Suspected Sikh Terrorists Kill Ex-Army Chief in India

Gunmen riding motorcycles Sunday assassinated retired army chief of staff Arunkumar Shridhar Vaidya, one of India’s most decorated soldiers.

Police blamed Sikh terrorists for the killing, which occurred in Pune, 100 miles east of Bombay.

Vaidya, 60, was chief of staff in June, 1984, when Indian troops attacked Sikh extremists in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the Sikhs’ holiest shrine. He took a hard line against Sikh soldiers who deserted after that attack and has often been a declared a target by Sikh terrorists.

The Press Trust of India news agency reported that Vaidya had received several letters threatening his life for his role in the Golden Temple raid, the most recent coming just two months ago, according to the police chief in Pune, Bhaksar Misra.

As a result, Vaidya, a veteran of four wars and twice the recipient of India’s highest military decoration, was assigned a full-time police bodyguard.

The guard was in the cramped back seat of Vaidya’s small Japanese-made automobile Sunday when two motorcycles carrying four men pulled alongside the car and two of the men opened fire with automatic weapons--a method that has become the trademark of Sikh terrorist attacks in the last five years.

Vaidya, who was driving, took the brunt of the assault. His wife, Bhanumati, was wounded. The guard, unable to return fire, drove the general and his wife to a nearby military hospital where Vaidya was pronounced dead, Misra said. The gunmen escaped.

Witnesses described the four assailants as clean-shaven men in their 20s. Orthodox Sikhs wear beards and turbans, but police say that some Sikh terrorists, members of extremist groups who want to establish an independent Sikh homeland in India’s Punjab state, have shaved and abandoned their turbans to avoid easy detection.

There were signs this weekend that a continuing confrontation between Sikh terrorists and Indian authorities is intensifying. Rumors circulated in New Delhi that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is considering sending the army into Punjab state to restore order.

Vaidya’s assassination came one day after police in Punjab announced the arrest of Manbir Singh, a leading Sikh terrorist, accused by authorities of complicity in 26 terrorist killings.

Also on Saturday, Prakash Singh Badal and Gurcharan Singh Torah, two Sikh leaders associated with extremist causes, were arrested by police here in the capital.

50 Suspects Sought

On Sunday, J.F. Ribeirio, director general of the Punjab police, said that his men are seeking 50 members of a “Khalistan commando force,” reportedly headed by Manbir Singh. Khalistan is the name Sikh separatists call their wished-for homeland.

Vaidya was the most prominent assassination victim since moderate Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowal was slain last year. Longtime Indian leader Indira Gandhi, mother of the present prime minister, was assassinated by Sikh members of her home guard in October, 1984.

Vaidya joined the army in 1945, serving in the British campaign against the Japanese in Burma during the waning months of World War II. He fought in the 1965 Indian-Pakistani war and the 1971 Bangladesh war for independence from Pakistan.

Although he was recognized as a fine battlefield soldier, Vaidya was originally a controversial choice for chief of staff of the 960,000-strong army. In naming Vaidya, Indira Gandhi bypassed the army command’s choice for the first time in the country’s history.

Appointment Resented

His appointment was resented by the independent general staff as an intrusion from the civilian sector. Vaidya did, in fact, become a political arm of Gandhi’s government.

After the army raid on the Golden Temple, Vaidya ignored advice from senior military commanders and took the hard line favored by Indira Gandhi against Sikhs who deserted from the army when they learned of the attack on the temple.

Although the Sikh community makes up less than 2% of the Indian population, Sikhs have always been the backbone of the Indian fighting units, at one time accounting for 25% of all combat troops.

After the Golden Temple raid, authorities reported 2,700 Sikh deserters. Vaidya denounced them, saying, “It is still a matter of shame and concern that some of you forgot the oath of allegiance you took to this country of ours and chose to get instigated by the enemies of this land, both internal and external, and collectively did an act of disloyalty.”