Sikh Moderates Retain Control of Temple; Militants Withdraw

After a tense week in which two rival factions of militant Sikhs threatened to seize the Golden Temple here, that holiest shrine of the Sikh faith remained in control of a moderate temple management committee Friday, backed by the state government of Punjab.

“Genocide Week,” called by the militants to commemorate a raid by the Indian army on the temple two years ago, ended quietly, although militants threatened to return later with a “task force” of guards to “protect the sanctity” of the nearly 400-year-old marble and gold leaf shrine.

“The authorities who should be in charge of the temple are still in charge,” said Amritsar district Superintendent of Police S.S. Virk, adding: “We had expected a lot of trouble but the situation has been defused.”

Truck, Car Caravan

This ancient frontier city had appeared headed for a confrontation Thursday as 2,000 Sikh militants under the leadership of 80-year-old Joginder Singh approached the temple in a caravan of trucks and cars.

In March, the frail, white-bearded Joginder Singh led several thousand sword-waving Sikhs who broke through barricades and marched on the Punjab state assembly in Chandigarh before being repelled by police fire. Joginder Singh is the father of slain Sikh separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed in the army raid on the temple two years ago.

By Sikh standards, however, Friday’s gathering at an auditorium on the edge of the Golden Temple was a tame affair, although the group adopted a resolution threatening the lives of the Punjab state chief minister, the state police chief, and members of the entire Indian central government.

Leave Peacefully

Joginder Singh, appearing disoriented at times, announced that if police forces continue to enter the Golden Temple, the “country will be in flames.” But after touring the nearly deserted temple grounds with five associates, he and the other militants left the city peacefully. Joginder Singh heads the United Akali Dal political party and has the support of one faction of the All-India Sikh Students Federation.

On Wednesday, another faction of the All-India Sikh Students and a fundamentalist Sikh organization, the Damdami Taksal, overran guards posted in the temple by the moderate Sikh temple management committee. One guard was killed. Punjab police and officers of the central reserve police force entered the temple to restore order, driving the militants from the grounds.

Police Withdrawn

Armed plainclothes police remained in the Golden Temple complex Thursday but were withdrawn Friday in an apparent agreement to avert a confrontation with Joginder Singh and his followers.

As a result, the Joginder Singh group appeared content to periodically chant slogans calling for creation of a separate Sikh state called Khalistan.

“If they thought they could take over the temple and convert it into a sanctuary for terrorists all over again, they were not a success,” said Amritsar police superintendent Virk, himself a Sikh.

For the past five years, India’s Punjab state, home of 8 million Sikhs and an increasingly alienated 6 million Hindus, has been the setting for an ongoing conflict between militant, separatist Sikhs and the government.