officially Sikhism does not recognise caste – the complex system prevalent among mainly Hindus in India, dividing people into hundreds of groups defined by livelihood, class and ethnicity – it remains deeply rooted.

Singh, India's first leader to belong to the Sikh faith, said he was "deeply distressed" by the attack and subsequent violence. "Whatever the provocation, it is important to maintain peace and harmony among different sections of the people," he said, adding: "Sikhism preaches tolerance and harmony."

The foreign minister, SM Krishna, said India was working with the Austrian authorities to "ensure that the perpetrators of this completely mindless and wanton attack are brought to justice".

lastnight, after news of the Vienna attack, hundreds of Dera Sach Khand followers, supported by other local Dalit organisations, took to the streets of Jalandhar, burning several vehicles and a bank, stoning buses and blocking railway lines and roads.

Sporadic violence was also reported from several nearby towns, said Sanjiv Kalra, a senior police official at Jalandhar, some 210 miles (337 km) north-west of New Delhi. Today morning, about 400 soldiers patrolled the area and police set up roadblocks across the city. Initially it appeared that the move had restored calm, but later protests spread to at least five nearby cities.

"Curfew in the entire district has been extended for an indefinite period and five columns of army have been deployed to control the violence," a local government official, A S Pannu told the Press Trust of India news agency.Sikhs make up less than 2% of India's nearly 1.2 billion people, the vast majority of whom are Hindus. Caste discrimination has been outlawed in India for more than a half century, and a quota system was established with the aim of giving Dalits a fair share of government jobs and places in schools. But their plight remains dire, living in poverty and kept down by ancient prejudice and caste-based politics.

with thanks : Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/25/india-sikh-riots-killing-austria

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