India’s Sikhs Threaten New Civil Agitation

The main Sikh political party, Akali Dal, said Friday that government concessions to its demands are not enough and threatened a campaign of civil disobedience in Punjab state beginning June 1.

Paramilitary units and thousands of police marched through Amritsar, holy city of the Sikhs, as about 100 Sikh leaders held a strategy meeting Friday at the sacred Golden Temple.

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s government announced Thursday in New Delhi that it was lifting a ban on a radical Sikh students’ group and ordering a New Delhi judicial inquiry into anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of his mother Oct. 31. The government says Indira Gandhi was killed by two of her Sikh security guards.

After the government announcements, which were a response to demands by Akali Dal, a party statement said the government had taken “a welcome step.” However, Harchand Singh Longowal, the party president, said “we still have four key demands. We want them to accept these or face a mass struggle.”