Sikh High Priest Wounded by Gunmen on Motorcycles

Three motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and wounded one of the five high priests of India’s minority Sikh religion Wednesday in troubled Punjab state, the United News of India reported.

The agency identified the gunmen as Sikh militants, adding that they escaped.

The assassination attempt was aimed at Kirpal Singh, who was reported in stable condition after emergency surgery at the Christian Medical College in Ludhiana, the news agency said. Two of the priest’s aides, also wounded in the attack, were listed as out of danger at the same hospital.

The assassination attempt occurred when Singh was traveling to Mandiani village, 155 miles northwest of New Delhi, to attend a funeral.

Singh, the head priest of the Akal Takht, seat of the highest authority in Sikhism, is widely regarded as a hard-liner in the dispute between New Delhi and militant Sikhs wanting greater autonomy for their region. He bitterly denounced the Indian army assault last June on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Sikhs’ holiest shrine, to flush out armed Sikh separatists, saying India’s 13 million Sikhs will never “forget that sacrilege.”

India’s population of 730 million is predominantly Hindu.

Officials speculated that Wednesday’s attack may have been staged by a youth group opposed to Singh or by extremists wanting to sabotage the government’s move to resolve the lingering Punjab crisis.

The United News of India also reported that India has charged 379 Sikhs with waging war against the state. It said they were arrested last June during the army assault on the Golden Temple.

The news agency said the 379 people alleged to be extremists were charged in a special court Tuesday in Jodhpur, in Rajasthan state in western India. The charges, which carry a maximum term of life imprisonment, will be tried in closed court in Jodhpur. Two special courts were set up in Rajasthan last month to try alleged Sikh extremists, apparently for fear that trials could stir unrest in Sikh-dominated Punjab.