World PUNJAB, INDIA The search for solutions amidst separatist terror By KIM BOLAN MAHONWAL, India — Desraj Sihota was enjoying a quiet dinner with his family on the upper floor of his brick house in this small Punjabi farming village when they heard a door burst open and shouts below them. Several men carrying Chinese model AK-47 self-loading rifles ran up the stairs as the family sat pened and waiting. Sihota knew what was to come. A long-time activist with the amici workers’ union and the sarpanch, or elected head, of this village since 1972, he had been one of the main figures in the area speaking out loudly against the terrorism that has ripped apart this tiny, lush state in northern India for the past five years. As the men ran gun-first into the room, Sihota told his two sons, daughter and wife to flee. But before they could return with help, the terrorists fired 100 rounds into Sihota’s 40-year-old body. t is noon the day after the brutal slaying and thousands of people — old men, young men, women, children, Sikhs and Hindus — are gathered in a cow pasture surrounded by green fields of young crops. Some have walked miles from other villages. Some are missing a much-needed day’s pay. All want to pay tribute to a man whose life was so viciously cut short. “Even though he worked with the 6 » Pacific Tribune, March 13, 1989 poorest of the poor, the farm labourers, people from all over have come today,” said his good friend, G.S. Randhawa, secretary-general of Punjab’s Communist Party, Marxist, of which Sihota was a member. “He was a very popular man. He was a very active leader in this area.” Sihota’s body lies on a woven cot at the front of the crowd on a make-shift stage. It is drapped with a red flag, the outline of his head distinguishable as his wife clutches him around the neck, sobbing loudly. Other members of the family comfort her, as one by one friends come up and place red and white strings of flowers on his body and take their turn at v na Vie o * the microphone. Some make political speeches, condemning the terrorists and Pakistan for supporting them. Others say what a good man Sihota was and how much he’ll be missed. An old man wearing a Nehru- like cap breaks down and has to be helped back to his place. Members of all Punjab’s political parties are in attendence at the event, as well as members of the central- government-imposed rule, which has run Punjab since May, 1987. espite the heat of the mid-day sun, women wear black scarves to show they’re mourning. Even the children are solemn and attentive. Police and para-military troops guard the gathering from additional attacks, blocking off all four dirt roads to the village and encircling the crowd. “See what it has come to?” Randhawa _ Says, pointing to two gunmen within a - metre of him, each carrying a deadly- looking Sten gun. “I never go anywhere without my guards — at least three or four of them. See how we must travel . around Punjab to protect ourselves?” All over India, politicians and observers of the tense Punjab situation agree that progressives, particularly members of the two active Communist parties, have been targeted by Sikh extremists. “These terrorists are extorting money forcefully from the Sikhs and other people, taking by force food from the villagers. All these misdeeds, we are exposing. So this is why they have made our party main targets of attacks,” Randhawa said. ince former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered th: Indian army into the sacred precinct: of the Golden Temple in June, 1984, the separatists that were organizing in what was then the holiest of Sikh shrines have continued to ravage the countryside here, terrorizing the people with guns and bombs paid for with foreign funds. While Sikhs around the world condemned the 1984 attack that resulted in Gandhi’s assassination, they do not support the fanatics that misuse their religion for clearly political motives. In the last two years, more than 200 leaders of both Randhawa’s party and the Communist Party of India have been assassinated by Sikh terrorists. Many others have narrowly escaped attack and most travel everywhere with armed bodyguards. (te Sa Rc RS ROT SR TS Since former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian army into the sacred precints of the Golden Temple in June, 1984, the separatists have continued to ravage the countryside here, terrorizing the people with guns and bombs paid for with foreign funds. Kulwant Singh Sandhu lifts his shirt to reveal a series of purplish scars — some of the many he carries after being attacked five times in two years by terrorists. A sarpanch of Rurka Kalan village and an active member of the CPIM, the 31- year-old is constantly aware of the dangers he faces. Last April, he watched a friend’s head get blown off with a round from an AK- 47 intended for him. “Three kilometres from here they were standing in the bus loop there, waiting for us. We did not stop the car, but they attacked us from one side. The driver was killed immediately. My injuries were not as serious. Two others each lost parts of their legs.” Sandhu, whose parents live in Williams Lake, is critical of the extremist elements that have robbed the prosperous Punjab of its normal village life. But he is also believes the central government has worsened the situation by refusing to seek a political solution to end the bloodshed. During the days here, life appears normal. Under the protection of light, the fields still teem with the farm labourers Sihota struggled to organize. But as soon as the sun begins to fade, the tension mounts. People who once sat around evenings enjoying each others’ company or shopping in the marketplaces of the 12,000 villages, slip away to their homes and lock the door. “The majority of Sikhs, 99 per cent of Sikh peasants, they are against Khalistan. They are against the killing of innocent people. They are a very patriotic community,” said Randhawa. “The problem is they have no trust in the central government. It is the central government’s policy to preside in Punjab for narrow party interests, only t to win the next election.”